For approximately 150 Shelby High School seniors, there was one item on the agenda of the Shelby Board of Education Wednesday evening that was vastly more important than all others: the approval of the list of seniors for graduation pending satisfactory completion of remaining requirements.
The list was passed unanimously, which sets the stage for Shelby High School’s graduation on Sunday, May 25 starting at 2 p.m. in the high school gymnasium. Principal John Gies said this year’s graduating class is one of the smallest classes Shelby has had in quite some time; however, the set up for the first graduation ceremony in the new school’s gymnasium tells a different story.
“The gym is now set up, we’ve set up more chairs than we’ve ever set up for graduation,” said Gies. “Having more surface in the gym really is nice.”
Superintendent Tim Tarvin noted while Shelby graduation is typically on a Friday night, the date was moved back in order to accommodate the many seniors participating in track and field district tournament finals held in Oak Harbor on Friday.
“We made the determination early on that there are a lot of seniors participating and for them to get back from Oak Harbor would be nearly impossible,” he said. “It was the right decision.”
Baccalaureate was held prior to graduation in the high school’s performing arts center.
Also bidding farewell to Shelby Schools at the end of the school year is elementary teacher Lynn Wechter, who was honored and thanked at the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday evening. Wechter taught for 24 years, 19 of those years at Shelby Schools.
“I’m just going to say thank you, thank you very much,” said Wechter. “I’ve loved every minute of working in Shelby City Schools.”
The board also approved the negotiated agreements with the Shelby Education Association (SEA) and certified administrative staff, and the Shelby Association of School Support (SASS) with classified administrative staff for July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2017. Tarvin noted negotiations were unique this year in that all parties agreed to negotiate contracts without the aid of an attorney on either side.
“The representation of both unions were very professional and cooperative; they had issues they believed in very strongly and represented those issues very well, and the supporting staff for both those unions have been great,” said Tarvin. “We appreciate the fact that they came to the table and were able to negotiate in that fashion. It was very productive and I think it was a good experience for everybody involved.”
Board President Lorie White agreed, having participated in negotiations for the first time this year.
“I think the thing that struck me the most was everybody was working toward a common goal, which was what was best for the district, and hopefully coming to a nice compromise for both sides,” she said.
The board also approved an increase to the base non-bargaining classified staff salary scale. Over the next three years, Tarvin explained a 1.5 percent stipend on current salaries would be given the first year, a 1.5 percent increase on the base salary given the second year, and a one percent increase on the base salary given the third year. Tarvin added the pay increase comes after teachers, administration and classified staff have voluntarily gone a number of years without pay increases due to financial issues facing the district.
“I think any time anybody hears ‘raises’ people can get a little defensive, but we’re talking about folks who have gone a number of years without receiving a raise and actually losing income in comparison with where they were four or five years ago,” said Tarvin, noting insurance and contributions to retirement have increased over the years. “We’re always trying to be fiscally responsible but there also comes the time when the staff does a wonderful job, and you have to keep up with the cost of living at some point.”
Tarvin also stated the pay increases would not affect the district’s overall financial forecast. Treasurer Elizabeth Anatra shared the district is well in the black this year, comfortably in the black next year, and should break even the third year, barring any significant changes.
In other news, Shelby Schools continues the Race to the Top after being granted a “no cost” extension to Ohio’s Race to the Top improvement program. Assistant Superintendent Paul Walker explained during the April board meeting the state has more than $50,000 million of unused funds they will use throughout the state to provide professional development, and school districts are allowed to carry over any extra funds they may have. Shelby City Schools will carry over approximately $20,000 in Race to the Top funds; the district received the Race to the Top grant in 2011.
Walker explained the district will keep their $20,000 to use on the goal areas determined by the District Transformation Team (DTT), and the state will use their $50,000 to create development sessions around the state open for districts to attend.
“The District Transformation Team met in a small group this past month and came to the consensus these will be the three focused areas for next school year to continue to work on with the remaining race to the top funds that we have carried over,” said Walker.
The areas include: participation in professional development focused on increase rigor and format of Next Generation Assignments embedded in classroom instruction, developing a database for archiving readily available and accessible electronic resources for instructional and assignment purpose, and using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge as a model to revise assessments and student learning objectives to reflect the increased rigor of the new learning standards.
“We’re going to continue to look at the new learning standards and next generation assessments,” said Walker. “ We’re really trying to make sure data is at the forefront of our teaching and is driving the instruction, we’re looking at a way to electronically store that as well to make it a little bit easier on teachers when they’re monitoring student process, and the last one is a lot about the teacher evaluation system.
“I commend the teachers and principals for all their hard work,” said Walker.
