The Warren County Board of Education approved a contract renewal and a 3.87 percent pay raise for Director of Schools Dr. Grant Swallows.
The raise follows a positive annual evaluation by the board. Board Chair Chris Cope said the director received high scores that speak for themselves.
“I’ll just state as we do our yearly evaluation, the average score for the six submissions for the evaluation was, the average score was a 4.09 which is above expectations and there was no marks from any consideration of that that was under a satisfactory mark,” Cope said.
Cope said the original contract called for a minimum two percent pay increase for the director. The 3.87 percent figure represents the average pay raise given to certified employees across the county.
“Just based off of what what we’ve done with the certified employees themselves and the course that we’re doing right now and the improvements and growth that I’ve personally seen made across the county, I would move that we do give the 3.87 percent raise based off the the certified employees’ average,” board member Matt Brown said.
Cope said the board considered multiple options for the salary increase, including a 4.43 percent raise based on a doctorate degree and 23 years of experience. Cope said the board typically aligns the director’s raise with the average rate provided to other school system employees.
“We will just be doing that for this particular time and then next year when that contract renews, it’ll still go back down to that two percent guarantee but then we can decide at that point each each time,” Cope said.
Cope said the board had to amend the original motion to renew the contract because the written document specified the two percent minimum. The board has followed the practice of matching employee raises for the director for the past few years.
