Trenton R-9 Board of Education approves calendar and discusses salaries

Trenton R-9 School District
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The Trenton R-9 Board of Education approved the 2018-2019 school calendar at its meeting last evening.

New teacher orientation for next school year will be August 15 with teacher In-Service days to be August 16th, 17th, and 20th. The first day of school will be August 21 with the last day planned to be an early out May 15th, 2019. The approved calendar includes six weather makeup days. The calendar also has 170 days of school scheduled, which is four days less than typically appear on a school calendar.

Missouri allows the format as long as students receive a minimum of 1,044 hours of instructional time. Rissler Elementary School students will receive more than 1,072 hours of instruction. High school and middle school students will receive more than 1,134 hours of instruction.

Rissler Elementary School Principal Jennie Boon said the Calendar Committee held a vote, and the calendar presented won by two votes. Superintendent Dan Wiebers announced two makeup days for this school year. School was canceled January 11th for ice and February 7th for snow. Those days will be made up April 3rd and May 16th. The final teacher workday will be held May 17th.

The board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Grundy County Health Department allowing school property to be used as a point of distribution in the event of a public health emergency. The agreement will remain in effect until Trenton R-9 or the health department voices a need for an amendment.

The board also approved a GEC Grant request from librarian E’Lisha Gass in the amount of $1,000 for break out kits. Superintendent Wiebers said Gass submitted a grant for break out kits before and did not receive the funding. Wiebers presented a Midwest PGA Section Foundation grant application completed by Trenton High School boys and girls golf coach Travis Mullenix. The grant is for $2,500 for a Large Group All Ages Kit, which would provide golf supplies. Wiebers said if the grant was approved, the district would have had to add an additional $1,000 of funding to purchase the equipment, but the Trenton Booster Club offered to pay that $1,000.

Wiebers reported Citizens Bank and Trust gave another gift of Bulldog Debit Card donations. The gift was $2,847.45. Wiebers said the Bulldog Debit Card program has paid out $47,542 since 2011. He noted there have been 950,840 swipes.

Suzi Beck and Taya Ray from the Salary and Welfare Committee presented a salary proposal for the district. Ray attended the meeting via video conferencing from the Midwest Education Technology Community Conference in Saint Charles. Beck reported that Trenton R-9’s base salary is $881 below average for the 16 schools within 100 students of the district’s population. Ray reported the district is not as far behind on the end of the salary schedule as it is at the beginning.

Beck presented two options with option 1 involving adding $500 to the base salary and adding $50 to every column on the salary schedule starting at Masters moving right. Beck said Option 1 would cost the district $71,197.54. Option 2 involves only adding $650 to the base salary, which would cost the district $79,758.27. Beck said the Salary and Welfare Committee preferred Option 1 over Option 2, and it would save the district money. She noted it would also provide incentives for teachers to continue their education. Superintendent Wiebers said the board would vote on the salary at the March meeting.

Board President Doug Franklin announced that since Cliff Roeder and Jerry David Whitaker were the only two candidates that filed for the two board positions, Trenton R-9 will not need to hold an election in April. The two candidates will be sworn in as members at the April 10th board meeting.

Trenton High School Principal Ron Franklin reported on the Vocational Program indicating 26 students are enrolled at the Grand River Technical School in Chillicothe, which is the most since he has been in the district.

Principal Franklin introduced the Trenton High School Students of the Quarter. Trenton Middle School and High School Assistant Principal Kasey Bailey introduced the Middle School Students of the Month.

The board went into an executive session to approve administrator contracts and accept letters of resignation.


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