Stipends increase for extracurricular advisers

SHAWANO — The Shawano School Board approved stipends totaling $36,700 for advisers in clubs and activities at its meeting Monday.

The total is an increase from last year, when advisers received $31,630 for overseeing such activities as chess clubs, FFA and the winter musical. Individual advisers received increases ranging from $45 to $300.

The lion’s share of the increase comes from adding a new position, Skills USA adviser, which will receive $2,400 this year. According to Joel Wondra, the district’s athletic and activities director, the post had been voluntary, but the district saw worth in adding it, as the adviser helps to prepare students to participate in state and national Skills USA competitions.

Wondra said he met with the district’s finance committee earlier in the month, and it recommended the increase in stipends.

He said the previous amounts were tied to when the district’s beginning teacher pay was $37,000. Earlier this year, the district increased the starting pay base to $40,000, so it made sense to increase the stipends, as well, Wondra said.

Board member Beth McFarlane expressed concern over how the individual stipends were reached, as the annual stipends range from $600 to $4,000.

“You have the FFA adviser getting $4,000 while FBLA only gets $800,” McFarlane said. “I mean, that’s a big discrepancy.”

Wondra said he just did proportional increases based on already existing stipends, but suggested the compensation was based on how many students were in the club or organization and how much time the duties require of the adviser.

Wondra said the finance committee also recommended monitoring the advisers to see how much time is taken up by administering to the student organizations and see if changes need to be made to the stipends for fairness.

Board member Chris Gull suggested having advisers regularly report how many hours they dedicated to a particular organization to get a clearer picture on whether the stipends adequately compensate them.

“There’s obviously a huge disparity,” Gull said. “It’d be nice to take a look. We don’t want to be short-changing FBLA if they’re doing as much as FFA.”