New Bloomfield teachers, staff to see salary spike

NEW BLOOMFIELD - After a four-year pay freeze, New Bloomfield teachers and certified and non-certified staff will receive raises.

At its regular meeting Thursday, the New Bloomfield Board of Education approved to increase the salary base for non-certified staff by 3.5 percent while also giving the annual step increase. Base pay for certified staff will jump $1,000 along with going up to their annual step.

Superintendent David Tramel said the net effect will be a 6 percent raise for non-certified staff and 4.5 percent increase for certified staff. These percentages were calculated by finding the average between salaries from the past year and budgeted salaries for the upcoming year.

Tramel said there were several factors that led to the boost in salaries. He plans to use the savings from a spike in New Bloomfield School's health deductible to go toward paying teachers and staff more. When comparing New Bloomfield's salaries to those in its conference, Tramel said he discovered New Bloomfield was in the bottom three.

He added he hopes to continue on a schedule moving all staff up a step annually until the district finds a comfortable place "to plateau."

In other business, Julie Gerloff, New Bloomfield Elementary School principal, reported to the board that the elementary building has received more than $158,000 in Title I Math funding, allowing her to hire another math teacher certified in early childhood through fifth grade.

Based on U.S. Census data, a poverty rate increase from 12 percent to 22 percent qualified the school for the funding.

She also asked the board for its approval to move forward with a change to the early childhood program.

In the upcoming school year, the program will no longer be licensed through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which Gerloff said is for a good reason.

She added that the non-licensed early childhood program will still be very similar to the licensed program, but will allow for more educational opportunities for preschoolers, especially in the areas of art, physical education and music. South Callaway R-II Schools' preschool, according to Gerloff, is also not certified.

"I feel like I could give them a better experience," Gerloff said.

The board gave her its well wishes, but concluded it would like to see an evaluation process put in place. Tramel and Gerloff said they would work on one, and Tramel suggested a possible peer review process with another school.

The board also assessed bus and construction bids Thursday evening.

It renewed a contract with Durham Bus Services for about $337,172. Under the agreement, Durham buses driving New Bloomfield students cannot be older than 12 years. The district was given another option with Durham for $8,424 more with an agreement that the buses wouldn't be older than 10 years.

First Student bid was the highest at $416,086 and DS Bus Lines bid $398,558.

The board then approved a storm drainage project with Gaines Construction at a total of $23,000. Improvements will be made to drainage systems near the bus lot, right field corner of the baseball field and main east/west drainage ditch.

Gaines Construction was also awarded a bid to repair the high school parking lot at $19,200 as well as manhole repairs at $8,500. Natsch & Company was awarded the bid for flashing repair at $4,925.