School board grants raises

LOWER POTTSGROVE » Should 15 mid-level administrators be getting a 2-percent raise when the most recent standardized testing showed all buildings failing and only one out of five making progress over last year?

That was the question school board member Bill Parker had Tuesday night when asked to vote on raises for a set of employees whose status is governed by Pennsylvania law Act 93.

As outlined in the meeting’s agenda, a group of principals, assistant principals and district-wide lower-level administrators were up for raises, only two of which are paid less than $100,000.

The highest salary, after the raises, is $143,124 and will go Lower Pottsgrove Elementary

School Principal Yolanda Williams, who just received her doctorate.

The lowest — $89,047 — goes to Steven Sieller, the assistant principal at Lower Pottsgrove Elementary.

“Three of the five buildings were in yellow in last year’s scores and this year they went down,” Parker said.

As The Mercury reported last month, only three of nine area school districts saw the majority of their buildings’ School Performance Profile scores rise over last year.

In Pottsgrove, all five schools scored below 70, which the Pennsylvania Department of Education considers adequate. And only Pottsgrove Middle School saw an improvement over last year’s score — from 51.5 to 61.3

It’s worth noting that the salary of Pottsgrove Middle School Principal Matt Boyer was not included in the most recent raises. He

was hired in May.

The parameters of the School Performance Profile have changed over the last three years. Two years ago, the rigor of the test changed so dramatically that the state only released scores for high schools.

And more change is coming.

In releasing this year’s scores, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera also announced that this will be the last year SPP scores will be used beyond their requirements under Act 82. Passed in 2012, the only portion of the SPP score that will remain is the part used for teacher evaluations.

In the 2018-19 school year, Pennsylvania plans to move to something called “The Future Ready Index.”

Superintendent William Shirk said a Pennsylvania law, Act 82, governs how salaries for employees such as this, who are not members of a union.

There are more goals, metrics and other measures contained in the formula that determines how those salaries are determined

than just the latest School Performance Profile scores, said Shirk.

“They all met the performance standards under the Effective Educator Act,” which was passed in 2012, said Shirk.

To change that, said solicitor Marc Davis, would require changing the agreement now in place — which still has another year before it expires.

If Parker wants performance on test scores to be a factor in raises, he should work to have it included in the next agreement, Davis said.

“No one on the team is happy with Pottsgrove’s SPP scores,” Shirk said. “We need time to implement our curriculum and hopefully by this time next year, we may be celebrating,” said Shirk.

Board member Jim Lapic also noted that on another testing rubric, MAPP tests, “Pottsgrove students perform well above the national average,” he said.

The raises were unanimously approved, with even Parker voting in favor of them.