The Sioux City Community School District Board of Directors voted June 9 to approve the district's human-resources hiring report and, after extended debate and public comment, separately approved the district's 2025–26 administrator salary schedule.

The action matters because administrator contracts expire June 30 and board members said they wanted an aggregated schedule showing prior-year salaries, percentage changes and group totals so the board can check aggregate increases across elementary, secondary and special-education staff before finalizing administrator pay.

Director Greenwell urged a delay and asked for a one-page summary that the board has used in prior years, saying, “I
m not gonna approve the admin salary tonight till we get that information.” Several directors and members of the public said delaying administrator approvals could leave new principals and assistant principals without clear contracts or insurance coverage. After debate and public comment the board approved the HR report as amended and then separately approved the administrator salaries.

Board action and votes

- The board approved the human-resources report as amended. The motion passed 5-1. Recorded "yes" votes included Director Emke, Director George, Director Greenwell, Director Lee and Director Myers; Director Miller voted no. The amendment directed that the administrator salary schedule be handled as a separate item.

- A later motion to table (postpone) the 2025–26 administrator salary schedule until the June 23 meeting resulted in a 3-3 tie and failed. Because the motion to postpone failed, the board then took up and voted on the administrator salary schedule as presented in the packet; that motion passed 4-2. Recorded "yes" votes were Director Emke, Director George, Director Lee and Director Myers; recorded "no" votes were Director Greenwell and Director Miller.

What the board asked for

Directors seeking the summary schedule said they wanted an aggregated report showing for administrator groups (elementary, secondary, ESE and other categories): prior-year totals, current salaries, proposed new salaries, the pool total, and the percentage change so the board could confirm overall salary movement (for example, an overall 3% target) rather than only seeing individual names and line items. Director Greenwell said the schedule had been provided in prior years and requested the administration reproduce it in the same aggregate form.

Administration response and public comment

Barb Kaske, the district's HR presenter during the meeting, and Patty Blankenship, the district finance officer, told the board that HR could reformat the work paper to hide individual names and present the aggregated totals the board requested. Blankenship told the board she could "hide the individual rows and you can just see the summary" and said she would send that summary to the board that evening.

Public commenters — including district administrators who would be affected — urged the board not to delay final approvals because staff begin leadership work before formal contract start dates and because some employees had already resigned from prior positions with resignation dates effective in June. Preston Fisher, introduced himself as an administrator and said, "The kids need me. The kids," describing why he wanted contract certainty to begin planning for summer training and August school openings. Michelle Hahn, a community member, raised concern that some resignations listed in the HR report were effective earlier in June and asked whether those employees would be left without coverage before a future board meeting.

Discussion vs. decision

Board debate separated two distinct issues: personnel approvals for hires and the separate salary schedule for incumbent administrators. Directors emphasized that they were not objecting to individual hires or naming individual employees in public discussion; several directors said they supported hiring teachers, classified staff and counselors immediately while reserving additional review of administrator salary aggregates. Director Miller and others argued that the incoming superintendent should have input on the administrator team; other directors said the current superintendent and administration must continue district operations through June 30.

Next steps and implementation

- The board voted to approve new hires that were included in the HR report so those employees can receive contracts and begin work.
- The administration agreed to prepare and distribute the requested one-page aggregate schedule showing group totals, prior-year salary totals, proposed salary totals and percentage changes; finance staff said they would provide that summary the night of June 9 or the next day so directors could review it ahead of follow-up action.

Why this matters to the community

The board's decisions affect staffing, pay and insurance continuity for school leaders and classroom personnel before July 1, when a new superintendent is due to begin. Directors repeatedly emphasized that the district must balance timely approvals to reassure staff with the need for board-level financial oversight of aggregate salary changes.

Ending note

Board members set expectations that, going forward, HR and finance will provide the grouped summary schedule routinely so the board can review aggregate salary impacts before voting on administrator salary schedules.