DEERFIELD — Substitute teachers at Frontier Regional School and the four Union 38 elementary schools can expect a bump in pay after all respective school committees voted in January to raise the daily rate from $75 to $80.
Interim Superintendent Darius Modestow, who on Jan. 22 was appointed superintendent pending successful contract negotiations, previously told The Recorder pay for substitute teachers at Frontier, which serves students in grades 7 through 12, is based on a 6¼-hour day. This meant substitutes earned $75 for a day’s work, at $12 an hour. The rate will now be $12.80 per hour.
The Frontier Regional School Committee held its meeting on Jan. 8, as did the Whately School Committee. The Deerfield School Committee had its meeting on Jan. 10, while Sunderland’s was held Jan. 15, and Conway’s was on Jan. 17.
Modestow said under the state minimum wage law that went into effect Jan. 1, Frontier is not required to change its rate until next year. However, he said, he wanted all substitutes in the Frontier Regional and Union 38 school districts to be paid equally and for that pay to be consistent with the rates for other substitutes in the area.
Modestow previously explained the substitutes’ rate at the four Union 38 elementary schools (Conway Grammar and Whately, Deerfield and Sunderland elementary) is based on a 6½-hour day, meaning a sub made $75 per day, or $11.54 an hour. He said the 15-minute difference in the length of school days at Frontier Regional and the Union 38 elementary schools is why Frontier Regional is not legally obligated to pay substitutes more until next year. To be compliant with the new law, Modestow had told Brenda Antes, the bookkeeper for the elementary schools, to adjust payroll to $80 a day, or $12.31 an hour, though the school committees of Deerfield, Whately, Sunderland and Conway later voted on the increase, anyway.
This week, Modestow said that each school is legally its own district and can pay what it deems fit to any group outside of Union contracts.
“We do try to act as one district, and the school committee has been very receptive and responsive to this,” he said, adding that no employees at any one of the four Union 38 elementary schools would get a pay raise if it was not voted by that school’s individual school committee.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.