Board hires LPN instructor

NEW CUMBERLAND - The Hancock County School Board unanimously approved the hiring of an LPN instructor for the John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center at its meeting Tuesday.

The decision to open the position was reached with some difficulty at a past board meeting.

Board President Jerry Durante stated that he supports the career center's need for an LPN instructor, but that he still believes the district's salary policy should be changed.

"I think that Hancock County ought to measure what we do, and look at what other counties do," Durante said.

The current salary policy bases an instructor's salary on years of related work experience and the instructor's degree, causing a potential problem if the instructor who is hired receives a higher salary than an instructor who's been with the district a long time.

The salary policy also becomes a problem when a professional comes in from the field to be an instructor, because he or she could experience a decrease in salary and therefore making hiring for some instructional positions difficult.

School Superintendent Sue Smith stated that although the position is state-funded, the salary policy is still an issue.

"There is no set state limit on this (salary policy), and that was part of the problem," Smith said.

The LPN program is the only adult program and the only 12-month program at the career center, and is based on an agreement between the career center and Weirton Medical Center.

In other business, board member Christina Fair requested that the board look at nine positions in the district that are coordinator or director positions and evaluate the district's interchangeable use of those titles.

At its last meeting, the board did not approve a title change for the Coordinator of Special Education.

The change would have been from coordinator to director of education, which would have resulted in a salary increase of several thousand dollars for that employee.

The board agreed at that meeting that the employee is a dedicated and hard-working person, but that the title change would cause too much of a salary inequity with other positions.

Fair's request addresses the difference in salary versus the interchangeable use of the titles of coordinator and director.

The board acknowledged that though the task may take some time, those positions have not been adjusted for many years, and should be evaluated.

"Fairness is what we look for, and what the board is trying to do here," Durante said.