DCS Board discusses 3 mill property tax renewal; makes personnel changes
Demopolis City Board of Education members tabled the issue of salary adjustments for teachers’ aides at the meeting Monday.
Supt. Kyle Kallhoff presented the proposal which would eliminate the current three-tiered schedule and combine it into one. Since all the designated aides do essentially the same job, he recommended adjusting the two lower levels to the highest one. With the adjustment, all aides then would make between $21,104 and $24,445.
Board member Jim Stanford said revising aide salaries would cause problems with other employees, especially lunchroom workers, who would ask for their own raise.
“We looked at something before, and it would have broken the system” to give everyone a salary hike, said Stanford.
Olen Kerby added that the board is about to ask Demopolis residents to approve a 3-mil property tax renewal, and approving the salaries now would give the appearance that the system doesn’t need the funding.
Raising the salaries of the some 20 aides would cost the system $42,375, Kallhoff said. He added that the entire salary schedule will be studied during the coming school term with the hope of making adjustments before the following year.
The board authorized attorney Alex Braswell to request the 3-mil tax be included on the November ballot.
The board approved the first reading of a revision to the Student Promotion and Retention Policy. It would bring the advancement policy in grades 1-2 in line with grades 3-5, requiring 60 percent passing grades instead of the current 70 percent.
The revision also would limit retention of only one year for grades K-2 and for grades 3-5 to prevent an overage child in later grades.
A public hearing on the revision is scheduled July 26 at 4 p.m. in the board room.
The board accepted the resignation of Leslie Gibbs, Demopolis High English teacher.
New hires include:
- Brian Allen, DHS English teacher
- Byron Franklin, School Alternative Program director at DMS
- Sam Masters, DMS lunchroom worker
- Jonathan Casey Moore, DMS Special Education teacher.
Connie Davis will receive a $5,000 supplement to coordinate technical education for the school year.
Kallhoff said interviews of the four candidates for band director and three applicants for K-5 instructional coach should be this week. The board will vote on the hires at a called meeting Monday, July 25, at 10 a.m.
Board members also set a one-hour work session for Aug. 2 at 5 p.m. to discuss the system’s strategic plan and review the results of the ACT Aspire testing.
In other action, the board approved:
- Renewal of website services from Blackboard
- Ice cream bid from Mayfield Dairies
- Milk bid from Borden
- Disposal of surplus equipment
- DMS Beta Club trip to Birmingham Feb. 22-24, 2017
- DMS trip to New York City Jan. 25-28, 2017
- Dues for Rotary Club and Demopolis City Business Council for Kallhoff totaling $225.
At the conclusion of the meeting, members inspected the system’s new bus delivered last week.