Photograph: School Board members Milton Ambres and Kyle Boss (Photograph by Freddie Herpin)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting
St. Landry Parish School Board members are examining the possibility of providing stipends for employees who supervise student activity groups such as cheerleaders and other campus- related activities.
Board members discussed providing the additional payments during a Finance Committee meeting last week, but following lengthy exchanges of dialogue, members of the committee took no action on the issue.
St. Landry according to board member Robert Gautreaux, is one of the few surrounding school districts which does not provide some type of supplementary pay for employees who oversee additional roles such as sponsoring clubs.
Gautreaux said that he would like to see the Committee take a more detailed look at providing club sponsorship monetary supplements that he said could be added to what the sponsors already earn as school workers.
For instance Gautreaux pointed out that the District could add percentages to what employees ordinarily earn in order to cover the time that is spent overseeing club activities.
Gautreaux particularly noted that cheerleader sponsors spend a large amount of time preparing those spirit groups for competitions, ball games and summer camps.
Nicole Gremilion, an Arnaudville Middle School cheerleader sponsor for the past six years, explained the various projects and responsibilities that cheerleader sponsors undertake in addition to their teaching duties.
Board member Hazel Sias said the amount of time spent on sponsorships such as cheerleaders is something that should require further discussion.
“I am aware of all the work that cheerleader sponsors do and everything that does that is getting nothing,” said Sias.
Sias reminded the Committee that cheerleaders have responsibilities that extend beyond the nine months that regular classes conducted.
“The cheerleaders also need to be available for basketball and other sports than football. Then there’s fund raising. It’s like these sponsors are working the entire 12 months. You have to get (cheerleaders) ready for camp and if you are their sponsor, then you go with them,” Sias added.
Interim Superintendent Dwanetta Scott recalled when she was a cheerleader sponsor at Eunice Junior High.
Scott said that cheerleaders and their sponsors also usually have to host fund raisers to pay for their summer camp in addition to other expenses associated with the activity.
When she became a principal, Scott said that her club and cheerleader sponsors were usually core subject teachers who were provided with daily schedules that accommodated part of the extra time required.
Board member Milton Ambres added that when he was a coach at Marksville High during the early 1970’s, cheerleader sponsors were considered part of the coaching staffs and received some additional pay.
Finance Director Shaun Grantham cautioned the Committee about committing to the stipend proposal without scrutinizing the overall effects.
Grantham said that if the Committee chooses to provide stipends to cheerleader sponsors then sponsors of other groups would also eventually request stipends for their extra work.
“There will be other people and other sponsors that will be coming before you and the stipends that you want to approve should be based on facts and not picking and choosing,” said Grantham.
