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West Carroll School Board Renews Director Caldwell’s Contract

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ATWOOD (December 1) — The West Carroll Special School District School Board voted 5-1 to approve renewing Superintendent Preston Caldwell’s contract for a four year term during their meeting Thursday night, Dec. 1.
 
All school board members were present for both the scheduled work session and regular meeting held afterward. All school board meetings are open to the public.
 
Contract renewal
 
The first item on the agenda up for discussion was for the board to decide whether or not to approve Superintendent Preston Caldwell’s contract renewal. Caldwell’s first contract was approved by the school board in spring of 2021 for a two-year term, and the superintendent asked the board to consider renewing his contract for a four-year term during Thursday night’s meeting.
 
Caldwell’s new contract includes an annual salary of $103,000 along with an additional incentive of $1,000 per scholastic semester for each semester the director is physically present for each work day with no absences during the term of the semester without prior approval. The board will also pay 100% of the cost for medical, vision and dental insurance for the director and his family.
 
Board member Betty Wallace asked how Caldwell came up with four years and the salary proposal.
 
“That was based on directors in our area, county and district,” replied Board Chairman William Robinson. “It’s based on what we’ve paid in the past. We went over contracts from our previous directors, and me and Chris Hayden talked about what other directors in our area were making and what their packages are, so that’s where that came from.”
 
Wallace said that while she’s only been on the board for four months, she’s satisfied so far with the work that Caldwell has done.
 
“But I don’t feel like I have enough experience with him to extend that contract for four years,” Wallace said. “I’ve also talked to some of my constituents, and they have some concerns about Mr. Caldwell as well. So I would like to see that (term) reduced, in my opinion.”
 
Wallace raised concerns about Caldwell’s salary.
 
“I agree that probably what you have picked for his salary is consistent with what’s going on in the rest of the area, but that’s a 13 percent pay raise since his original contract which has been 2 years,” Wallace said. “To me, it’s difficult to justify increasing his salary by 13 percent if we gave teachers and other employees a 4 percent raise in the last two years.”
 
Wallace said that transparency of the director of schools’ salary was important to her.
 
“I know in the past the district did not pay 100 percent of the director’s insurance, at least while I was there,” Wallace said. “They paid the same as what they paid teachers. To me, that’s a way to hide part of his salary. I know that’s traditionally done in a lot of districts ... But I think it hides salary in my opinion.”
 
Robinson clarified that Dexter Williams’ last contract did include 100 percent of insurance paid for by the district. Wallace said that she could not agree to a four year contract.
 
“If you decide not to go with paying the insurance, I’m okay with raising the salary,” Wallace said. “I think that’s kind of what we had thought we would do. But I cannot agree to a four year contract, bottom line.”
 
Robinson said that in his six years of experience on the board, the board has traditionally started new directors on a two year contract to see how they do before extending to another four years.
 
“With the previous director, that’s all I’ve got to go by guys,” Robinson said. “We started him out with two years and then the next one was a four year contract. We worked with him for two years, wanted stability and thought he was doing a good job. We wanted to go four years just to have that stability with our central office personnel and people to know who their boss is going to be, work and go on. That’s the thought process behind a longer contract.”
 
Robinson said that reducing the contract to a two-year contract will only have the board discussing it again in a year and two months.
 
“I’ve been on the board six years and have voted on five contracts,” Robinson said. “I don’t think that’s very good in my opinion. I don’t think that’s very good at all. It doesn’t show our people much stability and it doesn’t show our working staff very much stability.”
 
Wallace asked that Robinson keep in mind that the board has three new board members who have only been working with Caldwell for four months.
 
Superintendent Caldwell asked to comment on the matter.
 
“My comments are very respectful in what I’m about to say,” Caldwell said. “But Mrs. Betty, I did do some research and I got some data from the Tennessee Association of School Superintendents. The average salary for a director of schools for a school district this size is $109,000. That’s a base salary.”
 
On top of this, Caldwell said that there are a lot of districts that allow car allowances for directors among other benefits.
 
“With all due respect, I think mine is very humble,” Caldwell said. “I think it’s on the low end compared to other districts, and I have other district salaries if you would like for me to share them with you. As far as longevity, since I have started and since the election, on every communication with every board member I have finished it with, ‘If you have any questions, email me, text me or call me.’”
 
Caldwell said that he has invited all board members to communicate with him.
 
“I have not received that many calls,” Caldwell said. “No one has been to the central office through these three months to get to know me, so the longevity of my contract in my opinion should not be determined by the timing of an election. The election did provide three new board members, so in your opinion, my length of contract would be determined by the three new board members coming in. That’s not necessarily fair to me because I’ve got three new board members to have my contract length shortened. That’s not how this works.”
 
After further discussion, the board voted 5-1 to approve the new contract with Betty Wallace voting no. With the approved four year extension, Caldwell’s new contract will commence on Dec 1, 2022 and end on Dec. 31, 2026.