By L. Parsons The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board voted 3-1 last week to approve an extra duty stipend of $3,500 to administrators in the district. Governing Board President Al Leonard entered the only no vote. Board Clerk Debbie Martinez recused herself from the vote due to a conflict of interest as her daughter-in-law is the principal of Jefferson Elementary School but the vote did not come without controversy from the board. Superintendent Connie Gover motioned the governing board to approve the stipend and read aloud a letter she penned. “While most staff didn’t have students in the classroom until September or October our administrators were on board looking for solutions. For the school year 2020-21, former superintendent Kathryn Zanin said she would map out an extra duty stipend for the administrators. With her leaving unexpectedly, we were left without a plan on how they would be compensated.” Gover noted that administrators have “gone above and beyond duty” this year and that moving forward a performance-based plan would be developed with concrete goals and written evidence illustrating the extra duties performed. District Business Manager Shirley Lomeli added, “I just want to make it clear that Mrs. Zanin had spoken with the leadership team about getting this done for us. As soon as Zanin left, I contacted Sharka White, the district’s human resources director to ask about it. She brought boxes of fruits and nuts instead. We were told White was instructed to put together a performance-based plan for compensation and she told me that never happened.” Steve Henling, the district’s information technology director for the district spoke earlier in the meeting stating, “There was talk last year of getting this hammered out in a way that showed more site specific goals that each site should meet, as well as groups like technology and transportation. These groups save the district literally hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by taking on extra projects in-house and not having to contract outside of the district.” Leonard expressed his disapproval for the extra payment to the leadership team. “I have a hard time with the fact that we don’t have anything concrete. We don’t have anything that shows what these guys did to deserve a stipend. Teachers are getting stipends because there are concrete things that are written that they have to do to get that money. Yes, you went above and beyond but there wasn’t any rubric on what you had to do in order to receive this money or get this bonus. I have no doubt that you did great things, but that is also your job. How come you guys (administrators) can’t tutor or do extra things to earn this stipend?” Following his comments Martinez appeared visibly agitated and stated, “I was asked not to vote or speak on this matter and I am becoming so mad that I want to leave.” Leonard continued, “I would like to table this and get something in place that shows what was done to earn this. I don’t think anybody works harder than a teacher but I know everybody had a hard time this year.” Governing Board Vice President Joey Hartnett said, “I see what you are saying, Al, but I do think we should move forward with this and have something in place moving forward for next year. It was our responsibility as a board to make sure Zanin did what she said she was going to do. But we didn’t so we need to move forward.” In other business the governing board: * Approved the hiring of Bethany Argerake, English teacher at Winslow Junior High School; Drew Buckley, economics teacher at Winslow High School; Emily Coolidge, first grade teacher; Sharon Greenwood, fifth grade teacher; Sarah Mazer, kindergarten teacher; Marie Putman, district academic coach; Rebecca Reichel, fourth grade teacher; Sunya Cladera, paraprofessional; Amanda Curnutte, paraprofessional; Briana Juarez, health technician at Bonnie Brennan Elementary School; and Caitlin Quinonez, paraprofessional. * Approved speech services to be provided by Brooke Santos, as a speech language pathologist. * Approved support in regards to student records and the pre-registration program to be performed by Special Education Secretary Maggie Smith. * Accepted the resignations of Heidi Boyter, kindergarten teacher; Paul Montoya, bus driver; Zachary Pollard, substitute teacher; and Rob Robertson, district academic coach. * Approved a contract renewal for food services to Chartwells in year three of five. This is a routine annual procedure and the contract was not provided by press time. * Adjourned to an executive session to discuss the superintendent’s contract for the 2021-22 school year. No action or public discussion took place following the session. The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District Governing Board will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 11, in the governing board meeting room, located at 800 N. Apache Ave.
