MONROE - The Monroe School Board approved $16,000 in total wage increases for eight administrators for the 2012-13 school year.
The board voted 8-1 to approve the wage increases, which will be awarded to each administrator's base salary at a board meeting Monday night. The increases for each administrator range from $1,000 to $3,500. Board member Les Bieneman voted against the administrative wage increases.
"I don't feel like we should reward one part of the staff and not the other," Bieneman said after the meeting, before the board went into closed session.
Bieneman supports a plan where wage increases are shared across the board with administrators and teachers. Teachers in Monroe have been under a salary freeze since March 2011. The two-year freeze on the teacher salary schedule and step increases for additional years of experience runs through June 30, 2013.
"I think we are all in this together," Bieneman said.
The administrative wage increase is 2.17 percent for the eight administrators, but it doesn't factor in three more administrative positions. There will be some administration shuffling this summer, with several new administrators filling positions.
Monroe Business Manager Ron Olson said after the meeting that the savings on the cost of refilling the three administrative positions would be more than the $16,000 increase for the current eight administrators. The board also approved a 2.11 percent combined increase for eight exempt staff members.
"The total costs for administrators will decrease," Olson said.
Cory Hirsbrunner is taking over as superintendent July 1 as Larry Brown moves to become the superintendent of the Rice Lake Area School District. The board hired Sara Latimer as the principal at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy. Latimer had served as the principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Monona for eight years. The district is still in the process of hiring a director of curriculum and instruction to replace Hirsbrunner.
"We won't know what the total costs will be until we fill all the positions," Olson said of a total savings on administrators for next year.
Last June, administrators in the district received two-year contracts with raises of $2,500, after a closed session meeting. As part of that deal, the board required administrators to contribute half of the cost of providing the Wisconsin Retirement System, which was about 5.8 percent of their salary at the time. District leaders had said the retirement contribution by administrators was more than double the cost of the salary increases.
The board voted 8-1 to approve the wage increases, which will be awarded to each administrator's base salary at a board meeting Monday night. The increases for each administrator range from $1,000 to $3,500. Board member Les Bieneman voted against the administrative wage increases.
"I don't feel like we should reward one part of the staff and not the other," Bieneman said after the meeting, before the board went into closed session.
Bieneman supports a plan where wage increases are shared across the board with administrators and teachers. Teachers in Monroe have been under a salary freeze since March 2011. The two-year freeze on the teacher salary schedule and step increases for additional years of experience runs through June 30, 2013.
"I think we are all in this together," Bieneman said.
The administrative wage increase is 2.17 percent for the eight administrators, but it doesn't factor in three more administrative positions. There will be some administration shuffling this summer, with several new administrators filling positions.
Monroe Business Manager Ron Olson said after the meeting that the savings on the cost of refilling the three administrative positions would be more than the $16,000 increase for the current eight administrators. The board also approved a 2.11 percent combined increase for eight exempt staff members.
"The total costs for administrators will decrease," Olson said.
Cory Hirsbrunner is taking over as superintendent July 1 as Larry Brown moves to become the superintendent of the Rice Lake Area School District. The board hired Sara Latimer as the principal at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy. Latimer had served as the principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Monona for eight years. The district is still in the process of hiring a director of curriculum and instruction to replace Hirsbrunner.
"We won't know what the total costs will be until we fill all the positions," Olson said of a total savings on administrators for next year.
Last June, administrators in the district received two-year contracts with raises of $2,500, after a closed session meeting. As part of that deal, the board required administrators to contribute half of the cost of providing the Wisconsin Retirement System, which was about 5.8 percent of their salary at the time. District leaders had said the retirement contribution by administrators was more than double the cost of the salary increases.