CCISD names new HR director, assistant principal
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
During Tuesday night’s meeting of the Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees, CCISD superintendent Joe Burns announced Copperas Cove High School newest assistant principal along with the district’s new director of human resources.
Billy White, formerly head coach of the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs basketball team, is now assistant principal at CCHS.
Kayleen Love, who served principal of S.C. Lee Junior High School, is now the district’s director of human resources, and started Wednesday morning in that position.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Burns welcomed new deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction, Patricia Remissong, who began at the district last week and was present for her first CCISD board meeting.
The school board approved the pay scale for both teachers and district staff, based on recommendations from a recent study conducted by the Texas Association of School Board’s HR Services. TASB does a salary review every two years, said Burns.
“They make recommendations so that Copperas Cove is as competitive as it can be, so that we can recruit and retain the very best for our kids,” Burns added.
One notable point is that a starting teacher’s salary at CCISD will now be $45,000, a full $12,000 above the state’s minimum pay schedule for teachers. The pay scale changes also mean an $1,100 increase for most current educators, with other district hourly staff receiving a 2 percent of midpoint pay increase.
Burns said CCISD remains on the “competitive edge” compared to other local school district salaries, especially when factoring in what the district pays for health insurance.
“The other thing that many people don’t look at is the insurance payment that the districts pay on behalf of employees. In Copperas Cove, we pay $408 per month toward employees’ health insurance. Many districts only pay 150-200 and that’s it. That $200 difference a month adds up to a $2,400 year a teacher wouldn’t receive in another district.”
The board voted unanimously to designate O’Connell Robertson as the architecture firm that will design improvements on the Miss Jewell/Fairview Elementary campus. Representatives from O’Connell Robertson made a presentation to the board on Monday. Plans would enable the campus to support 700 students, with a cafeteria addition to accommodate the entire population of students. The projected timeline would have the project completed by the end of the 2018-2019 school year.
The board approved an i-Ready Contract with Curriculum Associates LLC for $89,550. i-Ready, explained Burns, is the program that the district uses for screening beginning, midyear, and end-of-the year reading and math progress for students in grades K-3.
Incoming high school freshmen will now have ½-credit fewer to earn for graduation, after the board approved the removal of an additional ½-credit that CCISD students were required to earn above both the minimum and distinguished graduation levels.
The board also approved renewing contracts for the district’s legal services for the 2018-2019 school year, and an agreement for The Boys and Girls Clubs of Copperas Cove which uses S.C. Lee Junior High and Copperas Cove Junior High for afterschool programs.
Impact Aid-related travel was discussed and approved by the board on Tuesday evening. A total of four trips are planned that cost a total of $28,750, to include conferences for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools in Washington, D.C., the Texas Association of Federally Impacted Schools board meeting, and the OASIS board meeting in Tulsa, Okla.