SCHOOL BOARD OKs PAY RAISES

JACKSON -- Jackson public school administrators may find recruitment and retainment easier next fall, thanks to a new salary schedule approved by the Board of Education Tuesday.

Board members voted to increase the base salary for teachers with a bachelor's degree and one year of experience in the district from $20,665 to $22,000 and to increase other salaries proportionately based upon a set formula. Members of the salary schedule committee said they thought the raises were warranted because revenues have increased in the district over the past two years and the increases will make the district more competitive in recruitment efforts.

"Often when we are trying to attract teachers another district offers $2,000 to $3,000 more," said Superintendent Dr. Howard Jones. "We would just like to be more comparable when recruiting."

Faculty and committee member Marilyn Jansen agreed. "We knew the district did well over the last two years, so we felt like we could ask for a little bit more," she said. "This salary schedule should be attractive to good quality candidates for our school district, which will allow us to maintain our high standards."

In other business, assistant superintendent Fred Jones announced the results of the district's final Missouri School Improvement Program review. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently gave the district a rating of full accreditation. This is the second highest rating a district may receive.

Administrators also announced the district had received three grants totalling more than $117,000. One grant in the amount of $2,500 was received from Southwestern Bell to develop a technology center for the new math and science building next year.

Two other grants were received for the district to continue its alternative school program developed earlier in the spring. The district received a $6,500 grant from the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Summer Program to pay salaries this summer for teachers developing a set of core competencies for alternative school students to meet. Another grant totalling $108,289 was received from the Juvenile Court Diversion Funding Committee to completely fund the alternative school for next year.

"We appreciate the efforts of Randy Rhodes, who has worked with us to help attain these grants for our district," said Superintendent Jones. "We had planned to continue the alternative school project even without these grants, but it would have been on a much smaller scale."