The Lee County School Board approved four new job descriptions for the school district — one of which is an associate superintendent for adult, career, technical and alternative education — at its Dec. 10 meeting.

Board Member Debbie Jordan questioned the need for an associate superintendent, which has a beginning salary of $142,000.

“I am confused why we actually need another associate superintendent,” she said, adding that she hears from the community that the district is “top heavy.”

“We are the ones responsible for these job descriptions,” Jordan said.

Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin said one of the very top priorities of the community is to ensure they have more support, particularly around trades.

“Our community is loud and proud of the extreme need of students to come out of school and enter jobs. I know that multiple people approached me of having resources available,” she said of such things as internships and externships. “If we were doing a great job in this area, we would have been meeting those needs. We do have a need for leadership and resources in this area.”

The position of the associate superintendent is for that person getting out into the community and garnering resources and contacts. Carlin said they have wonderful career academies, but there are so many resources that are untapped. She said the person will be out in the community 90% of the time.

“I anticipate this person will be bringing in much more resources than the salary we are paying them. It’s a win-win situation. It’s going to be a cost positive for us,” Board Member Armor Persons said.

Board Member William Ribble agreed that this is a key position as there is a big gap between the business community and the school district.

“I totally support this function,” he said. “I don’t think you can put a price tag on the return you will get for this.”

The other job descriptions approved include transportation supervisor, transportation coordinator, and safety, security and fleet operations chief.

Carlin said the next process is to look line by line and discover those must “to-dos” and “nice to-dos.” She said the nice to-dos will be put at the wayside.

“One of the things they care about is the future of our children,” Carlin said. “We don’t have enough resources behind this work and that is why I am bringing this forward.”