Although the minimum wage for classified staff will be raised almost $1 beginning this fall, the Lawrence school district’s lowest paid staff members still will not receive a living wage.
During a special meeting Monday, the school board unanimously approved the 2024-25 contract for classified staff. Custodians, paraeducators, food workers and others will receive 99-cent increases to their base hourly pay.
PAL-CWA’s primary goal this year was to achieve a living wage for the staff it represents. The union came to an agreement with the district on July 22 after participating in yearlong negotiations.
Right now, a living wage for a single adult living in Lawrence with no children is $19.87 an hour. The approved contract bumps the lowest starting wage up to $14.02 from the previous $13.03.
Kevin Harrell, executive director of student services and special education, said a PAL-CWA representative reported to him that the contract was “overwhelmingly approved by the membership” before the board’s final approval.
“We are not perfect,” Harrell said. “I think we have made a lot of progress. The board’s goal to get to a living wage is something we still need to make progress on, but we think this is one step in moving in that direction.”
Based on the contract, the district’s salary pool will increase nearly 6.3%, totalling approximately $1.1 million to go toward classified staff.
That includes opportunities for horizontal movement, which for classified staff is based on continuous years of experience. Additional increases for individual teachers, depending on their placement on the salary schedule, could range from around $0.11 to $1.33. Most will fall between 11 and 13 cents.
Classified staff may now use their sick and vacation leave beginning the first day of their employment, whereas previously, new staff members were required to complete a 90-day waiting period before they could use sick leave.
Language has been updated in the contract to include gender-neutral pronouns, as well.
The board on July 22 approved the 2024-25 contract for certified staff, which includes $1,400 increases to the base annual salaries for teachers. (Read more in this article.)
Amid substantial premium increases this year, the district will continue to provide fully paid single medical, dental and vision insurance plans for certified and classified staff.
Board President Kelly Jones said members of PAL-CWA were not able to be present Monday. But she invited them to attend the Monday, Aug. 12 board meeting, where they plan to share updates on their work.
“I’m happy that we have the relationship we do with PAL and they’re able to be honest and have difficult conversations, and we can try to make inroads toward their goals,” Jones said.
Learn more about the approved classified staff contract on Monday’s meeting agenda on BoardDocs.
Districtwide student handbook
The school board on Monday also unanimously approved a new districtwide student handbook.
Previously, the district used separate handbooks for elementary, middle and high schools. After noticing all were very similar, administrators decided to consolidate them to create better consistency.
The board does not generally allow public comment during special meetings but made an exception for anyone interested in speaking about the handbook Monday. As no one ended up signing up for public comment, the board swiftly and unanimously approved the handbook.
During the previous board meeting on July 22, the board took its first reading of the handbook. The original draft mistakenly included a cell phone policy that banned all students from using their cell phones during school. It was corrected before the meeting began, as the individual cell phone policy for each elementary, middle and high school level was supposed to be transferred into the consolidated handbook.
District spokesperson Julie Boyle emphasized the cell phone policies have not changed since last year. Until there is a uniform cell phone policy, the board expects the district to support teachers and staff members who enforce their school’s policy.
“The Board Policy Committee continues to discuss potential changes to cell phone policy and plans to invite input from students, staff, and school families after the new school year begins,” Boyle said via email Monday.
In other business
• Interim superintendent search update: The board on Monday planned to interview Deputy Superintendent Larry Englebrick during an executive session, or closed-door meeting.
Englebrick is a finalist candidate for the interim superintendent position, the district announced Monday morning. Additional finalist interviews will be announced this week.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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