School staffing discussion veers into debate about Bolton JROTC and its future at academy

What began Tuesday as a briefing about staffing for the next academic year turned into a discussion on whether the new Bolton Academy will continue the U.S. Air Force JROTC program and ended with a request for information on all JROTC programs in the district.

The only new item of business on the personnel committee agenda was a motion to discuss school staffing for the 2024-25 year. Naomi Belvin, the district's director of human resources, told the committee the administration was seeking 1,616 teachers, including lead teachers, for next year.

That's a drop of three teachers from last year's request, even though the number of students has increased from 20,507 to 20,601, according to the district's MFP (Minimum Foundation Program) count.

As the discussion wrapped among the committee, it was opened for public comment. Aaron Atwood, a Bolton parent who spoke on behalf of other Bolton JROTC students and parents present at the meeting, said the issue was related to next year's staffing as it impacts the program.

Bolton High School will cease to exist when this academic year ends in May. When classes begin again in August, it will be the Bolton Academy Academic & Performing Arts Prek-12 Magnet School. Current students who do not qualify academically will attend Peabody Magnet High School.

Atwood questioned whether a JROTC program could be shut down by a principal or superintendent, or whether the board must decide that.

"Currently, it's in the works to be shut down," Atwood said. "And the Air Force is under the impression that we are wishing for the Air Force ROTC program at Bolton to be shut down and closed."

That might be a misunderstanding, he said, but something needs to be done about it immediately.

The program has been at Bolton since 1968, he said. If the program is closed, it likely never will return because the number of JROTC in the state is maxed out, he added.

Atwood said he learned that instructors can teach subjects to any student who has ever been in JROTC, even as an eighth-grader, as a reserve member. He said those subjects include financial literacy, rocketry, aerospace science, drones, robotics and more.

"As of this moment, there are only 22 students who are rising sophomores, juniors and seniors who have signed up for ROTC," he said.

Atwood said that doesn't count the approximately 90 future eighth-graders who have expressed interest in the program but haven't yet enrolled. He called it "premature" to close the program.

Since the request for next year's teacher allotment is three less than this year, Atwood suggested an amended motion to include financial support for the JROTC program instructors at Bolton Academy.

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"It is a longstanding program that has benefited the community for decades, and I believe it would be short-sighted to cut it short," he said. "I understand that it is a little bit more of a financial burden, because the teachers in ROTC do have a higher pay scale that is recommended by the government and a contract that the school board signed with them."

But Atwood said, unlike other school clubs, all costs are covered for JROTC students when they go on field trips. No other club does that, he said.

He said that also holds for curriculums taught by the instructors, using the example that any financial math curriculum provided by the Air Force "will supplement or offset the amount of money spent to keep the instructors in place.

"The problem is, yes, this is showing favoritism to one program over another, or one school over another; however, six out of nine of these board members voted" for the academic academy, he said, adding that the new academy must be supported in order to grow, and its JROTC now "is an odd question off to the side."

He said Superintendent Jeff Powell and Bolton Academy Principal Jennifer Scott have told him they believe in JROTC and think it's a great program, but it's a financial burden to the fledgling school.

Atwood then asked for the motion to be amended so that the program could remain at the school until it gets well established, maybe for one to two years.

After Atwood finished speaking, board member Linda Burgess asked if the program would continue at Bolton Academy.

Powell said either side can pull out of the contract, and it requires two instructors to be in place. He alluded to an email he sent to commanders who had inquired about the program's status, saying he asked three questions.

One was wondering if the number of instructors could be changed for the 68 students in the program. He said the district doesn't staff any school at one adult to 32 students at the high school level.

Powell said keeping the instructors costs the district about $275,000 annually. The government does reimburse the district about $70,000 to $75,000 of that, he said.

In addition to the staffing ratio, Powell said he wanted to know if the government would pay for the costs of the two instructors.

"I think, traditionally, it was just understood that the government was paying for these positions," he said. "Well, they're not. They're not by a long shot."

He said the two positions are costing more than $200,000, which he said is "a significantly more amount than what we pay our teachers."

Powell said he also asked the commanders if the program could be transferred to another school. He said he hasn't had a response yet.

He said the administration "doesn't have the luxury" of treating JROTC any differently than any other of the district's programs.

Burgess asked him to clarify, questioning whether it's not that he doesn't want the program but that the district can't afford it. Powell replied that it's not fiscally responsible to continue to have two instructors for 68 students, or even a few more than that.

"And how long has this been going on?," Burgess asked.

"There you go," quipped Bubba McCall, a member of the committee.

