Q and A with Michael Wahl

Question: What is Proposition A, the Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election?

Smithson Valley Principal Michael Wahl: “In a nutshell, we are asking  taxpayers to raise the taxes a little bit in order for compensation to go to our employees.”

“It would, it would guarantee a 3% raise for professional staff (that) would happen immediately and for the next two years, and then, any kind of auxiliary, paraprofessional staff there’s the $1.50 an hour increase for them.”

Question: Could you elaborate on the teacher salary freeze from the past years?

Wahl: “The board has to make the decision if we’re going to hire more teachers, or if we’re going to compensate the teachers with higher salaries, that we already have, and have higher class averages. So, in the last couple years, when the salaries have been frozen. It was right in the middle of COVID also with a pandemic, but we were gaining so many students that the decision was made to add extra teachers.”

 “So, if and when this passes in November, all staff members would get their December 15 Check. It would be retro paid, so that means it would go all the way back to the beginning of this year. For teachers, her first day or his first day of August, then they’re going to add that December check is going to be really big because you’re going to get your raise for August, September, October, November, December, so they’re going to retro pay those teachers.”

Question: As a campus, are we still experiencing a bus driver shortage?

Wahl: “Yes, we are. Just to give you an example, in a typical year at Smithson Valley High School, I know we lost some kids, but we have 15 to 17 buses, and they all have drivers, in all the years I’ve been here. Now, we’ve been reduced down to six to seven total buses.”

“So, we’re hoping that the increase for them, $1.50 an hour, would attract more applicants to want to come work here instead of somewhere else.”

Question: How many custodians do we have on campus?

Wahl: “We have seven.”

Question: Ideally, how many custodians should we have?

Wahl: “14.”

Question: What do the hours for a custodian here typically look like?

Wahl: “We have them in two shifts, so we have a morning shift that usually starts around 6 or 6:30 in the morning, because they’re the ones that have to unlock all the gates outside and then come inside. Those guys typically will work to about one 1:30 In the afternoon, so that will be that. Then, we have the other shift that comes in around 1p.m. And the majority of them are on the afternoon shift, because that’s a lot of cleaning the restrooms, restocking to get the school ready for the next day.”

Question: How essential are these workers for our campus?

Wahl: “Very essential. I mean, I don’t know if we could really have a school without our paraprofessional, custodial, auxiliary, bus driving staff; they’re so crucial to the workings of our school.”

Question: In a broad overview, how will VATRE affect our school? 

Wahl: “It will affect our campus in a positive way. For the reasons I’ve mentioned, it’ll compensate our paraprofessional, auxiliary staff to get them up to the level with competitive wages around our area. It will have a positive impact on our teaching staff. They haven’t had a raise in a couple years, so that’s gonna help with morale and value their job and of how they did a really great job last year during a pandemic, and they’re doing it again this year. So, it’ll have a huge impact on them and their morale and their willingness to want to do a great job.”