Swan Valley School Board
SWAN VALLEY – The Swan Valley School Board looked at more affordable prices for the proposed reader board on Highway 83 and discussed different options for bringing the current salary schedule up to date at their Feb. 6 meeting.
The school board has been discussing the potential for a reader board to be located on Highway 83 for the past several months. Mercer said the idea came about as a way to promote school pride, one of the elements in the strategic plan for this year.
“Part of our goal in the strategic plan is for the school to really be the heart of the community. This is one of the ways we can reach out and do that and give back to the community,” said Mercer. “[It will also] help recognize our kids and staff and the things that go on around here, communicate news and important information for the valley and support the community when stuff is going on.”
The board intends to not only highlight the school but also use it as a communication tool for the valley. Since everyone in town typically drives by the school at least once a day, it would serve as an information point on the highway. This would be an effective way to provide emergency notifications to residents and tourists and bring awareness to community meetings and events.
“We want the school to feel like it can play a lead role and be a center focal point of the community,” said board member Jimmy Boyd.
Mercer presented the board with digital signs that are between $4,000-$5,000 instead of the $15,000-$20,000 price tag they looked at during the last meeting. For a two-sided 69 inch by 36 inch LED sign, the cost would be less than $4,400 including shipping. Cost increases depending on the graphics included for the display.
Superintendent Chris Stout recommended, based on his experience with the sign at Seeley Lake Elementary, that the sign must be easily programmable. While having a display large enough for three lines of text is really nice, “the graphics and color are overrated.” He also informed the board that they have received unofficial approval to locate the sign where they marked with a sawhorse.
The board discussed whether the sign should be mounted on a pedestal or housed within a log or stone structure.
Boyd said that the simple pedestal signs could be built into landscaping and look really sharp. He did not favor the log idea because nothing at the school is log and if the logs weren’t oiled and kept up it will look poor.
“The pedestal is much simpler to just get installed and then the landscaper gets big boulders,” said Boyd. “While the pedestal may not be as nice, they have no dating to them. When you do landscaping with boulder or stone, it is easy to make it look like the natural surroundings and it doesn’t matter what is going on with the school.”
Mercer thinks stone would be really attractive but isn’t sure on the cost. Boyd agreed to explore design options and costs comparisons. Mercer will further research the technology used for the various signs to make sure it will fit their needs.
Once the board has a pretty good estimate of the cost, Mercer said they will try to figure out how to pay for it. They school has some funds and may approach local groups.
“It was very daunting when we were first looking at $21,000 just for the sign. It is outrageous. But getting that part down to about $4,000 or so, then we can figure out the rest of the pieces, how to put it together and make it more attractive,” said Mercer.
While the board intends the reader board will replace the current sign for the school, they agreed that it should be kept because of its historical significance.
Discussion then shifted to salary schedules and base compensation for teachers and staff at Swan Valley School. The last time the base salary was increased was in 2015. Since 2015, the cost of living has increased 6.2 percent. If 2016 is used, since the year is split, then the cost of living increased 5.1 percent.
“What that means, just in order to keep the base level in the same dollars as it was in 2015, we have to look at 5.1 percent increase,” said Mercer.
Stout said that he doesn’t think the salary schedule is the problem, it is that nothing has changed for several years. Right now teachers receive a $565 increase between steps rather than a percentage.
Mercer said that when he looked at other schools, the school base is low because it hasn’t been adjusted for a few years but otherwise comparable. Where the school falls short is in the raises as teachers receive more education and increases for years worked. He noted a $10,000 difference in salary in some cases.
Stout explained that 10 years ago rural districts were top heavy on teachers who were approaching retirement. A percentage increase was too much for districts to pay teachers making significantly more and the base salary was too low to attract new teachers. The school adjusted the salary schedule to balance this out. Swan Valley School sacrificed the percentage increase for the steps and lanes to increase the base salary to attract people.
Stout said he would like to see a percentage increase on the base that would work for this year that is retroactive as of July 1. The board would then need to look at adopting a different salary schedule for 2019-2020 that takes into account the current circumstances for the coming years at Swan Valley School.
“If nothing else you want to treat people right but you also want to keep up with the actual cost of doing business because you are living in fantasy land otherwise,” said Stout.
The board asked District Clerk Heather Mincey to prepare a 2.5, 3 and 3.5 percent base salary increase proposal for the next meeting with the intent to approve a base salary increase for the 2018-2019 school year. They will continue to the discussion on the salary schedule in the spring.
“My goal was that by July 1 we would address this but this is even better because we are doing something right now. Then we can look at the entire salary schedule and look at what makes sense within that context,” said Mercer.
In other business, the board discussed the request to install a doorway between the two junior high classrooms. This would allow the junior high teacher to supervise students when they are working in both rooms as well as close it off when needed. The board agreed that Stout should get a rough estimate and pursue more information as to the permits needed, if any, and then putting it on the next agenda for further discussion.
The board asked for a list of facility maintenance projects to review at the next meeting including the project rational, priority, time frame and cost estimate.
Security cameras have arrived. Stout hopes to get them up and running and connected to at least the screen in the office in the next couple of weeks.
Swan Valley resident and musician Katie Wright will start teaching music on Tuesdays. Sixth through eighth graders will learn guitar, middle grades will learn ukulele and general music will be taught to the youngest students. They are also pursuing a community member to teach brass instruments.
The board approved the $36 purchase for the lights to illuminate the flagpole, a request at the January meeting.
The next meeting will be 6 p.m. March 12 at Swan Valley Elementary School.
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