Atwood disputed the comparison of JROTC instructor salaries to other teacher salaries, agreeing that would not work for the district if only salaries were considered. He contended the program — not the district — pays for items like field trips, class materials, textbooks and even things like drones.

"The school board did not pay for the drones on campus," he said. "ROTC paid for the drones on campus."

Burgess asked if that $275,000 was split between the two instructors, and Powell said it was to pay both instructors' salaries and benefits. Atwood added that was before the federal reimbursement, which Powell echoed.

Powell then compared that to the salary and benefits for a first-year teacher in the district.

"They're not first-year teachers," Atwood said of the instructors, asking what the salary and benefits would be for a 25-year teacher.

No one answered that.

A nine-month teacher with a bachelor's degree would earn $44,974 as a base salary in their first year during the 2023-24 academic year, according to a salary schedule on the district website. One with 25 years of experience and a bachelor's degree would earn $55,806.

Those same positions working 12 months would earn $52,134 and $62,967, respectively, according to the schedule.

Burgess then asked if the instructor pay was true for all JROTC instructors in the district. Those in the audience in support of the program answered, "Yes."

While Powell answered that he hasn't reviewed the agreements for other JROTC programs, one person in the audience said loudly that they all were the same.

"That's the question," Burgess said. "Because if you are paying everybody else the same, why all of a sudden you don't want to pay these?"

Powell pointed to the program enrollment at the academy, saying two instructors wouldn't be needed. Burgess said the academy might need those instructors, because they can provide the type of classes the students might need.

Powell then voiced his support for JROTC, saying, "You're not gonna find a bigger fan of ROTC than me, OK?"

He said the board could find itself facing the same situation with other programs, using welding as an example, if there aren't enough students who want to take those classes. He said the staffing that the administration is seeking for next year essentially is the same as this year, but Burgess interrupted him.

She asked if the district has other JROTC programs, to which Powell answered yes. Branches of the program are at four other schools, she was told.

"I want to know how much you pay them," she said.

Burgess said if this is an issue at Bolton, then it's an issue at every school with a JROTC program, "and we need to look at it all."

"Because it's totally unfair, just because Bolton is becoming Bolton Academy, it's totally unfair for you to remove that program," he said

Powell said he didn't want to argue, and Burgess agreed, but he reiterated that it comes down to how many students are in the program.

Member Sandra Franklin did want to know if deciding the program's fate was a board decision or whether it could be left to the superintendent. She also agreed that the instructors could teach valuable courses like robotics and drones.

"We're coming out ahead, sounds to me," she said.

Wilton Barrios offered a substitute motion for the board to fund the program at Bolton, which passed the committee and will be sent to the full board for consideration.

Atwood asked for Powell to send a letter telling the Air Force that the program would remain in place while the board studies the matter, and Powell said he would do so.

Reasoning for requested teachers

In addition to the number of teachers requested, the district is seeking approval for a "cushion" of 15 more teaching positions "when justifications warrant," Belvin said.

"The reason for this requested allotment is that we have an increase in the number of students qualified for gifted, and we had an addition of special education teachers," Belvin said. "As a matter of fact, we have 169 additional students this year that qualify for special education or have moved into our district for special-education needs."

The district wants 395 paraprofessional slots, an increase over the current year's 384, because of an increased need. The district has filled all 10 of the extra positions the board approved for this school year, she said. Because of that, the district is seeking a cushion of 15 paraprofessional positions for next year.

Barrios asked about the increase in students versus the decrease in the number of teachers sought. Belvin said there was a decrease in the number of students in gifted classes, so they could cut the number of teachers by three positions.

Then Barrios asked if the district is doing enough to recruit students into the gifted program, saying, "Over the last several years, I've seen it as kind of a move toward doing away with gifted in Rapides Parish, and I don't like whenever I see that happen."

He pointed to the increase in special education students, "But we're not taking care of other students who have very high needs for education, and all schools need that opportunity."

He said he believes that's been happening since before Powell became superintendent in 2019.

In addition to his substitute motion regarding Bolton's JROTC, Barrios offered a second substitute for the administration to study the gifted program and its future.

That also passed and will go to the board.

Franklin asked if there were going to be any specific positions, like a counselor, to help the current Bolton students who will be transferred to Peabody Magnet because they don't qualify for the new program.

She also wanted to know about the types of positions sought at the new academy and at Peabody.

Powell said the last staffing meeting had been held the day prior, on March 18. He said they scrambled to collect the numbers provided to the committee, but said board members would have a school-by-school breakdown of the requested positions before they vote on the item, presumably at the April regular meeting.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Staffing motion leads to discussion on future of Bolton's JROTC