By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
At the Wednesday, Sept. 15, Griggsville-Perry school board meeting, the district voted to raise wages for substitute teachers in order to attract and retain much needed subs.
The district increased pay for substitute teachers from $90 per day to $100 per day. In addition, the district will pay substitutes $125 per day once they have worked 10 days in the district.
The pay increases come, according to G-P Superintendent Kent Hawley, in an attempt to overcome a shortage of substitute teachers and to stay competitive with substitute wages in other school districts.
“There’s a shortage of substitutes, so we’re doing our best to make it worth their while to teach here,” Hawley said. “The pay raise is in order to stay current with other districts and to hopefully attact some more people to become substitute teachers.”
The extra $25 once substitutes have worked 10 days in the district is an effort to hold onto high quality subs.
“The bonus is to reward loyalty,” Hawley said. “Keeping people is important, so we’re trying to do that.”
The substitute shortage is nothing new, according to Hawley, but it has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been getting worse the last several years, but COVID has hit hard,” Hawley said.
Many older subs, Hawley said, have declined to teach during the pandemic.
“A lot of subs are retired teachers,” Hawley said. “A lot of them don’t want to put themselves in a position of risk.”
In other business, the board approved the school’s senior trip to Orlando in May.
According to Hawley, the total cost of the trip will be roughly $21,000. The senior class, Hawley said, has raised approximately $15,000 to date.
Following closed session the board accepted the resignation of Janet Poppema as a paraprofessional.
In addition, the board approved Ian Smith as an assistant middle school boys basketball coach and Lauren Kennedy as assistant middle school girls basketball coach.
