Mark Fletcher Returns as Boys Basketball Coach; Board Hires Two Other Extra Duty Positions, One Teacher, and Three Cooks; Starting Teacher Pay Increased by $1,400

The Worth County School Board named Mark Fletcher as the new Worth County boys basketball coach Thursday following a closed session. He replaces Bryce Schafer, who resigned to become the new head boys basketball coach at Creston. This will be Fletcher’s second stint as head coach; he guided Worth County to a GRC Conference Title in 1994-95 and to a 21 win season in 1995-96. He coached P.J. Sanders, who became the all-time leading scorer at Worth County, although purists will be quick to point out that Kent Thompson, the previous holder, got his points without benefit of the three point line, which did not go into effect until 1987-88, after he graduated.

The board also accepted the resignation of teachers Bryce Schafer and Jamie Stadler. The board accepted the resignation of Nanci Drury at the Flag Corps coach; she will continue to teach at Worth County. The board named Jessica Sanders to head the Junior High Cheer Squad, Tera Coleman as the Flag Corps Coach, and Danielle Henry as an elementary special education teacher. The board hired three new cooks as Ayrica Fletchall, Christie Petersen, and Ron Petersen were named.

After considerable discussion, the board voted to raise starting teacher pay by $1,400 a year, health insurance coverage by $25 a month, and give non-certified staff a 50 cent an hour raise at a cost of $54,000 annually. The initial plan had been to give non-certified staff a 33 cent raise; however, board member Amanda Gilland lobbied for more, saying that under the original plan, non-certified staff would actually see a cut in their paychecks due to increased health insurance costs. The board looked at a $900 increase in starting pay for teachers, but stuck with the $1,400 increase, saying that starting pay was going up across the area. For instance, Northeast Nodaway, North Nodaway, and Albany all offer higher starting teacher pay.

School administrators said they had increasing difficulties attracting qualified personnel to open teaching positions; for instance, one recent opening only attracted three applicants. “It’s a choice between increasing our revenues or cutting our budget,” said Board President Tyler Steele. Currently, the board has reserves that are 39% of annual expenses; the state recommends that schools keep at least 25%, because new state funding does not come in until January, and schools need to cover unforeseen expenses.

Worth County currently has one of the lowest school tax rates in the area, at $3.62. Superintendent Dr. Matt Martz said that he had cut all he could, including eliminating the preschool for what he said was savings of $70,000 a year, along with eliminating a music teaching position. Board members did some calculating and figured out that they could get by for anywhere from 3-7 years before reserves fell to 25%, but that was assuming there would be no major expenses in the meantime.

Students Kennedy Galanakis and Abbi Caddenhead along with teacher Jonell Cook gave a presentation to the board about the FCCLA and their activities. There were 61 members this year, of whom 11 entered competitions this year. Of those, all 11 went to state and nine will go to nationals and are in the process of raising funds.

Kennedy and Abbi talked about going to Jefferson City and job shadowing legislators. Kennedy shadowed Representative Allen Andrews and got to sit in on one of his meetings with the Budget Committee. Abbi shadowed Elaine Gannon, who represents a district in the St. Louis suburbs. This year, nationals will be in Georgia.

Elementary Principal Chuck Borey reported that there were 16 students with perfect attendance all year. Around 99% of students had attendance of 90% or better. Some elementary students went to a Day at the K, where they watched the Royals play; the Royals got a rare win while they were in attendance.

The board voted to award the fuel contract for the 2018-19 school year to MFA Oil. The school will prepay $18,772.68 to cover the period from August 2018 to January 2019 and then prepay $13,169.52 to cover the period from February to May 2019. The August through January contract was based on 7,300 gallons at a price of $2.5716 per gallon. The February through May contract was based on 5,200 gallons at a price of $2.5326 per gallon.

The board voted to allow Tech Director Amy Gladstone to hire an adult to assist her with maintenance of technology during the summer months. This includes cleaning hardware, imaging computers, inventory, organization and setup, maintaining security, classroom computer setup, virus scans, and updates along with moving equipment from room to room. Total cost will be $1,050 and will come out of her budget.

The board voted to hire three summer workers this year at a total cost of $9,282. Some of the funds will come out of the Fiscal Year 2018 money and some will come out of the 2019 money.

The board voted to set lunch pricing for the 2018-2019 school year. Elementary will be $1.35 for breakfast and $1.90 for lunch. High school will be $1.60 for breakfast and $2.20 for lunch. Adults will be $1.95 for breakfast and $2.80 for lunch.