The highest paid administrators and teachers in the Jasper/Newton/Barton/McDonald county area come from the Webb City R-7 School District, according to the preliminary report cards submitted to the state by each school district. Final report cards have to be submitted to the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by Dec. 1 each year.
Most of the time, the schools' pay ranks close to the size of its enrollment in comparison with other area school districts.
One surprise is that the Westview school district in Newton County has the second highest average pay for administrators at $67,492 annually. Of course, Westview has only one administrator. In other schools, the superintendent makes most of the administrative money while principals make a considerably lesser amount. Unfortunately, the state does not require those differences to be spelled out in the report cards. Also eliminated was a requirement that school districts specify just how much of their budgets are used for extracurricular activities.
Enrollment- 1. Joplin 7,234; 2. Neosho 4,220; 3. Webb City 3,715; 4. Carthage 3,619; 5. McDonald County 3,554; 6. Carl Junction 2,794; 7. Seneca 1,689; 8. East Newton 1,550; 9. Lamar 1,358; 10. Diamond 848; 11. Sarcoxie 794; 12. Liberal 524; 13. Jasper 521; 14. Golden City 290; 15. Westview 154; 16. Avilla 151.
Average Administrator Salaries- 1. Webb City $69,021; 2. Westview $67,492; 3. Joplin $66,021; 4. Neosho $64,591; 5. Carthage $63,754; 6. Carl Junction $61,528; 7. Seneca $59,996; 8. East Newton $59,980; 9. Lamar $59,556; 10. McDonald County $58,697; 11. Jasper $57,656; 12. Diamond $54,496; 13. Avilla $54,000; 14. Sarcoxie $53,494; 15. Golden City $50,686; 16. Liberal $44,827.
Average Regular Teacher Salaries- 1. Webb City $34,858; 2. Neosho $33,915; 3. McDonald County $33,073; 4. Carl Junction $32,825; 5. Joplin $32,209; 6. Carthage $32,200; 7. Seneca $31,786; 8. East Newton $31,080; 9. Sarcoxie $30,506; 10. Lamar $29,791; 11. Avilla $28,966; 12. Golden City $28,686; 13. Jasper $28,683; 14. Diamond $28,453; 15. Westview $27,926; 16. Liberal $27,359.
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I am still hearing a great deal of resentment toward Missouri Southern State University officials after the local TV stations featured stories last month on how students there were receiving flu vaccine.
Of course, they said they were asking that only those who truly needed it get the shots, but the impression that was left was that these young students were getting flu vaccine while our senior citizens and those who genuinely need it were being left out in the cold.
That impression may not be accurate, but it is there and it is something college officials are going to have to deal with. The biggest mistake appears to be that the college officials publicized it and appeared to be trying to show how intelligent they were for coming up with vaccine when others were not getting any.
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Still no word about the 'Planning" and "Goals" that the Diamond R-4 Board of Education did during its meeting at the Greenwood home Nov. 22. I am curious as to whether anyone besides board members and school officials showed up at the meeting.
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The last minutes posted by the R-4 Board of Education indicated the board did the right thing and voted to pay Middle School Student Council Renee Jones a three percent stipend for her work. Middle School Administrator Danny DeWitt had made the request at the previous board meeting after he discovered that the expense could no longer be funded through the state's Career Ladder program.
Mrs. Jones has led the most active middle school student council in the area for the past several years. It is good to see the board pay her at least part of what she deserves for her work and dedication.
I won't go through the long list of things Mrs. Jones and her student council have done, but you can find them in an earlier edition of The Turner Report.