BY MIKE GERVAIS mgervais@cherryroad.com
Purdy schools have approved raises for nearly half of the school staff.
Following a pay scale increase for teachers last year, School Superintendent Travis Graham said he and the school board wanted to ensure that the school’s classified staff, which includes non-teaching positions like maintenance, janitorial and paraprofessionals, receive a competitive wage from the district.
“We live in very volatile times and we believe it is good to pay a fair wage and we had the financial availability,” Graham said. “At the classified salary level, we looked at almost every position, and on average gave a $3 raise to the base.”
Graham said the change brought the base salary for classified staff members to $15 an hour, with maintenance staff earning a $16.76 base salary and custodial staff earning a $15.04 base.
“With the increase in gas prices and commodities, it was the board’s vision to bring these salaries up and they tasked me with analyzing the budget,” Graham said.
Purdy schools employ between 100 and 105 staff members total, with between 50 and 55 employees considered classified, non-teaching staff. that means approximately half the school’s employees will benefit from the raise.
Graham also said the district’s teachers received a raise last year, taking salaries from $31,000 a year to between $33,000 and $35,000 a year, depending on experience. He also said the district applied for and was awarded a Teacher Baseline Salary grant that brought teacher salaries up to $38,000 a year. Graham said the pay
Graham said the pay increase stemming from the grant is contingent on the state’s ability and willingness to continue the grant program.
“We are hopeful the state will continue to appropriate that grant, but we are also looking at other sustainable salary measures we can take,” Graham said.
The Purdy School District is also moving forward with an ambitious construction project that aims to upgrade security, food service facilities, transportation facilities and some classrooms.
Graham said the school board awarded the construction contract to Branco, who is working with Paragon Architects on the project.
Graham said construction crews are working to develop a schedule for the projects and hope work will begin later this year.
Once construction starts, he said he expects the projects to take between 16 and 18 months to complete.
