Marathon teachers gainwage increase

By Hannah Alden

Marathon School District staff will be seeing at least a 4.5 percent wage increase after a discussion and vote by school board members last week.

During the Marathon School Board’s meeting last Wednesday, the school board approved recommended compensation increases of 4.8 percent for teachers, 4.5 percent for administrators and 8.5 percent for support staff. According to the topic’s summary sheet presented to the board, the increase for teachers will help maintain the district’s base teacher pay of $40,000 and the support staff’s increase includes an accompanying change in the district’s pay schedule to attain a base pay of $15 per hour for those employees. It was also noted that there would be “an additional competitive increase in the food service staff compensation.”

District Administrator Rick Parks found that on average similar schools in the Marawood Conference are aiming to give teachers a pay bump between 3 and 5 percent. However, he said some districts are waiting until the state budget is set to consider increasing pay scales.

“They want to see what the state budget comes out with because there’s been a lot of talk that it could be a zero percent increase, like it’s been six out of the last eight years, or it could come in with some of the suggested $300-500 increase per student,” Parks said. “You always have the option of saying you want to wait… We believe our budget situation is healthy. We think this is doable. It helps our staff to kind of know where they’re at from a retainment standpoint. If the state does change something, we have future years that we can adjust. Or if they do come in with something more positive, it will cast us more forward more years before we’re going to have to think about asking for anything else.”

On a related subject, the board also approved offering two health insurance plans for staff. The district put out a request for insurance bids after facing a 14 percent increase with its current insurer, WCA Group Health Trust.

After discussing two plans from Aspirus, which is the healthcare system the majority of the district’s employees utilize according to Parks, the board opted to offer staff two choices between the insurer’s Signature and Freedom plans. The Freedom plan is comparable to the district’s current health insurance with a statewide network while the Signature plan, which is cheaper, offers a more narrow network.

In other business:

The search for a new principal for Marathon Area Elementary School and Marathon Venture Academy is underway. The district received 17 applications and is set to begin interviews this week. After the initial round of interviews conducted by a committee, the finalists will meet with the school board. Current principal Ryan McCain, who submitted his resignation earlier this year citing personal reasons, will give up his duties on June 30. McCain has been principal since 2020.

During the meeting, board president Jodi Debroux asked if the intention is to still hire on an assistant principal for the two schools in the future. Board member Lia Klumpyan emphasized the importance of having two leaders, in order to not overwork the new principal.

Parks said he is still looking at the affordability aspect of the addition, but agreed that “there should be two admin positions in that building, just based on number of students and families.”

The board approved purchasing new seating for the high school cafeteria. The recommendation for the purchase comes as the district learned its Fund 50 for food service is too high, exceeding a three-month average of operating expenses, per a notice from the Department of Public Instruction. In order to use up some of the excess funds, the district will be buying the new tables and chairs, which will seat 176, for $42,815. Half of the funds will come from the Fund 50 balance and the remaining balance will be paid from the district’s general fund. According to Parks, the district will look to sell the current seating, which he said has been around since he was teaching in the school.