Employees in the Kingfisher Public School district who take on any kind of extra duty are going to see an increase in their paychecks.

The board of education last Monday night approved across-the-board pay increases for all extra-duty assignments within the district at its regular August meeting.

The pay increases are effective for the 2022-23 school year and were recommended by Superintendent David Glover.

“This gets some of our folks kind of to the average of schools our size,” Glover told board members.

“But doesn’t get us to where I think Kingfisher needs to be as far as a leader.”

The pay increase is the latest step as the district tries to be competitive in the field of education.

For the past few years, the board has approved multiple stipends throughout the year, some near the beginning of the year, some around the holidays and others toward the end of the year.

Also, earlier this summer and upon the recommendation of then-Superintendent Dr. Daniel Craig, the board voted to pay all the employees’ insurance costs, which resulted in about a 7 to 8 percent increase in take-home pay.

The latest step, said Glover, was also something Craig was pursuing and encouraged Glover to do so as well.

Kingfisher’s board received proposed extra-duty increases toward the end of the 2020-21 school year. They were compiled by Jay Wood, who was then the district’s athletic director.

The board took no action at the time. Glover said it was time to move.

“I did some research and we’re low,” he said, regarding extra-duty pay. “We just are. Across the board, we’re low at Kingfisher and this gets us to where if we need to go out and find somebody, we’re a little more competitive now.”

The increases are for coaching duties, directors for multiple programs such as special education and alternative education, vo-ag instructors, music and band directors, sponsors for various activities such as Student Council,those who oversee federal programs, gate workers and more.

“It’s everything,” Glover said. “And I tried to make it where it would at least reflect something in their check.”

After more discussion, Carly Franks made the motion to approve the move. Terry Payne seconded.

Jim Perdue and Dana Golbek joined to make it a unanimous vote. Charles Walker was not present at the meeting.

While Glover said he doesn’t plan to bring increases to the board every year, he did say the district still has room to improve.

“We’re low and it shouldn’t be that way,” he said. “To me, this gets us moving in the right direction. Just like you all did with the teachers last year, you got that moved in the right direction.

“Our extra-duty people, yeah, they’re teachers too, but they are pretty important to this place.”

While it was noted that athletics gets a lot of the attention, Glover said every extra-curricular activity plays a big role in the district.

“It’s not just athletics. It’s band. It’s vo-ag. It’s speech and debate. It’s all those things,” Glover said during the meeting.

“It takes everything to make up a school system and all those things excite children to do well academically. If we didn’t have the extra duties – the extra things at the older levels – we wouldn’t have the academics that we expect to have. I really believe that.”

Also during Monday’s meeting, board members reviewed plans for the new junior high locker rooms and renovations to the football field concession stand and Gilmour Elementary School and made three certified staff hires. (Ed. note: See story in Wednesday, Aug. 3, edition.)

Support personnel hired with unanimous approval were: Savannah Gilley, paraprofessional at Kingfisher Upper Elementary (KUE), Barbara Hoselton, paraprofessional at junior high and high school; Irene Whitehead, paraprofessional at KHS; Cliff Benson, bus driver; Jessica Hladik, paraprofessional at KUE; and Karen de la Torre, teacher assistant at Gilmour.

Resignations were accepted from Stacey French, Heritage Elementary library aide, and Mariah Sinclair, KHS science teacher.

Other action items approved by the board included:

• Fundraiser requests by the STEM and junior high softball programs;

• An annual contract with CareerTech for secondary programs;

• A broadcast agreement with Michael Swisher Media LLC for the 2022-23 school year;

• A resolution with Chisholm Trail Technology Center to transcript computer, math and science courses that are taught there;

• A move to participate in the Kingfisher County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan;

• Enter into a one-year contract with GoFan for digital ticketing services for all KPS sporting events as well as other activities identified and recommended by the district’s administration.

[Ed. note: Look for more information regarding this item in a future story.]