During its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday evening, the MAPS Board of Education unanimously approved entering into an agreement with Teachers On Call LLC.
According to its web site, Teachers On Call is a Bloomington, MN based staffing service which provides a comprehensive substitute staffing solution for all types of educational programs throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
TOC representatives Luanna and Leslie Hacker were present on Wednesday evening.
The pair advised the board of several advantages to the agreement, including assuming scheduling of substitute teachers, hiring, pay roll and other costs such as workers compensation and liabilities under The Affordable Care Act.
The representatives assured the pay rate for substitute teachers would be set by the district, and all current substitute teachers would be accepted under the new agreement, upon successful background checks performed by TOC. If the district no longer wishes to utilize a particular substitute, TOC would honor such wishes.
Payment for TOC’s services will be $13 for a half day of service from a substitute teacher and $26 for a full day.
Along with the agreement, the board also approved a pay increase for substitute teachers from $45 to $50 per half day, and $90 to $100 per full day. The increase was approved due to the district being below market by $10 per day and is the first increase since 2007.
In other matters on Wednesday, the board was advised of the district Report Card for the 2013-14 school year issued by the state Department of Public Instruction.
Overall the district was rated at 71.2 on a scale of 0-100, ranking third in comparison to the six neighboring districts of D.C Everest (72.1), Wausau (71.6), Merrill (71.2), Medford (71.1), Rhinelander (68.4), Tomahawk (67.8) and Antigo (64.6).
Maple Grove School was rated as the top school in the MAPS district last year with an 82.1 rating. Merrill High School came in 2nd rated at 76.7 followed by Jefferson Elementary (73.3) and Kate Goodrich (72.8). Bridges Virtual Academy received the lowest rating in the district at 65.4, but still graded as “Meets Expectations.”
The district also unanimously approved a new expulsion policy on Wednesday.
Offenses listed under the policy, but not limited to, selling drugs, bomb threats, weapon with a threat, firearms, repeated possession of drugs and repeated non-consensual sexual activity. The board also approved support of pre-expulsion orders.