Expensive hall monitor

The Springfield Sun reports that the Washington County School Board has approved hiring a “School Administration Manager” for the district’s high school at a minimum (could be higher) starting salary of $39,846. Supposedly, this person will free up the school’s principals’ (news article shows plural) time for more important efforts.

The new manager’s duties could include “supervision during hall changes and during class time, help with discipline referrals, truancy, supervising evening events, and assisting with lunchroom supervision.”

In other words – the “manager” is pretty much just a hall monitor, and one whose job doesn’t sound like it requires a college degree.

Still, freeing up principal time might not be so bad – if the cost were not so high.

The Kentucky Department of Education’s CERTIFIED SALARY SCHEDULE for 2008-2009 shows that a new starting teacher with an approved four-year bachelor’s degree in the Washington County system (Officially: Rank III with zero years of experience) is paid only $35,459. That teacher won’t reach the minimum pay for the new School Administration Manager until after 10 years of service!

In fact, the new School Administration Manager will start at a higher salary than Washington County pays a Rank II teacher (who has a master’s degree) with three years of experience.

That’s sounds like an awfully expensive hall monitor, especially once you throw in overtime for those evening event chores.

So, it’s great pay for the hall monitor; but, it’s bound to upset the teachers.

And, it’s going to further erode Kentucky’s already bottom of the stack position for one of the worst staff to teacher ratios of any state in the nation.