Riverbank Unified tables three hefty raises for now

Board members tabled a plan to boost the titles and pay of two top Riverbank Unified administrators and a secretary after the rank-and-file packed the boardroom to protest the move.

“It’s a fancy way of getting a pay raise,” said Dana Rapisura, past president of California School Employees Association, Riverbank chapter. “In this district, when we take cuts, it goes bottom to top. Everybody has the same. When just three employees get a nice pay raise, that’s cause for alarm for us,” she told school board members Tuesday.

The three employees were the director of business services, director of human resources and the superintendent’s secretary. Board agenda items proposed new positions for a chief business officer and senior director of human resources, who would be paid 21 percent more, and an executive assistant to the superintendent, with a 15 percent higher salary. No explanation was given for the changes

Superintendent Daryl Camp confirmed Wednesday that existing staff members in the old jobs were expected to assume the proposed new positions. The proposed job descriptions add some responsibilities and a requirement for a bachelor’s degree with master’s degree preferred. There is no plan to add staff for the director positions being vacated, he said.

The district is in contract negotiations for 2015-16 with the CSEA, its support staff union, and with its teachers. For the school year just ending, all the employees got 2 percent raises and a 1 percent bonus.

Steve Carmack, who is on the CSEA negotiating team, told the board the district’s last offer to his group was 1.25 percent, with the union asking for 8 percent.

“The timing is really poor,” said high school teacher Fred Wood, who asked for more information about how the figures were decided. “If we’re not willing to look voters in the eye and say the raises are needed – we need to provide that,” he said.

Community member Charles Neal challenged the board to show how the expense would improve services for students. “All these new titles are not for people in classrooms,” Neal said.

“You have a math classroom with 37 students in it,” he said. “You have schools, and the high school is one of them, where teachers have to run around and put pails under the leaks.”

Board member Suzanne Dean exchanged heated comments with Neal and other speakers, at one point shouting, “If you don’t like it, that’s OK. Campaign against me!”

Dean, who works in the city of Ceres finance office, said she would have voted for the changes. “As a member of the financial field, I would never have applied for that job at that salary,” she said.

The proposed pay for both administrators would range by years on the job from $80,158 to $107,420. The secretarial salary range would be $46,967 to $62,941.

“I anticipate that the agenda item will be considered at a future board meeting,” Camp said Wednesday.

The controversy comes as Riverbank anticipates a significant funding boost, thanks to improving state finances and the new funding formula that gives extra money for poor youths, English learners and foster children. Some 86 percent of Riverbank students qualify under one or more of those categories.

At the meeting, Director of Business Services Roberto Perez Jr. laid out higher revenue projections that under current spending plans would boost the district’s reserves by about $1.5 million next year. That compares to a January prediction that the district would fall short of its spending projection next year and need to pull $733,000 from reserves.

Under spending priorities set with community input, Riverbank plans to add six early-grade teachers to lower class size, a counselor, extra help for English learners, an instructional coach, a parent liaison and after-hours school programs, Perez said.

This story was originally published June 18, 2015 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Riverbank Unified tables three hefty raises for now."