Coppell Chronicle Vol. 6, No. 19
Coppell ISD Approves Raises for Teachers • Lewisville Adopts Data Center Regulations • Public Pickleball Courts Aren’t Playable • Coaching Gig Vacated Following Allegations
One final reminder: June 30 is the deadline for Coppell residents to express their preference for a 65-gallon trash cart. If you don’t speak up, you’ll get a 95-gallon trash cart this fall.
Coppell ISD Approves Raises for Teachers
Coppell ISD trustees approved a compensation plan that includes one of the area’s highest starting salaries plus raises for all employees.
The compensation plan was approved last week, which was pretty late in the game compared to other school districts. During their June 22 meeting, the Coppell ISD trustees were shown how the recommended starting salary of $65,000 compares to the starting salaries approved by their peers in a dozen other districts.
The compensation plan also calls for each Coppell ISD employee to get a raise based on 2 percent of the midpoint for his or her salary grade. That will add $2.2 million to the district’s budget.
The slides displayed during the June 22 meeting didn’t show how those 2 percent raises compared to other districts, but that’s what you have me for. Here’s how each of the neighboring districts described the raises approved by their trustees:
Lewisville ISD — 3 percent of midpoint for “all staff that are not included in the Teacher Retention Allotment.”
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD — 2 percent of midpoint for “classroom teachers, librarians, counselors, nurses, paraprofessionals and auxiliary staff”; 1 percent of midpoint for “non-teaching TRS [Teacher Retirement System of Texas] eligible positions.”
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD — 2 percent of midpoint for “employees in the clerical pay plan, paraprofessionals on the instructional support pay plan, and auxiliary pay plan”; 1 percent of midpoint for “teachers and employees on the professional non-teaching and technology plan.”
When Trustee Leigh Walker asked why raises are based on the midpoints of salary grades, Chief Financial Officer Amber Lasseigne said the Texas Association of School Boards recommends that method. Lasseigne — whose resume includes stints in Allen ISD, Fort Worth ISD, and Lewisville ISD — also said that’s been the practice in every district for which she’s worked.
“If you’re at the minimum, your raise is a little bit more than 2 percent. If you’re higher than the midpoint, your raise is a little bit less than 2 percent,” Lasseigne said. “So it makes it equitable across the system.”
Several trustees thanked the administration for their work on the compensation plan, including Jobby Mathew, who said it aligns with “great teaching” being one of the district’s core values.
“I really commend you guys for kind of living that — on the work that you’ve done here to attract great teaching and retain them here, so thank you very much,” Mathew said.
After the trustees’ unanimous vote, Superintendent Leanne Shivers returned the gratitude with gusto.
“This is huge! This is exciting!” Shiver exclaimed. “And there aren’t a lot of things that we get to do that are really exciting, but you just made a huge difference. That vote has a huge impact on our teachers, on every one of our employees, on our kids. It’s exactly what we put the time in for, so thank you.”
Lewisville Adopts Data Center Regulations
There are two data centers in Lewisville, and they happen to be not far from Coppell’s city limits. If anyone wants to open a third, they’ll need to seek the City Council’s permission.
On June 15, the council unanimously approved an ordinance that adds “Data Center” to the city’s list of zoning districts and also requires a special use permit to open such a facility. Under Lewisville’s previous policy, a developer could have converted any warehouse into a data center without the council’s buy-in.