Will County Gazette

The Beecher School District 200U board of education held a meeting Oct. 12 that highlighted its employment situation.

The board had a discussion about substitute teacher pay rates because a recent countywide survey showed that they were the lowest-paying district. While the board said it was not the most immediate priority, they did want to raise the rates so that could bring in new subs and people to the district. They were interested in adding a bit of a loyalty bump, giving subs a pay boost after subbing for so many days in the district in a school year.

“If you did some kind of incentive program that said ‘hey we’ll pay you at the $95 rate for the first 20 days, and after that we bump you to $135 or $125,’” Superintendent Jack Grahm said during the meeting. “That way, you know, we still monitor our spending, but then the loyalty kicks in and now people are going to want to come to Beecher because, hey, I know if I'm there for the 21st day now I'm towards the middle, upper tier of Will County.”

After an executive session, the board members voted to adopt several changes in employment throughout the district. They accepted the resignations of teacher aide Denise Patterson and full-time bus driver David Sebring, though he will still be a sub bus driver for the district.

The board then voted to hire four people in the district. They voted in Vanessa Perez for the position of teacher aide, Hailey Trudeau to be the new junior high school cheerleading coach, Katie Gersh was hired as a district bookkeeper and executive assistant effective immediately, and Karis Danilla as the Human Resources Director/Executive Assistant.

The board will meet next at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 at the Beecher High School library.