arapahoe school board raises salaries to stay Competitive
ARAPAHOE – During the monthly meeting on February 13, the board approved a base rate increase to $14.00 effective immediately for all classified staff. They also approved increases for hourly employees based on the years employed by the district.
The board also acted on several personnel items for the 2023/2024 school year. The negotiated agreement with the Arapahoe Education Association for teachers’ salaries was approved, as was an amendment to the superintendent contract. The board accepted the resignation of 6th grade teacher Terri Johansen, effective at the end of this school year and approved the hirings of Molly Wendland and Emily Pearson as elementary teachers for next year.
The board approved the ESU 11(Holdrege) Master Service Agreement, the ESU 16 (Ogallala) Southwest NE Distance Education Network Agreement, and the ESU 10(Kearney) Agreement for Dead/Hard of Hearing Services.
For the past several months, the board has reviewed and adopted policies from KSB School Law. The board adopted another set of policies during the February meeting. When all of the policies have been adopted, tentatively in April, the entirety of the policies will go into effect.
An ESU in-service will be held on February 20 for staff members for developing the Continuous School Improvement goal for the next cycle.
There will also be discussions regarding meeting the needs of special needs students.
Supt. Bob Drews shared that April 17 is Legislative Advocacy Day. The goal is to engage with senators and watch floor debate.
He also reported that the district is receiving several responses to the perpetual surveys. The surveys cover the same basic concepts about climate, and programming and practices but are worded differently for the various groups (elementary students, secondary students, parents, support staff, certified staff). The intent is to analyze the data before the March meeting. This information will be used as part of the School Improvement Process.
According to Drews, the longterm plan is to use this Nebraska Department of Education survey every year.
