BENTONVILLE -- The School Board agreed Tuesday to move forward with its evaluation of Superintendent Debbie Jones.
The board typically conducts its evaluation of the superintendent in the first quarter of the year. But with most of the board's seven members preparing to depart next month, board president Eric White recommended moving forward with the next evaluation now.
Employee evaluations are yearlong things, he said.
"They don't happen at one point in time," he said. "If you're ever surprised at your evaluation, something went wrong. That's how the board has approached the superintendent evaluation."
At the end of each evaluation cycle, the board tacks another year onto the superintendent's contract to keep it a three-year contract. Other school boards operate similarly.
Board members discussed the timing of the evaluation at their meeting Tuesday before entering executive session to begin discussing Jones' evaluation.
This evaluation cycle comes two weeks before the Nov. 8 elections that will result in at least four of the seven current members dropping off the board. That's because White and fellow members Brent Leas, Matt Burgess and Mike Swanson decided not to run for reelection.
A fifth board member, Jennifer Faddis, has an opponent, Gail Pianalto, in her race for the Zone 2 seat.
A total of 12 people are running for the five board seats up for election next month.
Current board members Willie Cowgur and Kelly Carlson will remain on the board for at least another year.
In February, following its last annual evaluation of the superintendent, the board agreed to give Jones a one-year contract extension and a raise. Jones' contract runs through June 2025. Her salary this school year is $254,800, according to district documents.
Jones has been superintendent since July 2016.
Cowgur suggested moving the superintendent evaluation cycle to October so new board members elected each year in November have a full year on the job to evaluate the superintendent.
Burgess said the timing of the evaluation has never been totally consistent. He added it's "very, very difficult" for new board members to know enough to have meaningful input on the evaluation.
There's no law regarding the timing of superintendent evaluations, according to Tammie Reitenger, board development director at the Arkansas School Boards Association.
Until this year, each board member represented a specific zone of the School District, but the board agreed to restructure itself so five positions are based on geographic zones and two are at-large. Each of the five zoned seats are up for election this year. Once the board is seated after the November elections, members will draw a term length ranging from one to five years so their terms will be staggered. Board members normally serve five-year terms.
The board met in executive session late Tuesday for about an hour, then voted 6-0 to extend Superintendent Debbie Jones' contract by one year. Her contract now runs through June 30, 2026. Brent Leas was the only board member absent.
Leas did release a statement on Facebook Tuesday night saying he disagreed with the timing of the board's evaluation and contract extension for Jones, and that it breaks precedent.
"This truly seems to be an inappropriate time to make that assessment and in effect does take our constituents out of the equation," Leas stated in his post.
In other business at Tuesday's meeting, the board unanimously approved a guaranteed maximum price of $15,892,128 for a building addition and parking lot expansion at West High School.
This project will consist of adding 38,168 square feet of classroom instructional space, a family and consumer science/culinary kitchen, special education classrooms and performing arts space. There will be 341 parking spaces added on the west side of the campus and 140 spaces added on the east side, according to Paul Wallace, facilities director.
The school opened in 2016 with a capacity of 2,657 students. The expansion will add 630 seats, bringing capacity to 3,287 students, according to Wallace. West High is now at 91% capacity, he said.
The project will start in December and be completed by the spring of 2024, Wallace said.
The board also approved a pay increase for substitute teachers. Substitutes with only a high school diploma or associate degree will see an increase from $85.25 per day to $100 per day. Pay for someone with a bachelor's degree is rising from $92 to $115 per day. And pay for someone licensed as a teacher will increase from $100 to $130 per day.
The rate changes will take effect Monday.
Janet Schwanhausser, deputy superintendent and chief financial officer, said the substitute pay increase is necessary to stay competitive with other local school districts. The estimated financial impact for this school year is estimated at $378,160, she said.
The story was updated to include information about a late night vote.