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- Juab School District board members are asked for explanations of recent layoffs
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
There were some questions that Jennifer Rowley, Nephi, would like school district board members to answer—chief among them was why some decisions had been made concerning teachers.
“I am here for teachers,” said Rowley. “I was here last month supporting the need for teachers.”
If some provisional teachers were eliminated because of the lack of funds needed for salaries, then why, she asked, were other teachers being hired?
She was speaking of the provisional teachers who had received notices last month that their services were no longer needed by the district. Four of those provisional teachers, those who have taught in the district for three or less years and, therefore, are not tenured, were notified that they would not be needed for the coming school year.
“It is crazy to let people go and then hire other teachers,” said Rowley.
Why, she asked, could one of those teachers not have been transferred to Mona to help with the class size there where one grade is so overfull? Another of those provisional teachers could have been moved up a grade.
The idea had been put forth that the teachers were let go because they were not needed where they were teaching. However, why could they not be moved around?
“That way a job in our community could be preserved for someone who lives in our community,” she said.
However, Delanie Hathaway, board president said that those teachers who had been let go would be allowed, along with other teachers, to apply for the few new openings.
“Where can be save the teachers?” asked Rowley. “How can we save them?”
In order for district schools to be accredited, class size was important.
Her family, she said, was filled with educators. That gave her some background to fall back on in considering some of the questions she was asking.
Rowley pointed out that the superintendent of Juab School District, Dr. Kirk Wright, was paid $108,187 annually. For that salary he supervised five schools: three elementary schools, one junior high school and one high school.
“I obtained this information from Utah’s Right to Know website [http://www.utahsright.com/],” she said. “The figures are for the top paid administrators (superintendents) in the district.”
The superintendents in surrounding areas, except for the superintendent in Nebo School District, all received less. In Nebo, she said, the superintendent was paid $139,241. However, he was over 37 schools and 26,000 students.
In North Sanpete, the superintendent was paid $94,519 and had five elementary schools, one junior high and one high school, for a total of seven schools, under his management.
South Sanpete’s superintendent was paid $96,484 and had seven schools to supervise: three elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools.
Tintic School District paid the superintendent $92,844 and that was for supervision of a district consisting of five schools: three elementary schools and two high schools.
Beaver School District paid their superintendent $97,703 to be over five schools, thee elementary/middle schools and two high schools.
“This is business and is not personal,” said Rowley.
If the superintendent were to take a cut, she asked, what sort of cut would he take? He had volunteered to do so but, if he took a 25 percent cut, that would be almost enough to pay for a first-year teacher.
The state average yearly salary for a beginning teacher is in the neighborhood of $25,000, or roughly $2,500 per month for nine months.
“When we made the decision to pay the superintendent, years ago, we put his salary right in the middle of the pack for districts of our same size,” said Hathaway.
Even with the 25 percent cut to his salary, which Rowley had suggested, said Hathaway, it would not amount to a teacher’s salary with the benefits included.
“What do those benefits amount to—$11,000 annually?” asked Rowley.
When the district was talking cuts, she said, they needed to remember that the teacher in the classroom was the most important to preserving class sizes that allowed for good teaching to take place. For example, she said, one of her children had been in a class of 35 Kindergarten students several years ago. That was not a good situation.
“I would like for every option to be looked at,” said Rowley.
“It pains us to lose teachers,” said Greg Rowley, husband of Jennifer. “We shouldn’t be losing good teachers. Look at the budget by line item.”
That should be done as part of the review process.
J. Rowley said she was wondering why the district would determine to hire two part-time teachers in Mona rather than transferring one of the full-time provisional teachers.
“I guess it is because you would pay less for two teachers without benefits because part-time employees do not have insurance benefits,” she said.
The job sharing position being considered in Mona, said Wright, was first suggested by the principal of Mona Elementary.
He said the district was still going through the process of trying to find where they could make cuts and still keep class sizes low.
“In a big district, they always have attrition,” he said.
Until recently, on a national level, district efforts have been to offer early retirement packages as incentives to cause attrition of the most senior teachers. The primary motivation has been to reduce the cost of these high salary employees by replacing them with less expensive younger educators.
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