Holden R-III School District  teachers will find their paychecks a little larger next year as the school board approved district superintendent Scott Slava’s certified salary schedule recommendation.

The superintendent’s proposal which was passed unanimously, calls for an increase in the teacher base salary by $1,850 - raising from $27,000 to $28,850 with appropriate movement.

In addition, two steps were added to each column reaching a 23-year maximum in the last column.  There will also be a one-time commitment of a $500 stipend to anyone with frozen salaries following the adding of the two steps for the 2006-2007 school year.

Teacher contract length will increase by one day to 182, and the district will cover the anticipated health insurance premium hike for each employee.

The district will increase the current summer school salary from $18 per hour to $22, and add three additional certified positions - a second-grade teacher, a fourth-grade teacher, and a counselor to spend time at both the high school and middle school.

Superintendent Slava also called for more research into determining who has lost movement due to past salary schedule freezes and the cost of placing them on the schedule were those freezes not to have occurred.

Other areas of research include:  Looking into providing an incentive amount per additional credit hour taken by the teacher to encourage further education; and looking into column movement requiring only credit hours with separation of the master’s and specialist’s degrees into a stipend situation.

The recommendation also calls for a committee to be formed to study the equalization of attaining national certification in a teacher’s area of expertise and whether the levels of work needed to attain the certification are comparable.

By Steve Sullins
Editor

It was out with the old and in with the new at City Hall last Tuesday night, as the old administration finished its business and the post-election administration was sworn in.

Before swearing in the new mayor and council members, the council accepted the bid of Dale Perkins Janitorial Services to do the cleaning at city buildings.  Councilwoman Brenda Stumpff proposed Perkins because he has liability insurance, 26 years experience in the field, stocks all supplies for waxing and  is already bonded. 

Perkins’ contract will call for cleaning city hall, fire department and police department three times a week for a total of $845 per month.  There will also be a $30 charge for cleaning after extra events.

Previous council members also certified the April 4 election results. 

Taking the oath of office for next year’s city council and mayor were Mike Wakeman who succeeds Terry Hedglin as mayor, Veronica Burt,  Brenda Stumpff, Charles “Butch” Shore, write-in candidate James Robison and Michael Zumwalt. 

Robison won the Ward III two-year term by virtue of his getting two write-in votes.  There were also two for Norman Johnson, but city officials were unable to locate anyone with that name.  Ward II’s one-year term is yet to be named, as four persons received one write-in vote. 

Of those, James Sollars was not interested, while Justin Parsons and Christi Stowe indicated they would be.  However, Steven Frazier, who also received a vote, had not been contacted to see if he was interested.  Hedglin said a certified letter would be sent to him, and the council person for that ward would be sworn in next month.

One of the first orders of business in the new administration’s meeting was to elect Butch Shore as mayor pro-tem. 

The city clerk, city treasurer, police chief, street commissioner, city engineer and building inspector were all ratified under the new administration.  The only change was Mayor Wakeman naming Larry Miller fire chief, a position that Wakeman had just vacated.

New committee appointments included:  Fire committee, Stumpff, chairman and Zumwalt; street committee, Chad Manford, chairman, and Robison; police committee, Shore chairman, and Stumpff; water committee, Shore chairman; building committee, Zumwalt, chairman, and Manford; ways and means, Ward II representative, chairman, and Burt; zoning committee, Robison, chairman, and Dorothy Wakeman; utilities committee, Burt, chairman, and Ward II representative; park committee, Wakeman, chairman, Manford and Burt; economic development, Robison, chairman, Shore and Burt.

Mayor Wakeman said he would announce members of citizen’s committees and boards as soon as he had the opportunity to contact them.

Councilman Shore stated he was sure the newly-formed Clay Street renovation committee members would be willing to continue in their present positions.

In the department head reports, street commissioner Miller reported that after April 30, ETS Recycling will no longer accept any tin or plastics except milk jugs.

He also asked for $15,000 to resurface the shoulders concurrently when MoDot resurfaces Second Street from Highway 131 to Clay Street.  He stated if it wasn’t done at the same time the state resurfaced 24 feet down the middle of the street, there would be a drop-off in parking areas on the street.  The council passed the request.

