Arcadia schools boost hourly wages, teacher talks ongoing

Hourly employees in the Arcadia School District will make more money during the 2023-24 school year.

All hourly employees — with the exception of those at Little Raiders Childcare Center — will see a $1.25 boost from their current wage, and the minimum wage for new hires will also increase.

The increase, approved by a 5-0 vote at the Arcadia school board meeting last Monday, is designed to stay competitive in the job market and keep quality staff, according to district leaders.

Board President Paul Servais abstained from the vote, which did not include childcare center workers because they already received a raise separate from other staff.

Hourly wages for the 89 support staff in the district ranged from $15-20 an hour before the boost, meaning a wage of $16.25 is the lowest an hourly employee will make for the 2023-24 year.

The change applies to both part and full-time employees whom are paid hourly, including Wanek Center staff that are around $12 an hour.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about wanting this increase because they’re important to our district and to our students just like teachers and administration. I think the turnover we’ve had in paraprofessionals, that’s been hard on the students,” board member Dana Conrad said.

Conrad has asked district officials to see if the district can afford granting paraprofessionals and other support staff a raise for several months.

The pay increase will be backtracked to July 1, so summer employees will be appropriately compensated with the wage difference for any hours logged since then.

Employees will also still receive “a years of service” bonus after Thanksgiving worth $50 for each year they have been in the district, Superintendent Lance Bagstad said, adding that the district is in “pretty good shape” for its hourly staff as of Monday.

Paraprofessional Billie Klimek thanked the board for considering the pay boost but said the board should also be considering pay tiers to reward employees for staying within the district.

“That is nice, but also I’ve been here for almost 16 years and I’m making a dollar more than she’s making, who’s been here nine years. ... I still work here, I love my job. I want you to look at the tiers as well, like who’s got longevity here to keep us here because we had a lot of people leave this year (because of that),” she said.

Servais acknowledged that the district will have to continue examining its pay rates in the future to stay competitive and keep staff amid inflation and competition.

Teacher speaks on 

continued negotiations

The district is still in the midst of negotiating its teacher salaries, something high school teacher Kim Severson spoke on during the board’s public comment portion of last week’s meeting.

She asked that the board keep pay practices fair and consistent.

“If all you can give us is something small or nothing at all, I can live with that. But I just want to make sure that it’s equal across the district, and by that I mean for administrators and for teachers. And don’t misunderstand me, I have amazing administrators. The people I work with. ... they’re great and they earn every cent,” Severson told the board.

“But when you give one group a higher raise than another, you create two different teams,” she continued, “and we’re not on two different teams. We’re all here for one reason — the kids and the community — and it creates animosity if you have things that are perceived as unfair between the two groups, because of titles or whatever it may be.”

The board will likely discuss teacher salaries further at its September meeting.