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KUSD committee outlines overhaul of ‘appendix D’ extra-duty pay to address inequities
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Summary
Kenosha Unified administrators and committee members proposed dividing extra-duty pay into hourly pay for adult-facing work and stipends or course credit for student-facing roles, aiming to correct historical skew toward high-school positions and improve transparency in posting and evaluation procedures.
Kenosha Unified School District officials on Thursday described a multi-step plan to make the district’s long-standing additional-compensation list (often called Appendix D) more equitable and transparent. The proposal would move many adult-facing duties to timesheet-based hourly pay while converting some student-facing roles into stipends or course sections paid through the regular payroll system.
The measure matters because district staff auditors and a 2018 review found Appendix D had become “skewed” toward high-school positions, lacked job descriptions and evaluation processes, and offered inconsistent dollar amounts across similar functions. Superintendent (Speaker 10) said he asked a committee to recombine and review the program not to add or reduce the total pot but to ensure distributions are equitable. “I wasn’t looking to add to or to reduce the amount of money that was provided for extra duty pay, but rather to make sure it’s being distributed equitably,” the superintendent said.
Beth (implementation lead) told committee members the implementation team began by soliciting proposals for new positions from principals and teaching-and-learning administrators and then divided roles into two buckets: adult-facing work that should be paid by timesheet, and student-facing roles—such as club advisors and extracurricular directors—that are better suited to stipend or course-based compensation. She said some positions, like athletic director roles that are now full-time, no longer make sense as stipends and need different calendar placements in payroll; others such as choreography or technical lighting may be more appropriate as contracted vendor services.
Committee members raised budget and operational questions. One member asked whether vacancy savings factored into the Appendix D pot; Beth said previous unfilled positions had effectively kept the total budget near $500,000 but that converting some activities into contract work or regular payroll would make budgeting clearer. “This actually will be easier to budget in a sense because we will know that those are within the contract work, and then this is all either stipend or timesheets,” Beth said.
Several members also pressed for transparent application and posting procedures to limit favoritism. Beth replied that the initial committee had presented specifics about posting, evaluation and interview processes previously and that any contract-for-service work would be procured via RFP rather than posted as a staff position.
What’s next: The implementation team will communicate revised role descriptions and timelines to schools, recruit for newly defined positions and share a plus/delta summary with the full board. Committee members asked for clear messaging and for principals to receive guidance on the new school-level stipend line item proposed to ensure club advisors are compensated.
The committee did not take a formal vote; the presentation and Q&A were informational and will be returned to staff implementation and future board reporting.