Miller also said the city should be setting-up a city-wide cleanup day and obtain bids for its trash pick-up service.  A date of May 20 was tentatively selected.

Police chief Ed Bone reported that well over 100 children had been photographed and fingerprinted in a child identity program held at the city park and the First Baptist Church.  He also stressed that parents may bring their children to the police station to sign up for the program as well.

In new business, a resident at 303 S. Olive was granted 50 percent of the cost of constructing a new sidewalk in front of his property at a total cost of $1,476.  The property owner had originally applied in June of 2005, but sidewalk replacement funds had been depleted at that time.  According to Mayor Wakeman, there is money in the fund at present.

Rick Childers of Pioneer Trails Regional Planning Commission, spoke to the commission of his organizations services.

In Mayor Wakeman’s communications to the council, he stressed the need for each council person to get out into their wards and listen to the wishes of their citizens.  He stated that he wants votes by council members to be the wishes of the people and not on their personal views. He summed it up by saying, “Put the citizens first.”

By Steve Sullins
Editor

Mike Watterson and Pat Zvacek received the oath of office at the Holden R-III District School Board’s regular meeting held Thursday in the middle school library.

The two were re-elected to the board after receiving the most votes in the April 4 election.  Watterson received 457 votes, while Zvacek garnered 375. 

After the new board was in place, Jeff Miller was re-elected as board president and Watterson was given the vice-president nod.  Both Patty Raker and Susan Feeback retained their positions as secretary and treasurer respectively.

Other appointments on the new board were Jim Wallace as Missouri School Board Association (MSBA) board delegate, and Rodger McConville as his alternate.

All-state choir members Tim Billingsley and Natalie Enneking performed for the new board, singing pieces that had won them I ratings at the recent district music contest.  They will join 15 other music and instrumental students competing at the state festival to be held April 28 on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Assistant high school principal Nancy Daniel was recognized for her work with the school’s A+ designation and it was also reported that  high school principal Matt Lindsey had received the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principal’s Consummate Professional award.  Lindsey stated that the best thing about the award was that it carried with it a scholarship for a deserving student.

In student recognitions, Superintendent Slava praised the school’s FFA program for its large amount of state participants.  He also shared that five seventh-graders had been identified as 2006 Duke TIP talent search winners.  They are Morgan Griggs, Alexa Hill, Morgan Miller, Alec Morrison and Michelle Rivera.

In the superintendent’s report, Slava reported that monthly attendance figures showed the schools averaging in the middle 90 percent range and that the food service financial report was well into the black.

In an update on the drug policy for extracurricular participation, he stated that they were still looking at a more stringent policy, with the end result being random testing.  He also stated that a nurse practitioner and a Johnson County Sheriff’s department detective spoke to teachers and staff in a recent in-service about identification of drug users.

The district’s public relations coordinator and grant writer Dawn Myers delivered a community relations report which included figures for participation at parent-teacher conferences, exit survey results of staff members leaving the district and publication of student involvement.

The high school principal and intermediate school principal Donna Fizer gave reports on their school’s activities during MAP testing and Fizer also reported on curriculum and instruction in the district.

The board also rejected the latest bids in the central office improvement project.  Larry Arnone, director of auxiliary services, suggested that the district serving as its own general contractor and doing some of the work in-house would save money.  Bids ranging from $68,500 to $81,200 had been received to accomplish the building’s renovation.

Board members got their first look at the preliminary 2006-2007 budget and set future regular meetings to be held the second monday of the month at the elementary/intermediate library at 7 p.m.

In executive meeting personnel actions, the retirment application from James Becker, elementary/intermediate music teacher was accepted.  Resignations were also accepted from Scott Teufel, high school English and coaching duties; Stephanie Othic, middle school math teacher; and Robert Parks, bus mechanic.

The board approved the hiring of Josh Eftink, high school assistant baseball coach; Shelli Tilden, elementary teacher; Robin Eissler, intermediate school teacher; Brenda Madsen, elementary school teacher; and Amy Allen, intermediate school teacher.

By Steve Sullins
Editor