Providence’s volunteer school board is hiring its first paid support staffer, using money already sitting unspent in the district budget. Board members said the lack of staff is why agendas and meeting notices often go up late — a complaint residents raise at public comment. The board also approved one- and two-year administrator contracts, including $4,000 and $8,000 pay incentives for principals at the district’s highest-need schools.
The Providence School Board voted July 28 to approve a job description for a board coordinator, a paid staff position that would take day-to-day direction from board leadership while remaining an employee appointed and evaluated by the superintendent. The board approved the description by voice vote at a special meeting, along with amendments loosening the degree requirements and adding an evaluation process.
The vote followed a lengthy legal explanation about a state education commissioner’s declaratory order issued in June, and a discussion of who, exactly, the new hire would answer to.
Employment contracts approved
The board first took up a consent agenda — the group of routine items normally approved in a single vote without discussion. Two items were pulled for debate; the rest passed by voice vote…