School Board sets SBDM allocations

by MATT HUGHES

J-E Editor

On Monday night, Webster County School Superintendent Rachel Yarbrough and Deputy Assistant Superintendant Georgiann McCord presented school board members with an altered School-Based Decision Making council (SBDM) allocations for the 2015-2016 school year.

SBDM, which consists of a mixture of parent, teacher and administration members at each school, handles the hiring of faculty within their school. Each year the school board presents the council with enough funding for a specific amount of teachers, based on the number of students expected to be enrolled in the fall and the classroom capacity set by the state. That allocation does not include staffing for Special Education classes, which comes from a different allocation.

From the start schools will see an increase in teaching staff when compared to last year’s allocation numbers. The new allocation plan will tighten the cap-size for classrooms in fifth through twelfth grade, making each classroom smaller. Fifth and sixth grade classes will have a maximum of 28 students, compared to the state mandated max of 29. Middle and high schoolers will see most benefit, with the classroom caps going from the state max of 31 to only 25 students in Webster County.

The number of allocated teachers at each school will either increase, or stay the same, except in the case of WCHS. Despite an increase in expected enrollment, the numbers presented to the board show one fewer teaching position.

In the past these numbers have not always been binding. In some situations the board has come back and allocated additional staff as needed.

“We’ve really changed how we allocate custodial staff,” Dr. Yarbrough told the board. “We didn’t just roll it forward the way we have.”

Under the new model, each of the elementary schools will have one lead custodian and two other custodians. A custodial supervisor will oversee the WCHS, WCMS and annex campuses, with the middle school being staffed with one lead custodian and 1.5 other custodians. The high school will have one lead and 3.5 other custodians. Board policy calls for all allocations to be rounded up, meaning each of the 0.5 allocations will account for an additional full time employee.

The board also heard the announcement for graduation dates for 2015. There will be no officials 6th grade graduations, although each school may choose to hold an event. WCMS 8th grade graduation will be on Tuesday, May 26.

Reach MATT HUGHES

 at 270-667-2068 or 

matt@journalenterprise.com