SAD 29 OKs stipend plan

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    MONTICELLO — A plan to create a new stipend for two administrators drew considerable discussion among members of the SAD 29 school board during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting.
    Held at Wellington Elementary School, the school board approved a stipend plan that could potentially cost the district an extra $5,000 over the course of the year.
    At the center of the issue was a request by Superintendent Mike Hammer to grant stipends to two administrators — Houlton Southside School Principal Tiffany Karnes and Houlton High School Assistant Principal Dawn Matthews — to serve as the district’s Section 504 Coordinators. Last month, Houlton High School Principal Marty Bouchard was named as the second administrator, but Hammer instead opted for Matthews to fill the post.
    A Section 504 case involves providing extra assistance to students with needs who do not qualify for such help under the Special Education program. That assistance could be in the form of health issues, Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, social issues, which prevent the student from functioning in the classroom, or other learning issues.
    According to Hammer, 504 students are “students that are not Special Ed, but may need some form of accommodation in their educational plan that helps them be successful.”
    Last month, the board tabled action on the matter to allow Hammer time to see if the duties were included in the Special Education Director’s job description when the district hired a new director in September.
    The district’s former special education director, Marion Gartley, had previously handled that work as part of her salary. When Gartley retired at the end of the last school year, the district hired Jan Neureuther to replace her, but Hammer stated he felt it would be too much to ask the new candidate to do the extra duties.
    During Monday night’s meeting Hammer informed the board that the duties were in fact included in the job description, but added Neureuther had not been given a copy of the job description when she was hired.
    “It’s kind of daring for both sides,” said board member Scott White. “(For the candidate) to sign up for a job with no job description and (for the district) to offer a job without giving them the job description … we probably shouldn’t do that again.”
    Hammer said he felt the job description, which was approved in 2007, for the special education director was “not accurate” for the duties the position entails in 2012.
    In 2004-05, Gartley was given a stipend of $2,679 to perform the 504 coordinator duties. By 2006-07, that amount was factored in to her regular salary. Hammer said the number of 504 cases has grown dramatically since then. He said when Gartley was performing the duties, there were about 10 children who qualified as 504 cases. That number has since grown to about 42 students, and seems to go up every year, he said.
    Karnes and Matthews will each receive a minimum of $1,575 for the year, but that amount could go up to $2,500 if the caseload warrants. Hammer added while there is a slight extra cost, he felt the increase would not have any impact on the bottom line budget for the 2012-13 school year because the budget was built based on Gartley’s salary. Neureuther was hired at a lower salary, and therefore the salary line had sufficient funds to cover the stipends.
    “The bottom line is to make sure students are taken care of,” said board chairman Liz Anderson.
    “We’ve gotten ourselves into a funny spot,” Tribou said. “At the end of the day, we are talking about $5,000. We have to make sure the 504 kids are taken care of.”
    The board voted 10-3, with board members Fred Grant, Sandra Henderson and White opposed, to create the two stipend positions for just the 2012-13 school year, with the understanding that the duties be reviewed next year to see if the special education director was able to take over the responsibilities.
    In other agenda items, the board:
    • Hired Ben Drew as a junior varsity girls basketball coach.
    • Discussed the possibility of adding a student representative to the school board.
    • Named Shari Good as varsity cheering co-coach.
    • Agreed to rename the school’s “Photography Club” to a “Visual Arts Club.”
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 29 school board will be 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3 at the Superintendent’s Office.