District staff propose added middle-school coach stipends, club recognition and concession pay changes

School-district staff reviewed proposed revisions to the district's extracurricular negotiated agreement on topics including new middle-school coaching stipends, formal recognition of an "Alphabet Club" (an LGBT student club), compensation for concessions workers and summer strength-and-conditioning assistants. No formal votes were taken; staff said they will compile recommendations to share with the school board.

The proposals would add or clarify head and assistant positions at the middle-school level across multiple programs: boys and girls soccer, fall and winter cheer, drill team, tennis, wrestling, track and field, and other activity roles. Staff said the changes are intended to create defined leaders for each program, increase participation opportunities and align middle-school positions with high-school feeder programs. For some roles the draft schedule lists a head stipend at 7.2 percent of the base and assistant stipends at 6.3 percent; other roles were discussed at 4.5 percent in the current draft.

The matter matters to parents and participants because district staff described large participation numbers in some programs. Staff reported the district had about 186 middle-school track athletes last year and expect more than 200 this year; the winter cheer squad had 27 girls this season. Those figures were cited as reasons for splitting combined teams and naming clear program leads, so practices and meets can run concurrently without overloading a single coach.

Staff detailed a summer strength-and-conditioning program to be run by a contracted head strength coach; the district would create paid assistant positions to run roughly six daily sessions about 1 hour 15 minutes each. Staff said funding for the head coach and some pay would be offset by a Sanford arrangement, with the district using revenue to reduce its net cost. The assistants are intended to improve supervision and safety when students move between weight-room, field and gym work.

On concessions, staff described the operation as a significant, labor-intensive activity that supports school groups. One participant said concession sales brought in about $54,000 over the past year and spent about $15,000 after paying session staff; groups that work events receive a portion of proceeds (staff reported a $500 distribution to a team that works a football game). Concessions receipts are coded to a varsity concessions account, and event workers generate income for their group accounts. Staff said the concession role requires ordering, stocking, clean-up and supervision and that turnover in the position has been high.

A separate proposal would add a student "Alphabet Club" to the list of approved extracurricular clubs. Staff said the group followed club-startup procedures (stated purpose, adviser, required membership) and will be considered for addition next year.

Staff also proposed a wording change for the Technology Student Association (TSA) coordinator line to explicitly list a middle-school TSA coordinator and to leave a high-school TSA coordinator on the schedule should a qualified career- and-technical teacher be assigned. A participant explained that TSA is a career and technical student organization (CTSO) and that a qualifying teacher or program would be required to support a high-school TSA slot.

Participants discussed how the extracurricular pay schedule ties to the negotiated base salary and to the district's upcoming finance figures. Staff repeatedly said final percentage changes depend on the base in the negotiated agreement and on finance office and legislative developments. One speaker suggested a 19 percent figure if the base remained at 48 (staff said they would confirm final numbers after finance and legislative updates).

Next steps discussed included staff drafting notes and recommendations from the meeting to send to the school board and continuing calculations once the district finance office finalizes figures. No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript.

Ending: Staff said they will produce a written summary of recommended edits and forward it to the school board and to negotiation participants for review; further changes to percentages and the base will be decided after finance office and legislative updates.