Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

246 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 the lower end of our pay scale to $50,000, so no teacher makes less than that across West Ottawa.” “Every teacher in the first ten years of their career got a salary increase and then we gave an off-schedule increase to all of our veteran teachers, too. So, we have tried to be creative in the use of our dollars with a thoughtful mind as to what things have the greatest impact on kids. And for kids, the element that probably has the greatest impact is their teacher. If we put the best teacher possible in front of our kids, then we’re doing the right thing for them and we’re doing the right thing for the profession, too.” Moving beyond COVID Going forward, Bearden has some specific academic and extracurricular goals in mind, many of which are focused on repairing the collateral educational and emotional damage wrought by the COVID pandemic. “Some kids flourished,” he recounts, “but some kids struggled.” “There’s no doubt that there was some learning loss and some gaps there. So, we’ve invested a lot of energy and some COVID relief dollars into academic and behavioral support for the kids who had gaps. Finally, for this school year, we have a sense of normalcy again after coming off some unusual years.” PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Express Employment Professionals www.expressproslakeshore.com Express Employment Professionals of Holland, 10 years at the same Holland location,  is a locally owned staffing company.  Our company provides workforce solutions including: recruiting and contract labor in office services, light industrial, skilled trades and professional.  We specialize in helping job seekers connect with the right company opportunity providing long term retention. Get to know Express!  Call 616-499-2199 or visit or office at 660 Chicago Drive, Holland, MI 49423