Williamson County students make the case for middle school school arts instructors to get a raise

Vivian Cook and her mother Amy, right, urge the Williamson County school board to consider increasing compensation for middle school fine arts instructors at Monday's regular meeting. (Screenshot) 

Williamson County parents and students continued urging district leaders to increase compensation for fine arts teachers, particularly on the middle school level, at Monday’s Board of Education meeting.

Amy Cook, a mother of three children in the district, told the board during public comments that she thinks middle school fine arts educators like Allison Isom of Mill Creek Middle School deserve additional supplemental pay for the extracurricular work they do for students. She noted that Isom, who serves as theater director for the district, currently gets paid about the same amount as new fine arts instructors in the district, despite her years of service and leadership position, according to her calculations.

“It's just sad that she gets paid the same amount as a new fine arts teacher,” she said. “I don't think it’s fair that she also dedicates countless hours to our children guiding them through theater productions, yet for all her hard work, she receives just $1,925 [in fine arts supplements] for the entire school year.”

Amy was joined by her daughter Vivian, who also stressed the dedication of educators like Isom. The student said that if one were to factor in the extra work Isom often puts into major district theater productions every year, that supplemental pay would amount to a little over $10 an hour.

“I don’t think the numbers show how hard she works,” she said. “Please consider paying our fine arts teachers what they deserve. They work so hard for us.”

Eden Cook, another student involved in district theater programming, thanked the board for their recent decision to increase compensation supplements for high school fine arts teachers, but also reiterated the need to increase compensation for middle school arts educators like Isom.  

“We need to focus a lot on the middle school supplements too. Nothing has really changed [on this] since last time I spoke in May,” she said.

In other business, Williamson County Schools Superintendent Jason Golden said the district has been on alert about threats of mass violence, which have been a major concern at school districts across the country in recent weeks.  

In an email sent to students’ families last week, the district explained that a list of “targeted” schools spread by students on social media wasn’t a list of schools under threat of violence, but rather a list created by the Georgia State Department of Education to identify schools that need improvement. However, Golden told attendees and district leaders Monday that the district will remain vigilant about threats against schools.

“No matter what the issue is, every single concern needs to be investigated. On a pretty much daily basis these days, especially this school year, we hear reports from parents and students about the possibility of a risk to our schools. Some of those are actual threats, and some of those turn out to not be threats,” he said.

In addition to discussions on compensation and school safety, the board sworn in new board members Tony Bostic (District 1), Dennis Driggers (District 3), Margie Johnson (District 5), Melissa Wyatt (District 7), Claire Reeves (District 9) and Tonja Hibma (District 11), who were elected to office in August.

The board also selected board member Josh Brown as its new chair and Dan Cash as its new vice chair.