Superintendent gets raise, two-year contract extension

CENTERVILLE — The St. Mary Parish school system’s superintendent received a $6,000 raise as well as a two-year contract extension during Tuesday’s special school board meeting.
The measure passed on a 7-1 vote with board member Pearl Rack opposing. Board members Alaina Black, Dwight Barbier, Mike Taylor, Kenneth Alfred, Joseph Foulcard, Marilyn LaSalle and Ginger Griffin voted for the extension and raise. Board members Roland Verret, Sylvia Lockett and Wayne Deslatte were absent.
“Congratulations, Dr. Bagwell,” Alfred told the superintendent after the vote. “Looking forward to working with you for two years, at least.”
Before the increase, Bagwell’s salary was $141,231, according to Chief Financial Officer Alton Perry. That figure includes a $135,000 base salary as well as a $5,000 stipend for being national board certified. She also receives a stipend of $1,231 earned for continuing education.
On top of her pay raise, she also will receive the $3,000 raise that taxpayers approved with the 0.45% sales tax recently. Factoring in the school system’s index for a superintendent of 2.0, that raise will be doubled to $6,000, effective in July.
After all the new adjustments, Bagwell’s salary will be $153,231.
Her new contract began Wednesday and runs through June 30, 2023.
During discussion prior to the vote, Rack had questions about Bagwell’s total additional compensation between the pay raise the board was giving her and the pay increase she will receive via the sales tax proposition that passed recently giving raises to teachers and support staff. She subsequently voted against the raise.
After the meeting, she declined comment on her vote against the superintendent’s contract renewal.
Also during Thursday’s meeting the board adopted a resolution for the canvassing of returns and declaring the result of the .45% sales tax approved by voters on March 20.
The measure received 3,052 votes in favor and 1,900 against.
Rack asked if the board could consider making the payment in two installments as a payment in June and in December instead of issuing it monthly.
“The problem with that is then we can’t put that in our salary schedule,” Perry said. “It becomes more of a one-time payment or a supplemental payment, and that wouldn’t necessarily be what we wanted to accomplish with the Gold Book and the improvement.”
Rack said that she wanted to make a motion to do so at a previous meeting but was told to hold off to see if the measure passes. She noted that it is done in another parish.
She was advised because it wasn’t on the agenda, that it needed to be placed on the agenda in order to be considered.
Taylor said he was going to offer a motion at the next meeting to adjust salaries in the gold book to reflect the $3,000 increase for certificated employees and $1,500 for support personnel.
The board also adopted an ordinance for the levy.
In another matter, Perry announced the school system intends to seek board approval to consider adopting a resolution at its next meeting calling for a special election in Consolidated School District No. 5, which includes the entire parish. Perry hopes the measure can be placed on the October ballot. It is for the renewal of an existing ad valorem tax. The 10-year tax brought in about $6.36 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2020.