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UPDATE:Davis asks board for pay supplement

By Wesley LeBlanc
Posted 8/29/18

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Following a policy enacted by the Clay County School Board in early 2014, Superintendent Addison Davis asked board members to consider approving a $28,900 salary supplement …

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UPDATE:Davis asks board for pay supplement


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Following a policy enacted by the Clay County School Board in early 2014, Superintendent Addison Davis asked board members to consider approving a $28,900 salary supplement that prior superintendents had received since the late 1980s.

During the Aug. 27 school board workshop, discussion surrounded a consent agenda placed on the agenda by Davis and David Broskie, the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources.

Before Davis could read the item, however, school board member Mary Bolla jumped in to explain that it wouldn’t be right for Davis to read the agenda item at the regular meeting in September. Instead, she said she would be willing to stamp her name on the item.

“I’ve been thinking about this, for well, since we got our [A rating] grade, I’ll be honest,” Bolla said. “We came up to eighth in the state from where we were. We’re an A school district … [Previous Superintendent David Owens] had the supplement. [Previous Superintendent Charlie Van Zant Jr.] had the supplement if I’m not mistaken his first year and I know after that it was stopped...looking at the way our school system went a few years during that time, also, I didn’t feel that it was earned.”

“In this situation, you’ve been on the job now for 20 months...and we have come up to an “A” school district and back to where we were when I first started teaching which was 17 years ago and we’re now eighth in the state and it’s through the leadership you’ve created and that you’ve brought to us that we’ve been able to do this,” Bolla said.

While Bolla was quick to agree that Davis deserved the supplement, School Board Chairman Carol Studdard entered the conversation with trepidation. According to Studdard, despite her open support of Davis, she’s wary of the idea of a supplement in general due to the controversial history of supplements in Clay County.

“Every time the administrators got a raise, they were given a raise to that supplement,” Studdard said. “...it came to my attention that the supplement, all those years, was being given raises and a $3,000 supplement was now $28,900.”

The supplement dates back to Ann Wiggins' tenure as superintendent when the board voted to add $3,000 to her base pay, a figure set by the state. Years after Wiggins retired and David Owens was elected superintendent in 1996, Owens would continue bringing the supplement request to the board, that is, at least, until Toni McCabe was named assistant superintendent for human resources. Each year since, until the 2014 policy change, the superintendent automatically received the supplement.

“I think a supplement is appropriate,” Studdard said. “What my concern is for is the amount. What I want to know is what is that sweet-spot number.”

According to the Director of Professional Learning, School Choice and Charters, and Leadership Development Kathleen Moeller, the amount of $28,900 is the sweet spot number. Moeller said that because of Davis’ skills as an education leader, he has consistently received what amounts to poaching offers to get him to discontinue his work for Clay and instead take up work in a different area, and this supplement combined with his salary is the district’s way to keep Davis around.

Davis, though, while grateful to potentially receive the supplement, said he ran for this position knowing he’d be taking a pay cut and regardless, his focus would still be Clay County students.

“From my side, I want to be in Clay County ... and while it may be uncomfortable for you, I did run and take a position that was elected and then take a pay cut,” Davis said. “I did because I wanted to work for Clay County and I want to be in Clay County for a long time. I will, regardless of what you do, continue to work hard for the kids in Clay County every single day.”

Broskie, joined the discussion to explain that Davis is one of the lowest-paid superintendents in the surrounding areas and actually makes less than the Clay County School Superintendent made in 2006.

Before the discussion was over, Studdard raised concerns that the public might view the supplement as a negative due to its proximity to the one mill increase vote and suggested it come up at a later date.

If this supplement is given to Davis, it would not be paid from any money raised from the millage increase and is a part of an annual budget item the school board must vote on each year, at the school board’s discretion.

While the school board agreed to save the major discussion for the upcoming regular school board meeting on Sept. 6, school board members Ashley Gilhousen and Betsy Condon remained mostly silent for the majority of the conversation. Neither voiced if they were in favor of the supplement or not.

At the upcoming meeting, the board will have to vote to approve the supplement, a policy enacted a few years ago after past superintendents received supplements automatically. The supplements were put into the annual budget, but they did so without realizing for years that in doing so, they were automatically doling out the supplement. This resulted in Van Zant receiving a $29,000 salary supplement for 2013 without a board approval vote. This year, however, if Davis is to receive a salary supplement, it will be because the majority of the board voted to approve it.