The Wright City R-II school board has authorized the district to proceed with hiring a full time communications position.

The board voted 5-0 on July 21 to approve the communications digital media specialist/activities director secretary position for the 2022-2023 school year.

Wright City R-II Superintendent Chris Berger said half of the position’s duties will help with communications with athletics and high school activities and perform tasks to assist Activities Director David Evans. The other half of the duties will be more of a public relations position with a focus on digital media, Berger said. The duties may be adjusted based on who is hired for the position.

“That’s a lot of duties. It really is,” Berger said. “We were aware of that. It was just that we think that it’s really going to be highly reliant on the person we get and the skillset they bring to this.”

Berger said the district plans to post the position right away. He noted the district had received interest in the position even before last week’s board meeting.

“This is one of the few positions that just hitting the board agenda, we had two people inquire,” Berger said. “And neither have guaranteed me they’re going to apply for it, but I was pleased with that two people. That’s pretty rare for these times.”

Berger stressed that district leaders did not know the position would be full time when they started exploring creating the position. They also looked at potentially utilizing current staff. However, finding staff to perform additional duties is becoming more difficult, Berger noted.

“We are in a different place right now, where if you think of those opportunities for our staff members who maybe at one time were looking for more money, that is not the reality we’re in right now,” Berger said. “(With) getting people to do summer school, coaching sponsorships, I think it’s reflective of what we’re seeing across the nation where people are kind of burned out.”

The communication specialist is a full time position. The starting pay for the position is $14.38 per hour. The position will work 215 days in the year. The employee will report to Berger and Evans.

The minimum qualifications for the position are a background in public relations or communications with preference for a Bachelors degree; successful experience in the preparation of publicity materials, including layout, design and appropriate use of media management; and advanced level of writing, editing and technical skills.