The Cumberland County Board of Education met last night to consider a four-year contract renewal for Director of Schools William Stepp. Stepp is currently making $118,000 per year which is well below surrounding counties DOS salaries.

Roane County DOS and Putnam County DOS salaries are set at $145,000 per year.  Bledsoe County DOS salary is set at $147,000 per year.  Stepp is asking to be raised to $141,000 per year.

However, the agenda item was met with criticism from members of the board such as 2nd District’s Scott VanWinkle who felt the request to increase Stepp’s salary was too sudden and unwarranted.

“In most professional settings, when you go to your employer asking for a raise, you provide documentation supporting that request,” said VanWinkle. “I’m speaking with 30 years of experience dealing with performance management. This salary increase is not in the budget and would require a budget amendment for this year. This all seems very rushed to me.”

7th District’s Jon Matthews echoed Vanwinkle’s statement.

“On the point of transparency, as publicly elected officials, what are the justifications to the community?” asked Matthews. “There is no up-to-date supporting documentation provided to the community via this agenda within the appropriate timing. The new board members have had no input on this contract. The document was formed by an executive committee with no work session time provided for proper discussion. I’d like to see us work together to come up with a reasonable contract that works for the whole community.”

The discussion was tabled to next month’s meeting.