August 20, 2014 at 4:19 p.m.
School board approves additional mock trial pay, Appendix A revisions
School board approves additional mock trial pay, Appendix A revisions
The board also agreed to pay mock trial coach Kathy Vick-Martini an additional $841. The additional pay means Vick-Martini will be compensated at the same level as the district's highest paid athletic coaches.
Last week, the district's Operations and Strategic Planning Committee voted against the proposed revisions to Appendix A, citing what committee members David Holperin and Dennis O'Brien called a need to bring academic advisor pay in line with the wages paid to athletic coaches.
At the crux of the discussion was compensation for Vick-Martini, who has coached mock trial for 31 years.
She has been appealing a pay cut implemented two years ago.
During the 2013-'14 season, Vick-Martini earned a $2,400 base stipend. Because her team advanced to state competition, she also earned a $600 bonus. After the team won the state championship, she earned a $1,000 bonus, for a total of $4,000. She was eligible to earn another $1,000 if her team had captured the national championship but the squad finished in eighth place.
The Appendix A Committee agreed to increase her pay so she would earn $3,000 for what is deemed the regular season and $1,500 should the team win the state tournament and qualify for nationals, for a maximum total of $4,500. Two years ago, before Appendix A was last revised, Martini was paid $4,626 for the entire mock trial season.
During the committee meeting, Holperin spoke out against the revisions, arguing that Vick-Martini deserves to be paid at the same level as the highest paid coaches in the district and academic advisor pay as a whole should be in line with what the athletic coaches earn.
Based on these arguments, he and O'Brien voted against the revisions and directed district administration to work with the Appendix A Committee on another revision.
That may still happen in the future as the board said Monday Appendix A continue to be a living document - meaning further revisions will be discussed. In the mean time, board president Ron Counter wanted to see the latest revisions approved and Vick-Martini's wages increased.
Counter used his special powers as board president to bring the two issues, which were separated on the agenda, forward.
"Following the last operations committee meeting, ... (Superintendent) Kelli (Jacobi) and I came up with another alternative for the board in regard to mock trial," Counter explained. "We heard what people said. One option was, because of the person heading mock trial at this time, to deal with it a little bit differently," Jacobi added.
"The success of the program would come into play there. (We recommend bringing) Vick-Martini's coaching salary up to the level of one of the athletic coaches. It would be an additional $841 to her season."
Because there is no more money in the Appendix A budget, the additional $841 will have to come from the district's fund balance, which is why this issue and the revisions to Appendix A were discussed separately.
"The Appendix A budget is maxed. Any additional pay (the board) would decide to make as a stipend, or whatever you want to call it, would have to be additional funds out of the fund balance," Jacobi said.
During the Appendix A Committee meetings, committee members were adamant that the district should make its compensation decisions by considering the duties of the position and not the record or background of the person currently holding the job. The full school board appeared to have a different take on the matter, however, as several board members indicated Vick-Martini's longevity and success as a coach make her a worthy candidate for a salary increase.
"Mrs. Vick-Martini has been here for a long time. Her success, her influence with her students, that was basically how the discussion evolved," Counter said.
"She's done a lot to help her students and she puts in a lot of time and effort to help them succeed not only in mock trial but beyond that as well."
Operations committee chairman Mike Roberts agreed with the recommendation. He noted it's important, in this instance, to look at how much Vick-Martini has done for the district as well as how much time and effort she puts into the program.
"I think it's important to look at what mock trial has done as long as Kathy has been here. It's amazing, and I think her level of work that she puts into it, there's no doubt that she puts in a lot of work, as much work as many of our head (athletic) coaches and more than some, I'm sure," he said.
"I think it is appropriate to get her salary to where it would be for those programs that are in that higher tier of days. The way Appendix A is broken down, it's broken down by the number of days of the WIAA season, so that's what the pay is based on. The highest level are those longer seasons and her season is clearly as long, if not longer, than some of those other seasons so I think it's appropriate that she be at that level."
Board members Merlin Van Buren and Duane Frey, both of whom attended the operations committee meeting, said the revisions to Appendix A should be approved without the additional pay for Vick-Martini. Both men praised Vick-Martini but insisted it's bad business for the school board to single out one employee for special treatment.
Van Buren was on the Employee Relations Committee (ERC) when the issue of Vick-Martini's compensation first arose at the end of the last school year. That committee declined to increase her pay and directed the Appendix A Committee to revise the entire pay schedule.
"My biggest disagreement with doing this is we're singling out one individual. When this first came to ERC, we said we didn't want to do that, we wanted to look at the whole issue. If parity is the issue, then this doesn't solve the parity problem. It only exacerbates it because now we're treating one individual differently than we're treating everyone else," Van Buren said. "I agree with what the Appendix A Committee did. They did a great job. They had a lot of meetings and I think they came forward with a good proposal and I will vote for that, but I will vote against this."
To make a special accommodation for Vick-Martini would set a bad precedent, Frey said.
"I agree with Merlin and I've given this a lot of thought, and this is nothing against Kathy - she does a wonderful job - but the directive was given to our superintendent and our administration and they formed a committee. They worked all summer on this to come up with something that we could use and think is fair," he said. "The committee left agreeing that this was a fair product for now and it's a step in the right direction. To go back on that because one person doesn't like it, I think that sets a bad precedent. Don't get me wrong, Kathy does a bang-up job, but I don't like the precedent we're setting here and in that alone, I'm not in favor of this."
The additional pay was approved with Roberts, Holperin, Counter and O'Brien voting in favor of the proposal and Van Buren and Frey voting against it. Board members Mary Peterson, Judy Conlin and Jim Winkler were absent.
Holperin, a vocal supporter of Vick-Martini at the committee level, said he was "very pleased with the decision."
Vick-Martini will be paid the additional stipend during what is deemed her regular season. Should the team win state and qualify for nationals, her pay will stay at $1,500 for the second season. When she retires from her coaching position, the pay for the mock trial coach will revert back to what is stated in Appendix A - $3,000 for the regular season and $1,500 for the national season.
After the mock trial debate was put to rest, the board considered the other revisions to Appendix A.
"Appendix A was discussed at operations. I believed, and Ron (Counter) agreed with me, that the only reason it didn't move forward was because of the issue (Vick-Martini's pay) that we just discussed," Jacobi said.
"We need a document to move forward with the 2014-'15 school year and if that was the only issue, I'm hoping that we can move this forward."
Roberts concurred. "I agree. I think it was the one issue that held it up, and I think it is important and I'm glad this was moved forward because I know there are programs looking to Appendix A as far as being able to plan their seasons and move forward," he said.
The revisions were approved but it appears other tweaks may be made in the future.
Holperin said the incentive schedule should be changed so that coaches are rewarded for qualifying for events such as state or national tournaments instead just for winning those competitions.
"For the championship games, those that make it to the highest level in competition in the state or the nation, we only pay them extra if they win yet I think to get to that level is incredible and I would certainly be willing to pay for competing at that level," he said.
Also still hanging in the balance is the issue of adding levels to the academic advisor pay schedule. Coaches are currently on a three-level system. They can move up and down a level depending on evaluations conducted after each season. There are no levels for academic advisors.
At the operations meeting, when the committee rejected the revisions, part of its direction to the administration and the Appendix A Committee was to look into creating similar levels for academic advisors.
Counter said there is no more money to work with for this year, but the document will be revised in the future.
"I don't disagree at all and I think that's a worthy thing for discussion, ... but we funded mock trial out of the extra budget and there's no more money for Appendix A," he said. "We need to go forward with this being a living document. I'd like it go back to the (Appendix A Committee) and then circulate back to get input on it and see the total budget cost."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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