School fires, rehires some employees
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/brog/News/48100/
BENTONVILLE — Among the hundreds of employees rehired during Monday night’s Bentonville School Board meeting, there were some employees who had been fired.
But they were fired only momentarily, and none of the employees were in trouble when they were terminated.
The action was a unique move that killed two proverbial birds with one stone. The employees, including library aides, computerlab technicians and teacher’s aides, had approached district administrators through the district’s Classified Personnel Policy Committee about the idea of having their required number of working days reduced.
The issue was that the employees had been required to be at work during staff-development days, even though much of the staff development is geared only toward teachers.
The employees were willing to have smaller paychecks if the number of days in the year that they were required to work was reduced.
Superintendent Gary Compton emphasized that their daily rate of pay was not reduced, but they would receive less overall pay because the amount of time they worked would be less.
“ According to our attorney, that constitutes a form of termination that requires us to notify them that they are being non-renewed, ” Compton said. “ In the same letter (of nonrenewal ), the employee is told that they will be offered employment in the same job, but for fewer days. ”
Teacher Ronnie Flowers spoke to the board about the issue on behalf of the Bentonville Teachers Association, which also provides support for the classified staff.
He said that while most of the involved employees wanted the change, some were concerned because they thought the situation would be voluntary, meaning they would have the choice whether or not to have their hours reduced.
In other personnel-related news, the board hired two new assistant principals. Amy Simpson was hired for Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, and Brooke Dancer was hired for Bella Vista’s new elementary school.
In other school-district news, the board decided to table a parent’s request to allow the family’s children to attend Bentonville schools, even though their new home is in the Rogers School District.
The situation is unique in that before family members purchased the home, they had been told by unknown Bentonville school employees and by the Benton County Assessor’s Office that the home was in the Bentonville School District. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the house’s street address is identical to a home in Bella Vista, which is in the Bentonville School District.
Board members wanted to find out more about the situation before making a decision on the transfer request.