JUNCTION CITY — The Junction City School Board approved a substitute teacher pay increase at its meeting Tuesday.
The new daily rate of $70 breaks down to $8.75 an hour, 25 cents more than the Arkansas minimum wage rate.
“Four years ago, we were at $60. We went to $65, $68 (and now) $70. It’s still less than what a paraprofessional makes,” said Superintendent Robby Lowe.
After a phone call with ERC architect Michael Rogers, Lowe reported to the board that the district should expect to open bids on Tuesday as scheduled.
“We may need to have a special board meeting to approve the bids but if we’re not in a big hurry, we’ll just do it in April,” the superintendent said. “(The state) had sent back some minor modifications for him to make to his documents. He’s in the process of doing that but doesn’t foresee it as an issue. Worst case scenario, we’ll be one week late opening bids and that’s really not that big of a deal.”
Lowe said the district is going to do maintenance projects on the football field, which includes a new drainage system and crowning. District employees will do most of the work, but ERC and the county will provide assistance.
In addition to showing excitement for several of the school’s competitive teams, high school Principal Joy Mason said that Larry Bell strategies including the 12 Powerful Words are working in the classroom.
Words like “analyze,” “evaluate” or “infer” may trip a student on the ACT Aspire, but Larry Bell’s strategies converts them into student-friendly phrases.
Through six-minute “bell ringers” students reinforce test-taking skills, concepts and strategies they’ve learned before. At the elementary school, students sing and dance to an original song that incorporates the words, Lowe said.
“That’s something that’s in lesson plans and as I walk around, you can hear how different teachers are implementing the 12 Powerful Words and how they’re getting those across to the students,” she said. “I like it and I really think that the motivation, the high energy is extremely important … The teachers, their feedback has been ‘We want to make it our own.”
The board also approved the resignations of kindergarten teacher Kelsey Jones, high school math teacher Emily Smith and junior high math teacher Roxanne Robison, effective May 30.
The Junction City School Board’s next meeting is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. April 10 in the special programs meeting room.
Brittany Williams may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter and like her on Facebook @BWilliamsEDNT for updates on Union County school news.