Minutes - October 18, 2017
Classified Staff Advisory
October 18, 2017
The following individuals were in attendance: Lynn Reynolds (EMHS); Tasha Medley (MGES); Maria (MLA); Crystal Douglas (CO); Beth Hall (SES); Martha Lalor (PSES); Kristy Buchman (MCEC); Jackie Jackson (EMS); Tina Woody (TES); Teresa Greene (CES); Martha Garner (GRES); and Tina Woody (WMHS). Absent: Clara Armstrong (WMS)
Dr. Ellis welcomed all in attendance, and thanked them for serving on this year’s Classified Staff Advisory. He reviewed the purpose of the meeting, for individuals to share information gathered from the meeting.
Those in attendance expressed celebration for a smooth start to the school year.
Construction Update
Dr. Ellis noted that the new central high school is one of the biggest things happening in Montgomery County. It was anticipated there would be a $6 billion bid for the site work. The bid was actually $2.3 million. Once the site work is complete there will be a beautiful flat space for the new central high school and CTE center that will be shared with the community college. The building pads should be complete in February. A road for the new high school is now visible from Glen Road. A retention pond is also visible. The building bid will post on October 31st. The projected price is $54 million, which includes $43 million for the high school and $11 million for the CTE Center. If bids come in over that amount adjustments will have to be made to the design to lower the price.
Just a little trivia - The contract to build the original West Montgomery High School was built for $358,000 in July of 1960.
K-3 Class Size/Budget
In the state budget was buried the idea of reducing K-3 class sizes. It is a wonderful idea, however no additional money was allocated to make it happen. This year districts got a reprieve to reduce classes by 1 student. This required MCS to hire 4 teachers across the district which cost $200,000. Next year, the class size has to drop by 4. In preparing for next year, the prediction is that the district will need to hire 15 teachers in order to accomplish the new class size mandated by the law. This will cost the district over $700,000 unless the state provides money to help with the mandate. Not only is the cost of this problematic for our district, but also the issue of finding certified teachers to fill these positions.
The district has decreased from 79 to 42 teacher assistants since Dr. Ellis has been here due to continued budget cuts.
A plan will have to be put in place to address this issue. Some ideas are: 1) Cut teachers out of grades 4-12 and reallocate them to K-3. 2) Cut all teacher assistants and replace with teachers. Dr. Ellis believes this is the intent of the General Assembly, however he does not think this is realistic for our district. It is his “hope” that the General Assembly will reevaluate this. If not, we will be developing a plan that could include ideas from both options.
Montgomery County Schools is currently on a hiring freeze. This will also be honored at the Central Office. Until we have a viable solution to the class size dilemma.
There is $3 million dollars in fund balance. Funds could be used, however this would only last for 4 years before the district would exhaust all funds.
The county commissioners have tried to help the schools by allocating additional funds to help with budget cuts incurred by the state.
There is a possibility for the first time that a RIF, reduction in force, could happen.
Questions
Any assistant that has to have a sub cannot take special days or annual leave days when kids are in school. If they have a need to have a day off, they are then forced to use sick days which can affect whether or not they receive merit pay. Do you feel this is fair to these assistants? Sick days should only be taken when an individual is sick. There is NOTHING fair about merit pay. But, the goal for MCS was to be as fair as possible when implementing the bonus in the district.
Why does certified staff only get recognized for perfect attendance by both count office and the schools? That is part of the strategic plan. If you think that is something that needs to be done please talk to your principal and IF to bring up at the mid-year and end of year reviews to be discussed.
What happens to sick leave and annual leave for bus drivers if it is not used by the time we retire? Sick leave is calculated as time worked when you retire. So for every 20 days, it’s an extra month of service you will receive when retiring. It is added to your retirement. Annual leave is paid out. If you resign, sick leaves stays with you for 5 years. Annual leave is paid out when you resign, unless you are going to another educational position.
Will the assistants get a bonus this year? This year merit pay was NOT included for classified staff. It was allocated for principals.
A few of our classified staff wanted me to ask about why 4 of the 5 no days were put at the end of the year. Why are they not distributed over the school year on other days? The calendar law states that you have to start on a Monday closest to August 25thand end on June 10th. If June 10this on the weekend it has to end the Friday closest to that date. This year August 25thfell on a Friday, so the calendar committee agreed to start on the Monday, August 28th. (3 days were lost) June 10thfell on a Sunday. (2 days were lost with school ending on the Friday before) Based on all other events that were needed to be included in the calendar the No days had to be added to the end.
Should we be clocked in when we are working at that school? Yes, if you are required to work, you should be clocked in. At some point you should be given time off if you are working over your allotted time. This would include after-hours time, such as the fall carnival.
Dr. Ellis thanked everyone for their dedication and work in the district. He encouraged all to talk with their principal to elevate the perfect attendance issue for classified staff.