By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
What is next for the St. Joseph School Board now that it has rejected a proposed four-day school week?
School Board President LaTonya Williams voted for the proposal and says there has already been fallout from its defeat.
“It has been two days, a day-and-a-half, after the board meeting and the resignations are already coming in, a day after the board meeting,” Williams tells host Barry Birr on a recent KFEQ Hotline. “I think that means something.”
Voting against was Vice President Kenneth Reeder, who says instead of a shortened school week, the district should work toward raising teacher pay.
“A levy, a true levy, just for teacher’s salary raises, I’m all in for that,” Reeder tells Birr.
Both Reeder and Williams are up for re-election next month.
Three St. Joseph School Board members voted in favor of the four-day school week with four voting against.
Though Reeder voted against the proposal, he sees value in the debate.
“The best thing that has happened, I think, on this is that it’s raised the conversation of the importance of our school district to this town and also to the importance of getting us from 48 out of 50 states up somewhere higher in our teacher compensation,” according to Reeder.
A report issued by the Missouri NEA last year ranked Missouri 47th among the states in average teacher pay at $52,481, up slightly from the year before. Missouri ranks 50th for beginning teacher pay at slightly more than $34,000 annually.
Williams says there has been fallout since the board took its vote.
“Now our teachers feel undervalued and under supported,” according to Williams. “People are like, well, just pay the teachers more money, pay the teachers more money. I would love to, but where’s that money going to come from?”
St. Joseph School Superintendent Gabe Edgar brought the proposal before the board, saying it would provide a tool to better recruit and retain teachers. Approximately 170 of the 500-plus school districts in Missouri have gone to a four-day school district, mostly rural districts. An exception is the Independence School District which discussed its experience with a four-day school week during a work session with the St. Joseph School Board prior to its vote last Monday.
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