By Pat Culverhouse
Qualifying Webster Parish teachers will be receiving a one time pay boost in the form of stipends after parish school board members approved the payments during a Monday special meeting.
Money to provide the extra checks will be coming from funds provided by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE). Following a lengthy debate, board members agreed to disperse the roughly $144,000 in each of the four options provided by LDOE.
Director of Business and Finance Crevonne Odom said stipend checks per teacher would be $476.37, adding that those who qualify in multiple options will receive multiple checks in that amount. Odom told board members 303 qualifiers were identified, with that number reflecting those in more than one option.
While the LDOE outlined options available, Odom reminded the board that only they could determine which options would be chosen and how the money would be distributed to qualifying teachers.
“Only the school district can select the options and decide how the money is to be spent within the options the LDOE has come up with,” Odom said.
Four options outlined by the state education department are:
• Option 1: Teachers in critical shortage areas per Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). Those areas are secondary mathematics (grades 6-12), secondary science (grades 6-12) and special education (grades K-12).
• Option 2: Highly effective teachers as defined in R.S. 17:381 through 3095 and Bulletin 130—regulations for the evaluation and assessment of school personnel. Odom said Webster Parish would use fiscal year 2-22-23 results.
• Option 3: Teachers working in high need schools defined as those with an economically disadvantaged rate of 85 percent or greater. Only Brown Upper Elementary meets the outlined criteria.
• Option 4: Teachers in leadership positions. Classroom teachers who are appointed to lead weekly teacher collaborations or those who serve as academic/instructional coaches tormentors.
To be eligible for the LDOE stipends, an employee must be a full-time teacher, including Temporary Authority to Teach (TAT) teachers. Teachers who retired during the current fiscal year are eligible and will receive 100 percent of the stipend.
Board members were told the LDOE money had to be distributed by May 1, and information for distribution needed to be received by April 8.
Land Swap
During Monday’s special meeting, board members agreed to a land swap with the city of Minden which would give the school board 3.84 acres, the site of Griffith Stadium and the home of Minden High School baseball.
In exchange, the city would acquire an identical 3.84 acres on Clerk St., located just east of the former Lowe School.
Attorney Paul Kitchens, who represents the board in the proposed property exchange, said the swap would be acre-for-acre with no money involved. He suggested the board declare the property as surplus to facilitate the exchange.
While the board will receive the baseball stadium, Kitchens said the exchange does not include the parking lot. Kitchens said the parking area has been used in the past with no problems, but agreed the board should consider a long-term lease since that property is not included in the swap.
Minden’s city council reportedly has already adopted a resolution agreeing to the trade and Kitchens said he would draft a similar document for the signature of the board’s authorized officer.