RIM OF THE WORLD UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT — Questions raised about trustees’ compensation

By Mary-Justine Lanyon

 

Two speakers at the Feb. 26 meeting of the Rim of the World Unified School District school board raised questions about the recent increase in compensation the trustees receive.

“It is disheartening to hear about such an exorbitant raise,” said Joseph Hartz, an instructional aide at Valley of Enchantment Elementary School. He added the staff works every day to provide for the children – “It’s why we’re here,” he said. “We are constantly asked to do more with less. I even received an email asking how we can cut funding, save money.”

Suzanne Grow, reporting for the Rim chapter of the California School Employees Association, told the board she had just left a chapter meeting. Part of the discussion, she noted, was about the legislature increasing compensation for school board members. “The classified employees feel like they’re not important,” she said.

The increase – effected by AB 1390 – became effective on Jan. 1, 2026. Prior to this bill, compensation ranged from $60 to $1,500 a month, depending on the ADA (average daily attendance) of the district the trustees serve. The Rim district falls into the second tier for districts with an ADA of 1,001 to 10,000. The Rim trustees had received a monthly compensation of $240. Under the new guidelines, they are entitled to $1,200 a month. Rim’s ADA, according to Chief Business Official Jenny Haberlin, is 2,690.

The purpose of the increase was stated as “to adjust for inflation and increased responsibilities, as limits had not been significantly updated since the 1980s.”

When asked if the board members had voted to adopt the new compensation amount, Dr. Paul Sevillano, the Rim superintendent of schools, said that Bylaw 9250 in the Rim board policy manual “allows the board to take maximum compensation so a vote was not necessary.”

Dr. Sevillano added that the majority of school districts in San Bernardino County, except for two, “have accepted the compensation increase.” He also noted that Bylaw 9250 allows for a 5-percent annual increase, which had not occurred since 2007.

Nic Nicholas, the president of the Rim Teachers Association, brought concerns from the teachers about salaries and class size to the board.

“Our teachers and support staff are doing all they have been told to do,” she said, adding that with a lack of one-on-on time with students, it is becoming more difficult to make sure they are prepared for the next test.

One teacher said she had fallen behind on her bills as she wasn’t paid until October. Another said she prided herself on being good with money but was starting to dread going to the store with her 7-year-old and saying they couldn’t buy strawberries. A third said she was scared she was going be priced out of working at Rim.

Several pointed to class size as a major issue. One said there is a “direct correlation between my stress level and class size.” Another said even her students are commenting on the arrival of a new student in their class. And a third sent this message to the board: “If you want student achievement to increase and behavioral problems to decrease, it is imperative to get the primary ratio as close to 20:1 as possible.”

“Teachers walk into classrooms every morning exhausted,” Nicholas told the trustees. “I don’t want to watch my colleagues lose the passion and joy they brought to the job.”

The meeting began with an impassioned plea from Sydney McCook, who teaches at VOE, for the board to revisit the board policies governing personal leave due to illness. “I’m asking you to provide five days to grieve after a miscarriage,” she said. She noted she had been granted the time but that a compassionate response should be guaranteed. “No one should have to ask for special treatment.

“Miscarriage is an unimaginable heartbreak,” she told the trustees. “Let us be a district that leads with humanity.”

Cindy Gardner, the board president, told McCook that she will bring this forward in a board workshop.

In his comments as a governing board member, Scott Craft noted they have had meetings regarding salaries. “Our teachers are so underpaid, it’s terrible. They do an amazing job and deserve more.

“The problem,” Craft added, “is Sacramento. We’re not the ones who set the policy for funding. If we got the funding San Bernardino gets, I love to imagine what we could do with it.”

He concluded his remarks by thanking the teachers for what they do.

“I want to piggyback on what Scott said,” said Trustee Jordana Ridland. “I was horrified to hear that San Bernardino gets $3,000 more per student per year than we do. We’re getting the short end of the stick and we’ve been quite vocal about it. It’s not right.

“We are certainly not paying staff what they’re worth,” Ridland added. “It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s amazing what we do with so little. It’s amazing how many hats each staff member has to wear.”

Trustee Jordan Zarate agreed with both Craft and Ridland: “We do receive less funding per student than every surrounding district,” he said.

Trustee Dr. Bill Mellinger – attending virtually from Israel –addressed Suzanne Grow, saying he appreciates “the concern you have for your staff, which we share. We don’t have enough dollars to show you we care.”

The board accepted two donations from the Rim of the World Educational Foundation: $15,000 for the CTE/ROP classes – $5,000 for Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School and $10,000 for Rim High; and $29,000 for the AVID program – $5,000 for MPH and $24,000 for Rim High.

Since 2010, Rim Ed President Jo Bonita Rains noted, the Foundation has donated more than $778,000 to the Rim district for the CTE/ROP classes, the AVID program and the School Partnership Awards.