Superintendent addresses teacher concerns over salaries

Evangeline Parish School Board Superintendent Toni Hamlin met with principals and teacher representatives from each of the parish’s schools Thursday, November 13, after teachers began protesting a rumored three percent raise for Hamlin while their salaries were stagnant.
While the origin of the rumors is unknown, Hamlin clarified that the three percent salary adjustment is a merit increase in each of her contracts and she has declined to take that increase on multiple occasions. Her claims were backed up by Michael Deshotels, who visited the parish at the request of the Louisiana Association of Educators to conduct an independent review of the superintendent’s salary. He stated, “The data provided indicates that the superintendent received no additional raises to her salary not also received by teachers in the last three years, even though for each of those years her contract provided for a three percent performance bonus based upon being evaluated as proficient by her school board each year.”
Hamlin said she has refused the performance-based increases because the parish budget has not allowed for “across the board” increases for all employees.
“I think we had a good meeting,” Hamlin said in regards to her meeting with principals and teacher representatives. “We answered questions about my performance based contract and review the budget.”
Hamlin said she is now working on trying to find ways to get teachers increases in their performance pay.
Deshotels, acting as the independent reviewer, said on his blog (louisianaeducator.blogspot.com) that he believes ACT I is to blame for teacher unrest in this parish. Deshotels stated that merit pay increases provided in ACT I are less than traditional increases, meaning that even the most highly proficient and skilled teachers will see a maximum of $400 added to their paychecks annually. Compared to an average $640 annual pay increase for Evangeline Parish high school teachers under the old system, he said he believes this new system is causing morale issues for many school districts.