School board tables staff bonuses, hiring support staff

A proposal to pay all Maricopa Unified School District employees a one-time, 1-percent bonus was derided by several elementary teachers and was the nexus of a lively debate by Governing Board members at its meeting Wednesday.

Ultimately tabled by the school board, the action item also included a request to hire additional support staff for the elementary schools and approve job reclassifications with pay raises for about a dozen administrative staff. The combined package would have cost $338,000, money that MUSD officials said was carried over from the 2010-2011 school year and must be spent by June 30.

During the call to the public, about 10 elementary teachers told the board the $235,000 earmarked for 1-percent bonuses should instead be used to hire full-time music and physical education teachers along with library aides for the six elementary schools.

Amanda Ball, a second-grade teacher at Butterfield Elementary, said her bonus would only amount to $1.29 a day.

This is the fourth year MUSD staff have not had a raise.

Because of increased work demands after last year’s staff reductions, she said elementary teachers now have only 60 minutes a week for preparation time, down sharply from the 40 minutes a day they once had, and she would rather have more time than a few extra dollars.

Expressing her commitment to her profession, Ball said, “For the past years I have devoted 10 hours a week of my own time, now I am devoting 20 hours a week of my time.”

Betty Graham, a fourth-grade teacher at Pima Butte who lives in Province, said the bonuses are a “noble idea” but not the best way to use the money.

She said the lack of planning time would ultimately hurt students.

“Currently we are working nights and weekends to make up for planning time lost during the week,” said Graham, who has four grandchildren who attend Pima Butte. “This is affecting our students whether we want to believe it or not.”

MUSD staff put together two proposals to hire part-time support staff for the elementary schools. But instead of choosing one from the other, the board opted to put both proposals on hold.

In the first, 12 part-time playground monitors would be hired to work three hours a day for a total of 150 days. They would each be paid $10 an hour and the cost to the district would be $66,000. In the second, a part-time playground monitor and a part-time library aide would be hired for each elementary school. The cost to the district would be $72,000.

Board Member Torri Anderson’s advice was to hire full-time library aides, gym and music teachers for half-year contacts. She said filling the axed positions when the money was available was a priority already discussed by the board.

“When we reduced staff in April, we said we would put money back into hiring teachers,” she said. “We have enough money there to hire three music teachers and three PE teachers for half a year.”

***ADVERTISEMENT***Her remarks drew applause from the audience.

School Superintendent Jeff Kleck jumped into the discussion. He said a one-time pay raise for all staff shows appreciation, but is not a legal obligation.

“We were able to save money from last year’s budget and support staff cannot be excluded,” he said. “The law in this matter is rather cold, so it is up to us to provide the humanity here. It is morally right to pay people for their work.”

Then he cautioned the board. “However, I must give a warning now, the state could ask us to return the money.”

Director of Business Services Aron Rausch said the pot of money the district now has comes from $900,000 the state had originally set aside for MUSD to pay salaries, but was reduced by $640,000 in July.

Board Member Jim Irving emphasized it is not additional money, but “just not encumbered and that’s a good thing.”

He proposed that each of the nine schools form a team to decide what they want to do with the money, and then come back to the board to give direction. “You guys figure out.”