EDUCATION BRIEFS
News from North East and Northside ISDs
COMPILED BY EDMOND ORTIZ
HIGHLIGHTS NORTHSIDE ISD District leaders as well as friends and family of late NISD alum and o cial Kevin Hamilton gathered Jan. 9 at Clark High School to formally dedicate the campus gym in Hamilton’s memory. A Clark graduate, Hamilton returned home from college to become a coach and teacher at Clark, and then a district assistant athletic director. Hamilton retired in 2019 after 34 years at NISD and died April 19, 2022, following a battle with cancer. NORTH EAST ISD Trustees on Jan. 23 approved NEISD’s 2023-24 instructional calendar that begins Aug. 14 and ends May 31. Next school year’s calendar includes a sta development/student holiday Jan. 2. Also, May 24 will be the last day for seniors and the start of high school graduations. Trustees also amended the 2022-23 school calendar after inclement weather forced schools to close on Jan. 31 and Feb.1. A makeup day is slated for May 30. NORTHSIDE ISD The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language announced William Lee, Clark High School Latin teacher, as its 2023 National Language Teacher of the Year. Lee, whose taught at NISD for 20 years, has received other honors, including being named 2022 Teacher of the Year by the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching. Lee also earned the Yale University Teaching Award and was named University of Chicago Outstanding Educator. North East ISD will meet Feb. 27 and March 6 at 5:30 p.m. 8961 Tesoro Drive, San Antonio. 210-407-0000. www.neisd.net Northside ISD will meet Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. 5900 Evers Road, San Antonio. 210-397-8500 • www.nisd.net MEETINGS WE COVER
Northside ISD hikes pay for 4 groups of employees
NORTHSIDE ISD Citing an urgent need to ll dozens of job vacancies, trustees on Jan. 24 approved slight mid-school-year pay increases for food service workers and assistant managers, school bus drivers, assistant head custodians, and instructional assistants. Rene Barajas, NISD’s assistant superintendent of budget and nance, said the revised minimum and maximum pay rates vary depending on the type of job, an employee’s experience and how long a person has occupied that speci c position. The approved raises took e ect in the district’s mid-February pay period. Barajas said district sta studied hard-to- ll positions that directly a ect students to consider salary adjustments. Barajas also said district sta reviewed the rate of employ- ees leaving for better-paying jobs and certain pay rates that were lower than NISD’s competitors. According to NISD data, as of Jan. 24, vacancy rates among certain child nutrition department jobs ranged from 18%-33%. Custodial job vacancy rates ranged from 17%-33%, Barajas said, adding that the transportation department’s bus driver section had a 23% vacancy rate. Barajas also announced a 15% vacancy rate among instructional assistants. Barajas said they studied NISD’s substitute teacher rate,
Food service workers....................... $12.24-$14.25 per hour Custodian ........................................ $12.24-$14.25 per hour Bus driver .............................................. $15.76-$17 per hour Instructional assistants ..................... $105.06-$120 per day NEW PAY RATES Northside ISD has introduced new minimum hourly wage rates within three employee groups and new minimum daily rates for instructional assistants. Below are some pay adjustments.
SOURCE: NORTHSIDE ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
which until recently, had been higher than the district’s entry-level instructional assistant’s position but no action was taken. Several board members said they agreed there is a need to adjust pay to encourage more people to consider employ- ment in NISD, which, like many other school systems, has struggled with numerous job vacancies since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. “I feel like people with boots on the ground need help right now,” Trustee Corinne Saldaña said.
NEISD student’s artwork headed into space
NORTH EAST ISD Wilderness Oak Elementary School fth-grader Zoey Aguinaga was one of several students ages 3-18 nationwide whose space-oriented artwork was chosen in a contest for digital placement aboard the Starliner spacecraft being readied for an April launch. NEISD o cials said Zoey was a winner in the Art in the Stars art contest, organized by the Boeing Co. and the nonpro t Space Foundation. Following the contest theme “Break- ing Boundaries in Space” in the fall,
Zoey created a poster called “Breaking the Space Ceiling.” Zoey’s mother, Patricia Marie Verde, said her daughter’s artwork depicts three pioneering women in space ight: Sally Ride, the rst American woman; Mae Jemison, the rst Black woman; and Ellen Ochoa, the rst Hispanic woman. All contest-winning artwork will be digitized and put on a scheduled rst manned ight of Boeing’s Starliner, a partially reusable spacecraft, a news release said.
A digital version of artwork by Zoey Aguinaga, a Wilderness Oak fth-grader, will be aboard the Starliner this April.
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NORTH SAN ANTONIO EDITION • FEBRUARY 2023
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