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Debra Lennon was
elected to another term as president of the Saranac Lake School
Board at the board’s annual organizational meeting Thursday night.
There were no other
nominations for the position of board president, but Lennon’s
election wasn’t unanimous. Board members Darren Dalton, Tracey
Schrader, Clyde Baker and Lennon were in favor while Esther Arlan,
Joan Schaeffer and Katie Fischer, the board’s newest member,
abstained.
“I appreciate your
votes and I’ll do my best to do this job the way you want me to and
the way I see fit,” Lennon said.
Darren Dalton was
picked as board vice-president on a similar vote. Those in favor
included Lennon, Baker, Schrader and Dalton himself. Esther Arlan
and Joan Schaffer voted no, with Katie Fischer abstaining.
The school board then
approved a long list of policies, committee assignments and other
resolutions.
The topic that
generated the most discussion was setting the rate of pay for
substitute teachers.
This past school
year, the district had been asked to set a different pay level for
retired Saranac Lake teachers who serve as substitutes because they
have a level of experience and familiarity with the district that
other subs don’t have. “You know their value when they walk through
the door,” said board member Esther Arlan.
Currently substitute
teachers make $75 a day regardless of whether or not they’ve taught
in the district. Teaching assistants get $65 a day.
Business Manager Mike
Kilroy recommended increasing the stipend for retired Saranac Lake
teachers to $100 per day. The board agreed and also boosted the
stipend for other teachers to $85 and teaching assistants to $75.
Superintendent Jerry
Goldman said the new rates create more equity. “It brings some sort
of logic to this,” he said.
“I think its fair,”
added board president Deb Lennon.
In other business,
the board picked Gail Rogers Rice to be their representative to the
BOCES Board of Education. And the board authorized a cross-country
ski team merger between the Saranac Lake School District and the
Beekmantown School District for the 2009-2010 school year.
-Chris Knight, 7-3-09
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