Rogers School District creates new administrative position

ROGERS -- The School District is creating a position to help improve instruction and curriculum at the secondary level.

Instead of working mainly in the central office, the new director of secondary curriculum and instructional support will travel to the various schools to work with building administrators, academic facilitators and teachers.

New principals hired

The Rogers School District has chosen new principals for two elementary schools losing their principals to retirement. Jennifer Little, assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School for the past seven years, will take over for Jennie Rehl at Grace Hill Elementary School. Katie Mays, assistant principal at Northside Elementary School for two and a half years, will replace Johnnie Wilbanks at Frank Tillery Elementary School.

Source: Staff Report

"What we want is to focus on instructional improvement, and this position will allow us to do that," said Robert Moore, an assistant superintendent who oversees secondary education.

The School Board approved the position at its meeting Tuesday. It will be a cost-neutral move, officials said.

"Mr. Moore has rolled two positions he currently has into this one position, so he's not adding to his existing staff," said Janie Darr, superintendent.

The position will be advertised and the person hired will begin the job July 1. That person's primary duties will include doing classroom observations, providing feedback to staff members, and collaborating with other district officials on strategies for improving instructional practices.

Teachers and facilitators are performing well, but the administrator should enhance what they're doing, Moore said.

"We all can improve every single day," Moore said. "Continuous improvement is a goal of ours."

In another administrative move approved by the board Tuesday, the director of career and technical education's position was changed from part-time to full-time. Dawn Stewart fills the role now and will continue in it, Moore said.

The position used to be full-time, but has been part-time for the past six or seven years, Moore said. The change back to full-time was recommended in recognition of the increased importance of preparing students for the workforce straight out of high school.

"We have lots of kids going straight from graduation to work," Moore said. "We have a very good college-going rate in Rogers. But not every kid goes to college."

The director works with career and technical education teachers to improve instructional practices, communicates regularly with community partners to develop and maintain positive relationships, and coordinates all career and technical programs.

In other business, the board approved a salary schedule for the 2015-16 school year, including a significant change to the way classified staff are paid.

In preparing the budget for the next school year, administrators noticed salaries for noncertified staff members were on unequal steps, said Mark Sparks, deputy superintendent. Employees were receiving big pay increases early in their career, but then received much smaller increases in later years.

A bus driver's pay, for example, increases by about $700 from step one to step two, but by only $136 from step 20 to step 21 under the salary schedule.

All non-certified salary schedules will now be limited to 23 equal steps. No employee will lose income on the new schedule.

Sparks said the change will be good for both employees and the district. It will entice more workers to stay with the district for a longer time, he said.

The board also approved buying five buses from Central States Bus Sales at the lowest-bid of $94,250 per bus, a total cost of $471,250. Meanwhile, the district is putting up for sale 12 used buses, the newest of which is 14 years old, according to Jim White, chief operations officer.

The district might not find buyers for all 12 buses, but they will be available to any other district in the state, White said.

NW News on 04/22/2015

Upcoming Events