At the March 16 meeting of the Roaring Fork School District (RFSD) Board of Education, held at Carbondale’s district offices, the board approved a resolution supporting a salary adjustment plan, implemented “to provide fair, competitive and living wages for all employees.”
Funding for the plan’s implementation comes from the mill levy override (MLO) — the Amendment 5B ballot measure — passed by district voters in November 2021.
Plan details include increasing the district’s minimum wage to $18 per hour and using a portion of nonrecurring MLO funds to increase the district’s starting teacher wage to $50,000 in the form of a professional wage supplement.
The plan will also increase salaries for teachers, counselors, special service providers, principals, assistant principals and other staff members whose jobs are found almost exclusively in schools or school districts, to ensure they fall in the top third (67th percentile or higher) of our ten comparison districts. Additionally, the plan seeks to provide a competitive wage by increasing the salaries for staff working in a local market to ensure their salaries are comparable with similar positions at local organizations or RFSD-comparison school districts.
Superintendent Rob Stein said, “the infusion of funds will allow us to make the largest salary adjustment in the district’s history.” After the ballot measure’s passage in November, the salary adjustment plan emerged from multiple conversations with employee stakeholder groups and research gathered about equitable compensation practices.
2022-24 school calendars approved
The board approved 2022-23 and 2023-24 school calendars. The approved calendars largely mirror the 2020-22 calendars with a few minor adjustments, including starting the school year on a Wednesday instead of Monday.
The school year will end after Memorial Day, resolving the conflict between graduation day and state track and field competitions.
The calendars reflect survey data from district staff and families, showing that respondents were generally satisfied with the current school calendar. The positive results included 61% of respondents who indicated they were “quite or very satisfied” with the current school calendar, and only 7% responded they were “not satisfied at all.”
The approved calendar also includes a spring break aligned with Garfield Re-2 district to support the many RFSD staff who live in Re-2.
BMS earns statewide honor
In other district news, Basalt Middle School (BMS) was recognized as a 2022 Colorado Trailblazer Schools to Watch (STW)!
The Colorado Association of Middle Level Education recognized BMS, one of four Colorado schools, with the designation. BMS is also one of the 100-plus schools recognized nationwide at the National Schools to Watch Conference in June in Washington, D.C.
Selection is based on a written application that requires schools to show how they met the criteria developed by the forum. State teams organized by the Colorado STW program conduct site visits to affirm the school has met the rigorous requirements of the award. The teams observe classrooms, interview administrators, teachers and parents, review achievement data, suspension rates, instructional quality and student work. Schools are recognized for a three-year period that, when ended, requires the process to be repeated for re-designation. BMS has been a recognized STW for over a decade and is celebrating its third redesignation.
In an STW press release sent by RFSD, accolades included, “Basalt demonstrates that high-performance is the result of intentional focus on the whole child.”
“An inclusive environment that cultivates student kindness, empowerment and intellectual rigor results in a dynamic school where students thrive!” explained Julie Shue, co-director of the Colorado Schools to Watch program.