The Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board postponed a decision on whether to approve the district’s revised salary scale for employees in non-teaching positions so it can resolve the issue of how much the employees will be paid.
Earlier this summer, the board approved a salary scale for these so-called “classified employees” in which some would receive raises for the 2021-2022 school year.
However, Kellia Washington, the school district’s chief of finance, said during Tuesday’s board meeting that the salary increases would not be feasible within the district’s budget and would “cause the district to suffer.”
Most teachers are receiving a pay raise of $1,000 this year authorized by the Mississippi Legislature. The teachers and other employees began orientation Monday, and classes begin Thursday.
Some classified employees, according to school officials, signed contracts believing they would be receiving a raise. Also, board member Jackie Lewis said Tuesday, some employees’ pay does not align with their years of experience.
“I don’t think it’s fair to have employees working with a contract that they may know is not accurate or work without a contract and not knowing what their actual rate of pay is,” board member Dr. Ro’Shaun Bailey said at the meeting, urging that the board and the district work to resolve the issue quickly
Board member Dr. Kalanya Moore agreed with Bailey that the matter must be addressed.
However, she made the motion Tuesday to table approval of the revised classified salary scale “so we can do a very thorough fact check” and determine from the law what the board can do.
Samantha Milton, the board’s president, said Wednesday that the board had wanted to give the classified employees “as much as we could, and we were going over the amount that is within our budget, so we had to come back to the table again.”
She said the board “will have to collaborate with the administration about a special called meeting” in order to address the issue.
An emailed request Wednesday for a copy of the proposed revised classified salary scale for the 2021-2022 school year from the district received no response.
In other business, the board met in executive session to discuss personnel matters. A date for a grievance hearing has been scheduled, Milton said, but no other information was provided.
nContact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
