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Board opts to pay Silva $41K
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| Three-year-old Melinda Zhou of Katy takes a break from her reading to check out her mother Linda's progress through a stack of children's books at the city library's sale Saturday morning at the VFW Hall. (Times photo/Nick Georgandis) |
By Nick Georgandis
Managing Editor
The Katy ISD School Board unanimously voted to pay fired teacher Jennifer Silva $41,000 - what would have been her salary for this school year - at its general meeting Monday night.
Silva was fired this past February after allegations were brought against her for placing Scotch tape on the mouths’ of six students in her Alexander Elementary School class as a detriment to talking.
Two weeks ago, the Texas Education Agency(TEA) Commissioner Shirley Neely ruled that the district would have to either pay Silva a year’s salary or reinstate her as a teacher in KISD.
Immediately after reconvening from closed session Monday night, Council Member Robert Shaw moved and Council Member Eric Duhon seconded a motion that “the board refrain from seeking a rehearing of the Commissioner’s decision relating to the board’s non-renewal of Jennifer Silva’s term contract and that we do not seek judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision but, instead, that we pay Jennifer Silva her salary under the term contract so as to avoid her returning as a teacher for the Katy Independent School District.”
The motion passed 7-0 without public board discussion.
The board also gave a sneak preview of its proposed tax rates for the upcoming school year as it approved the notice of a public meeting to discuss them along with the budget.
The language of the notice includes a general rate of $1.485 and a debt-service rate of $0.33 for a total tax rate of $1.815 per $100 of property value, a drop of 18.5 cents from last year’s $2 rate.
The approval of the notice was one of 11 items that passed by unanimous 7-0 votes Monday. In addition to approving the salary schedules for non-teacher groups and substitutes, the board voted yes on replacing the chillers (air-conditioning generators) at Memorial Parkway Elementary School as well as accepting the bid provided by GM Southwest to be KISD’s new provider of voluntary student and interscholastic sports and activities accident insurance.
The board also approved the endorsement of Renard L. Thomas for District 4, Position A and Sarah B. Winkler for District 4, Position C on the Texas Association of School Boards Board of Directors.
Earlier in the meeting, the board heard from representatives of RBC Capital Markets, who proposed a sale and swap of the last $30 million in bonds from the district’s 2002 sale in order to save an estimated 1.3 percent in interest rates per year.
At a conservative estimate, this move would see the district save about $111,000 in interest payments for the upcoming school year and more than $9 million by the time the bond payments expire in 2038.
During the session’s open forum, the board heard a presentation from Katy Elementary fourth-grade teacher Carrie Lowery, a member of the local TEA, who postured that veteran educators in the district were due a pay raise alongside the new starting teacher salary of $41,000 in the district.
Lowery said that she, with 10 years at Katy Elementary, had just crossed the $41,000 threshold herself and that the district should be doing just as much to keep its experienced teachers rewarded as it was for enticing new teachers to come to work in the district.
The school board will next meet for its work study session on Wednesday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. The next general meeting is slated for Monday, Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m.
Silva was fired this past February after allegations were brought against her for placing Scotch tape on the mouths’ of six students in her Alexander Elementary School class as a detriment to talking.
Two weeks ago, the Texas Education Agency(TEA) Commissioner Shirley Neely ruled that the district would have to either pay Silva a year’s salary or reinstate her as a teacher in KISD.
Immediately after reconvening from closed session Monday night, Council Member Robert Shaw moved and Council Member Eric Duhon seconded a motion that “the board refrain from seeking a rehearing of the Commissioner’s decision relating to the board’s non-renewal of Jennifer Silva’s term contract and that we do not seek judicial review of the Commissioner’s decision but, instead, that we pay Jennifer Silva her salary under the term contract so as to avoid her returning as a teacher for the Katy Independent School District.”
The motion passed 7-0 without public board discussion.
The board also gave a sneak preview of its proposed tax rates for the upcoming school year as it approved the notice of a public meeting to discuss them along with the budget.
The language of the notice includes a general rate of $1.485 and a debt-service rate of $0.33 for a total tax rate of $1.815 per $100 of property value, a drop of 18.5 cents from last year’s $2 rate.
The approval of the notice was one of 11 items that passed by unanimous 7-0 votes Monday. In addition to approving the salary schedules for non-teacher groups and substitutes, the board voted yes on replacing the chillers (air-conditioning generators) at Memorial Parkway Elementary School as well as accepting the bid provided by GM Southwest to be KISD’s new provider of voluntary student and interscholastic sports and activities accident insurance.
The board also approved the endorsement of Renard L. Thomas for District 4, Position A and Sarah B. Winkler for District 4, Position C on the Texas Association of School Boards Board of Directors.
Earlier in the meeting, the board heard from representatives of RBC Capital Markets, who proposed a sale and swap of the last $30 million in bonds from the district’s 2002 sale in order to save an estimated 1.3 percent in interest rates per year.
At a conservative estimate, this move would see the district save about $111,000 in interest payments for the upcoming school year and more than $9 million by the time the bond payments expire in 2038.
During the session’s open forum, the board heard a presentation from Katy Elementary fourth-grade teacher Carrie Lowery, a member of the local TEA, who postured that veteran educators in the district were due a pay raise alongside the new starting teacher salary of $41,000 in the district.
Lowery said that she, with 10 years at Katy Elementary, had just crossed the $41,000 threshold herself and that the district should be doing just as much to keep its experienced teachers rewarded as it was for enticing new teachers to come to work in the district.
The school board will next meet for its work study session on Wednesday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. The next general meeting is slated for Monday, Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m.
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