School board to discuss teacher, staff pay raises for 2018-2019

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees is looking at recommended pay raises for teachers and district staff, to be discussed and voted upon at tonight’s board meeting set for 6:30 p.m. at the CCISD administration board room, located at 703 W. Ave. D.
The recommendations come from a recent study conducted by the Texas Association of School Board’s HR Services. According to the cost estimate in the agenda, $1.37 million would be needed to cover the raises for district teachers and staff. The proposed new hire placement schedule for teachers, librarians and nurses has a starting teacher’s salary of $45,000. Current teachers would receive a $1,100 pay increase. Other staff would receive a 2% of midpoint pay increase. 
A renovation project at Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary school is on the agenda tonight, to designate O’Connell Robertson as the architecture firm to design the improvements on that campus. According to the letter from the firm to Superintendent Joe Burns, the fee for the firm would be 6.5 percent of the cost of the work. The firm proposes that the campus be planned to support 700 students, with a cafeteria addition to be built to accommodate the entire population of students, and also that the campus would have a centralized office and entry. The projected timeline in the documents would have the project completed by the end of the 2018-2019 school year.
A budgeted purchase that exceeds $25,000 is up for approval this evening, that of an i-Ready Contract with Curriculum Associates LLC in the amount of $89,550. I-Ready will be the “Universal Screener for At-Risk testing for grades K-3” and will be used at the beginning, middle of the year, and end of year progress. The program also has instructional and intervention lessons and tools.  
Possible revisions to graduation credit requirements are going before the board for a vote this evening. 
Currently, students must have ½ credit above the number by required the state, with a total of 22-1/2 credits minimum with the foundation program or 26-1/2 credits for the distinguished level. With the new schedule at the high school next school year, students will be able to earn a maximum of 28 credits during their four years versus the 32 students have been able to earn in past years. The elimination of the ½-credit in the policy would “provide additional flexibility in student schedules.”
The board will also take action on contracts for the district’s legal services for the 2018-2019 school year, as well as an agreement for joint use of facilities by The Boys and Girls Clubs of Copperas Cove which uses S.C. Lee Junior High and Copperas Cove Junior High for afterschool programs. 
An out-of-state trip is up for a vote, for Kelly Avritt to attend the Military Child Education Coalition’s Annual National Training Seminar, set for July 23-25 in Washington D.C. The cost of the seminar and travel expenses will be paid for by MCEC. 
The board will also render its decision on Impact Aid travel for the 2018-2019 school year. CCISD administration is planning for a total of four trips, both the fall and spring conferences for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools in Washington, D.C., the Texas Association of Federally Impacted Schools board meeting in San Antonio, and the OASIS board meeting in Tulsa, Okla. The total for all four trips is $28,750, with $18,000 for board members and $10,750 for district staff. 
A number of CCISD retirees will be recognized at the board meeting, to include Peggy Deem, with 21 years of service with CCISD as an instructional aide; Harold Hart, a special education teacher with 23 years of service at CCISD; Laura Peterson, Lead Speech Pathologist with 31 years of service, 19 of those with CCISD; Son West, a custodian with 18 years of service with CCISD; and Jack Welch, with 40 years of service, 25 of those years with CCISD.
A time of open forum is available at the beginning of the meeting.