New Bloomfield schools adjusts non-certified salary schedule

Adjustments make annual raises fair among all staff

Some New Bloomfield educators and staff have good news to look forward to on their paychecks in the coming school year.

The New Bloomfield Board of Education voted to adjust the non-certified staff salary schedule after staff noted an illogical discrepancy - under the previous schedule, the annual raise amount staff could receive decreased significantly after 12 years.

For the first 11 years of their time with the district, non-certified staff pay would increase 26 cents per hour. At their 12th year, however, that raise decreased to just 12 cents, where it remained with the exception of a 15-cent raise after 16 years.

Superintendent David Tramel said he saw little logical reason to give their more loyal, longer-term employees smaller raises, and thus less incentive to remain with the district. The board agreed to adjust the scale to reflect a 26-cent raise each year, regardless of how long that employee has been with the district.

"Someone who had been here for 20 years had less of an annual raise than someone who'd been here for two," Tramel said. "Employees will see an average raise of 8 percent overall. Some will get a larger amount than others, but I'd argue all day that this is the way it has to be."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.