AISD trustees review personnel changes
By Melinda L. Lucas
The resignations of several veteran educators were accepted with regrets at the Monday, March 20 meeting of the AISD school board, and one new teacher was offered a contract.
Superintendent Jonathan Scott stated that secondary science teacher Dwayne Norton and PE teacher/coach Ginger Norton would both be retiring at the end of the school year, both of them 30+ year educators, 22 of that with Albany ISD.
Elementary PEIMS director Lillian Wheeler, who has been with the district for 35 years, is retiring, and elementary teacher Shelby Coffee submitted her resignation as well, citing plans to “pause” her career for family reasons.
The resignation of secondary special ed aide Jennifer Bowman, who left before spring break, was also accepted.
Scott announced that he had learned prior to the meeting that school nurse Jessica Myers will be moving to Amarillo because her husband has accepted a job there, so that position will be another vacancy.
“I think education in general is a challenge right now,” said Scott. “We’re seeing this trend (of teachers leaving the industry) across the nation.”
Mr. Norton in particular will be hard to replace, Scott said, because he teaches in-person dual credit science classes.
The superintendent reviewed the vacant positions at each campus, commenting that Sheila Hogan had come back as secondary cafeteria director, and Monica Medrano had been offered the special ed aide position.
“There has been quite a bit of interest in the coaching positions on the girls side, with about 15 applicants,” Scott said. “There are a lot of possibilities for maneuvering positions.”
Elementary Teacher
NSES principal John Gallagher recommended that Albany native Kirstin Hilliard be hired for the first grade position being vacated by the retirement of Roxanne Raymond.
She was offered a one-year probationary contract by unanimous vote of the board.
Hilliard is currently with the Breckenridge ISD and will complete all her certification requirements in April.
Contracts Extended
One-year contract extensions or employment agreements were approved for district business manager Angelyn Faith, director of student services Leigh Lowe, district administrative assistant Lynsi Musselman, director of technology Matthew Howard, director of athletics and maintenance Ryder Peacock, district librarian Jenny Scott, and band director William Vaughan.
The contract terms for the various positions range from 10.5 months to 12 months.
ESSER Info
Scott reviewed the ESSER II and III spending plans, commenting that the ESSER II funds need to be spent by Aug. 31.
Costs for the new interactive whiteboards installed in most classrooms using ESSER funding were about $28,000 under projections and salaries were over, so some amendments will need to be made to the ESSER budget, he said.
Pay Scale Review
The superintendent told the board that he has requested a special TASB review in order to possibly update the district’s staff pay scale.
“Our pay scales are pretty old, and they need to be adjusted,” he said. “It does cost for this service, but it’s complicated, and they are used to doing it. It’s better than me trying to create it myself.”
The process will start on March 27.
Scott also commented that it is believed that the state teacher salary base will change in the coming legislative session.
He went over stipends and what the district pays above base for various teachers.
Other Business
•The board election on May 6 was cancelled because there are no opposed races.
•Trustees approved use of the football stadium May 7 by the Feed Store and okayed the renewal of student accident and health catastrophic coverage.
