WARREN COUNTY SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE CONFERENCING

Meets every other Tuesday from 4:00 - 5:00 at WCHS

Discussion and Decisions

This meeting was held on March 9, 2021 from 4:00 - 5:00 in the Warren County High School Multipurpose Room.

Duties of the facilitator will rotate among team members to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to have a voice.

These are open meetings and the public should be notified at least 24 hours in advance so that interested people can attend (within room capacity limits). Deana Jones will assist with the public notifications.

Discussion at future meetings will be limited to topics set on the agenda prior to the meeting date.

Topics for our next meeting:

•    Results from the poll of certified educators to define the areas of collaboration

Data Being Collected for the next meeting

Carl Curtis and Joanna Carden will pull together some basic data relating to salary, insurance, and budget from Warren County and surrounding counties to guide future discussions.

Certified educators will be polled to determine issues that are important to them. Results from this poll will be used to set future agendas and determine topics for collaboration.

** Meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 30 in the WCHS Multipurpose Room at 4 pm.

WCEA Representatives
Carrie Stotts Kim Woods Matthew Killian Brent Estes Allison Killian Joanna Carden Dana Mullican
WC Schools Management
Representatives
Candice Willmore Sonja Walker Mike Mansfield Vickie Dodd Carl Curtis Clark George Rachael Graves
Alternates
Grant Swallows (Management) Connie Bell (WCEA) Amanda Gibbs (WCEA)

March 30, 2021

WARREN COUNTY SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE CONFERENCING

Meets every other Tuesday from 4:00 - 5:00 at WCHS

Discussion and Decisions
This meeting was held on March 30, 2021 from 4:00 - 5:00 in the Warren County High School Multipurpose Room.

Discussion revolved around the results of the certified staff poll sent by Carrie Stotts. Data showed that the two most relevant topics to develop an MOU around were Salary / Wages and Insurance. This is common in rural districts and focusing on these items would give us time to realistically complete an MOU within our preferred time frame.

Carl Curtis and Joanna Carden shared the data they gathered regarding salaries in WC and surrounding counties. We also were able to carefully review the insurance offerings in WC, including the total costs, costs to the employee, and percentages and amounts paid by the state and school district.

Within the topic of Salary / Wages, team members discussed focusing on proposing guidelines for future schedule changes and equalization efforts.

Topics for our next meeting:

•    Review of surrounding county MOUs
•    Comparison of insurance offerings in surrounding counties
•    Salary and Wages
•    Inspection of the salary schedule
•    Comparison to surrounding counties

** Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 13 in at WCHS.

Discussion and Decisions

This meeting was held on April 13, 2021 from 4:00 - 5:00 in the Warren County High School Cafeteria. Joanna Carden and Matt Killian provided the group with examples of surrounding counties’ MOUs. Comparisons were made regarding the schedule of payment throughout the year and other points within the documents. Many counties focused on goals they had during the tenure of the MOU instead of specific directives regarding pay raises and staff bonuses.

A document was provided ranking Warren and surrounding counties in terms of insurance cost to the employee. We looked at this when insurance was only taken for the employee and when family coverage was selected.

Within the topic of Salary / Wages, team members discussed Warren and surrounding counties salary schedules. Vast differences were noted in the way the schedules were developed. Team members took time to inspect these schedules.

Data Being Collected for the next meeting

Team members should come to the next meeting ready to discuss specific goals related to salary schedules. We will find a common goal to focus on to guide the rest of our discussion. Our next meeting will be on April 27, 2021 in the WCHS Cafeteria.

WCEA Representatives

Carrie Stotts Kim Woods Matthew Killian Brent Estes Allison Killian Joanna Carden Dana Mullican

WC Schools Management Representatives

Candice Willmore Sonja Walker Mike Mansfield Vickie Dodd Carl Curtis Clark George Rachael Graves

Alternates

Grant Swallows (Management) Connie Bell (WCEA) Amanda Gibbs

(WCEA) WARREN COUNTY SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE CONFERENCING

Meets every other Tuesday from 4:00 - 5:00 at WCHS

Topics for our next meeting:

• Review of surrounding county MOUs

• Comparison of insurance offerings in surrounding counties

• Salary and Wages

• Specific goals for future development

** Meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 27 at WCHS. 

Discussion and Decisions

** Brent Estes submitted his resignation from the PECCA group
and Amanda Gibbs will be taking his place. These actions are pending WC School Board Approval.

Discussion centered on suggestions for improvement to the current salary schedule. One suggestion was made to attempt to normalize the step increases for each year of service over the life of the 3 year MOU. The first year of the MOU would focus on years 0-9 on the pay scale, year 2 would focus on years 10-19, and the final year of the MOU would finish years 20-30. Discussion continued on the concerns and merits of the idea. No decisions were reached at this meeting since further information was requested and will be collected to guide the discussion further.

Data Being Collected for the next meeting

-The break down of what the state pays and what the county pays per year of the salary schedule.
- The number of teachers at each level of the current pay scale.

Topics for our next meeting:
• Review data collected regarding pay scale
• Suggestions for improvement of insurance options and costs
• Determine what consensus looks like within this PECCA group
• Review SMART goal setting for the group

Discussion and Decisions

This meeting was held on October 11, 2022 from 4:00 - 5:00 in the Warren County High School Library.

Dr. Swallows visited with the team to share information about the new TISA funding model. Information related to the base amount that the district will be assigned for each student along with supplemental funding for students who fall into particular student groups. The new model could result in an increase in our funding for the upcoming school year.

Discussion from previous meetings continued surrounding teacher salaries. Matt Killian provided a chart outlining the current starting and ending pay for each degree level in Warren and surrounding counties. Also provided to team members was a pay scale that reflected to previously discussed options of a $500 or $750 increase. Dr. Swallows encouraged the team to think about possibilities that may be able to further increase the salary for Warren County Schools employees but cautioned team members about assigning a specific dollar amount until our new funding is made clear. 

The final discussion item was about providing supplemental pay for teachers who have to cover classes for other teachers’ absences. Dana Mullican shared parts of a conversation with an educator from a surrounding county to offer perspective on how this may be done already. Team members compared various schools’ methods of covering classes when subs are not available. Some school divide the students in other classes while others pull intervention and rotation teachers into classrooms for the day. Some schools rotate teachers who come in during their planning time to cover classes without subs. The question was posed that if the district has budgeted for paying subs could that money be used to pay the teachers who end up covering the classes instead. Vickie Dodd is going to follow up with Robin Phillips on the legal considerations for this idea.

Data Being Collected for the next meeting

Matt Killian would like to look into the options for outcome bonuses in the new TISA funding model so we can discuss what this could look like in Warren County in the future. Due to the busy upcoming season the November meeting will not be held. This will also give team members time to research and prepare opinions for discussion in December.

WCEA Representatives:

Carrie Stotts, Kim Woods, Matthew Killian, Amanda Gibbs, Allison Killian, Joanna Carden & Dana Mullican

WC Schools Management Representatives:

Candice Willmore, Sonja Walker, Mike Mansfield, Vickie Dodd, Carl Curtis, Clark George & Rachael Graves

Alternates:

Grant Swallows (Management) Connie Bell (WCEA)

Topics for our next meeting:

• Outcome bonus options

• Legal opinion on supplemental pay for teachers covering classes

** Meeting will take place on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at WCHS.