TISD approves its annual compensation plan, discusses updated employee handbook

The Texarkana Independent School District’s Board of Trustees discussed the 2017-18 employee handbook and compensation plan during their regular meeting Tuesday.

The handbook, which is reviewed annually by the board, was updated to align with district procedures and the 2017 Texas Association of School Boards Model Employee Handbook. Changes include an update to the General Provisions notice to include May 2016 revisions by the U.S. Department of Labor concerning family and medical leave.

Trustees also approved the annual compensation plan, which includes teacher step increases and a 3 percent of midpoint pay raise for employees with positions listed in the district pay grade salary system. Salary increases depend upon the employee receiving a satisfactory performance rating of 3.0 or higher on their appraisal in the 2016-17 school year. Also, equity adjustments were applied in limited form to several job categories during the budgetary process to help them remain competitive with the current job market.

The board also heard a report from the English as a Second Language/Bilingual program, which served 817 English Language Learner students during the 2016-17 school year. Bilingual students in grades Pre-K through fifth are served on the Nash and Highland Park Elementary campuses through a dual-language oneway program utilizing the Gomez & Gomez Dual Enrichment Model. Five ESL teachers serve the bilingual population with push-in, pull-out and newcomer services.

Board members also heard a report from the School health Advisory Council, which met on four separate occasions during the 2016-17 school year. During those meetings, the members were updated on child nutrition guidelines, abstinence programming, EpiPen policies and shot records, recess times, summer feeding programs and revisions to health education standards which now include prescription drug awareness.

Goals for the 2017-18 school year include increasing parent/community membership and committee involvement by seeking more input from campus administrators and increasing the district-wide usage of HealthTeacher. It’s an online health literacy curriculum with 300 health lessons aligned with National Health Education Standards. Topic areas address subjects including bullying, physical activity, alcohol, drug and tobacco use, mental health and nutrition.