Cape teachers get a raise in base salary

As anticipated, teachers in the Cape Girardeau School District will receive a larger base salary beginning next school year.

"I think this is something the board has been in favor of, and I'm glad to see us do it," school board vice president Adrian Toole said.

He and colleagues voted Monday night to increase salary schedules for teachers by $750 per year, plus additional monies for years of service and educational level.

The boost represents a 3 percent raise that also is being applied to the salaries of non-certified district employees, such as those in administrative, maintenance and food-service positions.

It is part of an effort that began during the winter to make salaries, particularly for teachers, more competitive with surrounding school districts.

"As we move forward, we felt like we wanted to do a little bit more than we did last year," Dr. Neil Glass, superintendent for administrative services, told school-board members during a special work session Monday evening.

Last year and the year before, base salaries for teachers rose by $500.

In other business, the board approved spending a little more than $351,000 to buy Dell Chrome devices as part of the district's 1:1 computer initiative.

Students in grades 5 through 8 will use the new devices starting next school year to complete assignments, while the Dell devices used this past school year by seventh-graders will be issued to students in ninth grade. Newer Acer devices used last year by students in eighth grade will be used by those in 10th grade.

"These (new) devices are about half the price of what we've normally been spending," Glass said.

James Russell, the district's instructional technology specialist, presented the device proposal to board members during the work session, saying the new devices, about $240 each, will be faster, more durable and run on a Google Chrome operating system.

Although the devices do not support certain Microsoft features and will not have touchscreens, Russell said not many students use either option for classwork, anyway.

"We found that very few classrooms were using the Windows touch-base functionality," he said, later adding, "Sixty percent of all devices bought by schools last year were Chrome-based."

At Monday's meeting, the board also approved spending a little more than $115,000 to replace the roof at the junior high school, which Glass said is brittle and wind damaged.

ljones@semissourian.com (573) 388-3652