STEELE CANYON GOVERNING BOARD APPROVES SALARY INCREASE FOR STAFF

Story and photos by Branda Gorgies

The Steele Canyon High School governing board recently held a meeting to approve final decisions regarding salaries of the teachers.

The special meeting was on Monday at 3:45 p.m. in the school library. It was only about five minutes long, but the board members approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) as well as the new salary schedules and extended curricular salaries. 

A memorandum of understanding is a formal document that indicates two or more parties are working together to find a common ground. They aren’t legally binding, but they’re more formal than a casual agreement or promise. The two parties in this case were Steele Canyon High School and the Steele Canyon Charter Education Association.

The 9.6% raise is effective as of July 1, 2023. To give you an idea of the increase, on the salary schedule for the teachers, class 1A, step 1 went from $57,088.87 to $62,569.40. Class 5, step 23 went from $114,057.65 to $125,007.18. The class groups, which are class 1A, one, two, three, four and five, are dependent on how many units a teacher has completed after they obtained their Bachelors degree. If a teacher has a Master’s degree, they’ll move up the classes, ultimately increasing their salary. The steps, which are the rows, are based on how many years the teacher has worked there. Since Steele Canyon was established in the year 2000, the highest step available is step 23, but the schedule goes up to 40. During the board meeting, principal and CEO Scott Parr described this approval as an articulation of the MOU.

This increase has also been applied to counselors and social workers, according to the document provided on the board agenda.

The extended curricular salaries are extra money the staff gets for taking on additional roles. Examples include the technical theater director, band director, choir director, and more specific positions to Steele Canyon, such as cougar den coordinator, cougar crew coordinator, and scratch advisor. Cougar den and cougar crew are two programs run at Steele Canyon meant to help and benefit all students. Scratch is the mascot of the school and has an entire team to accompany him, including both students and staff. The salaries are split into four sections based on how long the staff member has been in the position. The categories are 1-3 years, 4-6 years, 7-9 years and 10+ years. The salaries are a specific percentage of the class 3, step 4 salary. The percentages are dependent on the four categories and the curricular position, but they range from 2% to 17%.

Besides the bonus curricular salaries, there are some more for athletic programs and “other assignments,” as listed on the document. The athletic program roles include “head varsity coach with assistants,” assistants, freshmen coaches(which is based on class 3, step 1), and playoff stipends. The “other assignments” category includes roles like tutoring, training, supervising extended/extracurricular activities, Sunday school, and etc.

Since the agreements, all extracurricular activities that were put on pause are back on, that includes clubs and Beyond the Bell, Steele Canyon’s tutoring service for students. Scott Parr said he was “happy to put this behind us and get on with our school year,” during the governing board meeting. He was confident that they were all acting in the best interest of the students.