by Jaye Sudar
LA VETA- Superintendent Dave Seaney reported on the conference he attended on performance pay held by Eagle County School District. Over twenty-seven states are moving away from the single step salary schedule and Eagle County has been working on this for the last ten years. The system is working for them and now they are showcasing performance pay to other districts. They use assessments and metrics tied to NWEA testing as well as CSAP. These combined with student improvements are used to evaluate how teacher pay raises should be managed. The inservice for RE-2 will discuss how the district could move towards this model. Seaney said that such a transition could take as little as two years.
The board was updated on the need for a request for proposals needed for building updates and the Best Grant applications. Then Policy DK was mentioned. The district finance office at present is allowed to pay bills that do not exceed $1500 at present without going to the board for a resolution. It will be discussed at the next regular meeting whether or not to increase this amount. It was also brought up that purchasing procedures in general needed tightened up, in order to be more accountable. It was mentioned that a $50 or $100 and under purchase be reimbursable with receipts presented. Larger purchases need to be approved by the administration.
Enrollment is up five students at this point with the official count being 201.5 students. It must be remembered that kindergarten students and preschool students are counted as .5 of a student when the state makes their decisions. Seaney mentioned that the drop in enrollment will not hurt the district as badly this year as it will in the next few years.
Students will also be going to the National FFA conference in Indianapolis, October 19th through October 24th.
