Bower’s contract extended for another 3 years
To help with the influx of children with heavy special needs, the Como-Pickton CISD board approved two additional special education paraprofessional positions at the Monday night board meeting.
“It’s a self-contained classroom is for children who are 3 years old and within the elementary school level,” assistant superintendent Jana Andrews said. “We began the year with five students in that classroom. We now have 12.”
By March, that number will decrease to seven with some coming into or transitioning out of the classroom. The new positions are on top of two currently open positions for which Andrews and elementary principal Linda Rankin are hiring. Currently, two long-term substitutes are filling in. According to Andrews, of the four positions, she wants to hire three initially.
“After we hire that one [new position] before another student comes in March, we’re going to have a little gap in time to see how the kids are fitting in with each other, can we group some kids, and other things,” Andrews said. “We may not have to hire that second position.”
However, hiring for special education positions is difficult. According to Andrews, the two positions have been posted since November, and only seven applicants have been interviewed.
“We had a really good applicant the other day,” Andrews said.
Board member Jessica Pegues asked about the option of hiring the longterm substitutes to the positions, claiming the substitutes might be more costly to the district compared to a contracted employee. Superintendent Greg Bower answered the costs of a paraprofessional contract and a longterm substitute were comparable, and he added it would be wise to keep searching for applicants.
“I think those concerns are completely legitimate,” Bower said. “We’re just in a tight spot.”
In personnel business, the board accepted the resignations of Lisa Lowry and Lesa Wilburn, and the board approved a three-year contract extension for Bower.
The board also heard the audit report for the 2019-2020 school year which found the district to be in “good shape,” according to Steve Davis with the accounting firm Morgan, Davis & Co. The only department that went over budget was food services due to the district delivering student meals during the spring’s COVID-19 shutdown, but the district had extra cushion built into the budget to allow for it. The total cost was roughly $73,000.
“I told SFE (district’s food service provider) that I expected them to at least split the cost,” Bower said. “We would be considering something different if they didn’t split the cost with us.”
According to the report, the district has the equivalent of operating costs for 253 days, or about 8.4 months. Davis said the goal is have at minimum funds for two or three months of operating costs, and while CPCISD meets that goal, Davis warned the state legislature, which is in session, might target districts with extra funds on hand.
Davis suggested schools could move some funds into a capital project for construction, but he noted that tactic might not work.
“It may not fly, but you could move it back if you wanted to,” Davis said. “But it’s something to think about.”