Finance & Operations Workers and Administrative Assistants to Get Same Raise as Educators

The ’s Act 93 finance & operations personnel and confidential administrative assistants personnel will get the same raise recently bestowed upon the district’s Act 93 educational administrative personnel, the B-W School Board decided on Wednesday night.

When the board , by a 6-3 vote, between the district and its educational administrative personnel, which includes its deans of students, psychologists, director of pupil services and guidance supervisor, among others, it established a zero-percent increase for one year for those employees and then a 3-percent increase for the following three years.

On Wednesday, the district’s finance & operations people and administrative assistants, as mentioned above, received the same treatment.

The board’s decision, which took effect with another 6-3 vote for the finance & operations personnel and an 8-1 vote for the administrative assistants, came after board members shared their opinions.

Board member Martin Michael Schmotzer, who voted “yes” for the educators on Oct. 12, called the raises to the other groups “fiscally irresponsible” and said that the benefits agreements of different classifications of district employees do not need to be the same.

“Since they were separated, I do not understand the logic of why some people on this board … feel that the contracts have to be identical,” Martin Schmotzer said. “ … The duties and responsibilities are different, none more important than the other in the scope of educating children and running the school district.

“And I’m not here to downgrade any job performance or job of anyone in the school district. There’s not a job that’s not important to the overall benefit of the child, to get them educated, to move them along, but there is a difference in the people who run your buildings and the compensation packages that should be so afforded to them and the people with the very important job of running the business office. But it is different. It was separated, and the compensation packages should not be the same.

“ … I cannot support this in good conscience. Those (finance & operations) salaries should be frozen for a number of years before any raises are given.”

Board member Nancy Lee Crowder, who voted “no” for the educators on Oct. 12 and “no” for the other groups on Wednesday, as well, said that she does not like the four-year terms.

Board member John B. Schmotzer also voted “no” for the educators on Oct. 12 due to the length of the term but voted “yes” on Wednesday since the educators’ agreement was approved in October nonetheless.

“I will support this only because we gave those rates to the educational side,” John Schmotzer said. “I think it’s only fair.”

Board member Diana Kazour joined Martin Schmotzer and Crowder with “no” votes for the finance & operations personnel.

Crowder cast the lone “no” vote for the administrative assistants.

Martin Schmotzer voted “yes” for the administrative assistants, emphasizing that the categories should be taken “on a case-by-case study.”

“Looking at their (the administrative assistants’) salaries, in relation to the business office, they’re underpaid,” Martin Schmotzer said. “ … I thought the salaries on the other side (finance & operations) were too high.”

Kazour did not explain her vote.

Check back with the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch later on Thursday for more odds and ends from Wednesday night's school board meeting.

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