Webster Parish Schools Superintendent Johnny Rowland and finance director Crevonne Odom are presenting a plan to the School Board in a special meeting Thursday to try to unfreeze teacher and staff pay.
Seven years ago, the district was in dire financial conditions so it froze salaries and consolidated schools to save money.
The discussion to unfreeze salaries has come up several times over the years, but never gained support.
Charlotte Crawley, a representative from the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and School Employees, told KTBSÂ the organization would love to see teacher pay unfrozen, but would not want to hear the same plan presented last year.
Crawley explained that in 2016 a plan was presenteed to decrease the new teacher pay scale by $3,000 and hold any increases for current teachers until their pay scale levels out with new hires. Crawley said that plan would have essentially kept salaries for most employees frozen for about a decade or so.
"It's been frozen for way too long and we are very excited and commend our school board and superintendent for making this a priority," said Crawley. "We look forward to a positive announcement for our salaries."
Rowland refused to release any details about the proposed plan until after tonight's meeting and would not speculate on whether their plan includes pay raises.
For now, the Webster Parish Schools' approximately 750 employees will just have to wait to hear what happens.
As of now, the annual pay for new teachers in Webster Parish is $45,613.46 which includes supplemental pay in November and June. That's less than teacher pay in DeSoto and Red River Parish, but slightly higher than what teachers will get paid in Caddo and Bossier this school year.
In the 2017-2018 school year, teachers in Red River Parish will be getting $49,500 which includes supplemental pay.
Teachers with only a bachelor's degree in DeSoto get $48,000, but can add an additional $1,000 to $2,000 on an annual basis and a $5,000 first-year bonus if they choose hard to staff areas where teacher numbers are low but demand is high, such as 7th to 12th grade math and science. Then teachers can add supplements of $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000 depending on their performance evaluations of proficient, highly effective or highly effective teacher of the year.
New teachers in Caddo Parish get $44,555 which includes a November supplemental pay.
Incoming Bossier Parish teachers will get $44,027. That includes a one time supplemental allotment, a welcome back check, and a 13th check to be given at Christmastime.
The Secretary for Webster Association of Educators, Caroline Croad, released the following statement:Â
- "WAE has advocated for lifting the pay freeze and offered help in the past looking for a sustainable solution. The freeze has now been in place long enough that our students are losing good teachers who are moving to other districts where they can be paid for their experience and move on a pay scale. Thanks are well deserved for the efforts of Mr. Rowland and Mrs. Odom at the central office and for Mrs. Kennon seeing the issue as pressing enough to call a special board meeting. We do not know any specifics of the plan at this point, so it is premature to fully endorse it on behalf of our members. However, we are hopeful that tonight we will see a presentation that is fair to our employees, sustainable for our district, and, most importantly, supportive of providing the best for our students."
The Webster Parish School Board's special meeting starts at 6 p.m. It will be at 1442 Sheppard St. Minden, Louisiana.
