Trustees delay decision on upping substitute pay

The Churchill County School District Board of Trustees delayed a decision Thursday on approving a substitute teacher pay increase due to the lack of information at its first regularly scheduled meeting of January.

Up for possible action was a pay rate increase for substitute teachers from $90 to $100 per day. The item was tabled until further notice because several trustees did not think the small increase would encourage substitutes to work for the district.

School Board President Ron Evans said he believes the pay increase is a reasonable way to help solve some of the substitute teacher problems. He said the rate of the pay was $100 a day but because of budget issues during the past five years, trustees reduced the daily amount.

Superintendent Dr. Sandra Sheldon informed the board that the increase has been budgeted shy of $15,000 for next fiscal year.

Board Vice President Steve Nunn asked the board to table the item until Phyllis Dowd, CCSD’s business manager, could give an update reassuring the trustees that there are sufficient funds in the budget to allow for the substitute pay increase.

Concerns arose from trustees Gregory Koenig and Clay Hendrix about the slight increase in pay, both agreeing that they are unsure if an extra $10 a day would be enough motivation for substitute teachers.

Trustees, though, were late in discussing new and old items after spending almost two hours listening to two presentations that had been allotted 10 minutes each.

Items discussed and/or approved by the trustees include the following:

Nominations were made by the trustees for upcoming positions on the Churchill County School Board. Nominations include the following: President, Ron Evans; vice president, Steve Nunn; clerk, Nona McFarlane; and acting clerk, Carmen Schank.

Garrett Kalt, a high school senior, was recognized for being selected as one of only two students to represent the State of Nevada as a delegate for the United States Senate Youth Program.

Update on the renovation of West End. Maintenance director Brian Byrd announced the preliminary drawing will be completed by the end of March as well as the estimated cost of the project.

Update regarding a new audio-visual system for the Old High School auditorium.

Discussed a possible program with Western Nevada College but tentative approval was given until trustees know more about program details and costs.

Approved board retreat for Feb. 22 at 8 a.m.

Approved self-evaluation of the board.

Two presentations at the beginning of the meeting lasted longer than their allotted time.

Director of Special Services Will Jensen delivered a 10-minute update that lasted more than an hour. Jensen discussed how many special education students and teachers are at each school.

Jensen said that there are a total of 607 students in the district with disabilities. He broke down the numbers for each school. He said Northside Early Learning Center has 101 students with disabilities, seven special education teachers and 10 paraprofessionals; Numa Elementary has 54 students with disabilities, four education teachers and seven paraprofessionals; E.C. Best Elementary has 35 students with disabilities, three special education teachers and one paraprofessional; Lahontan Elementary has 51 students with disabilities, three special education teachers and five paraprofessionals; Churchill County Middle School has 104 students with disabilities, eight special education teachers and eight paraprofessionals; and Churchill County High School has 140 students with disabilities, 11 special education teachers and 8 paraprofessionals.

“Sixteen percent of children enrolled in the district are identified as having a disabled condition,” Jensen said. “That number is down 20 percent from May.”

Kimi Melendy, director of Educational Services, presented to the trustee’s information of her findings for the Nevada Comprehensive Curriculum Audit Tool. Melendy said CCSD has a strong educational department and administrative support. She said the CCSD staff is starting to understand, support and implement the Nevada Academic Content Standards. She said there is still room to grow in the district for improvements.