Absent teachers are costing one local school district, to the tune of more than $6,000 per month, says the leader of the group overseeing that school sytem.
Patrick Campbell, president of the board of trustees for Coahoma County Schools, said the school district is spending “way too much money” on substitute teachers due to a high number of teacher absences.
During the Tuesday, Nov. 13 meeting of the board of trustees, Campbell directed Lynn Lang, the principal at Coahoma County High School, to stress accountability to teachers and staff at the school.
Mildred Moore, the finance director for the school system, said the district paid out close to $6,000 to substitute teachers in one month.
Lang said his goal is to have “every teacher to be in class every day.” He added “the only alternative is for the teacher to produce a doctor’s excuse.”
The principal was giving the board an at-risk update on his school when Campbell brought up the subjects of absences and accountability.
In other news, the board of trustees:
* Heard from Anthony Dixon, the school system’s fixed assets manager, who introduced a new policy for determining the disposal of fixed assets in the district.
He said the old policy had not been followed “for some time” and the new policy was deemed necessary. Interim School Superintendent Illean Richards agreed.
“Anthony is not responsible for the mess that exists as he is new to the position,” Richards said. “He just inherited it.”
There is school property that cannot be accounted for that needs to be disposed of, according to Dixon, and he can’t find the property. His new guidelines call for the property to be assigned to one employee and become the responsibility of that employee.
The board approved the new guidelines as proposed by Dixon.
* Was informed by Moore that the district was financially solvent with assets of $2,676,658.76 after paying October claims of $354,993.
* Heard from Richards, who said all CCSD schools will be closed Nov. 19-23 for the Thanksgiving holiday.
