Harrison closer to pay for performance for teachers

The board of Harrison School District 2 is expected to vote in January on a new policy to change how teachers are paid.

The pay would hinge on teacher performance and student achievement. It would make Harrison one of the first districts in the state to implement a model “pay for performance” plan, said Superintendent Mike Miles.

“As staff finds out more about the plan, they are more comfortable and anxiety is decreasing,” Miles told the board Thursday.

Administrators have been presenting the plan’s details to teachers and getting their input on such things as what skills should be needed to reach each pay level.

“We are still tweaking,” Miles said.

He expects to have a policy blueprint to the board in December.

Tying teacher performance to classroom results would be  beneficial to student achievement, administrators said.

At Harrison, most students are from low-income families. Student achievement for high-risk students has begun to improve in this, the fourth year of an intense five-year plan. But the district still lags.

The salary schedule could range from $35,000 for beginners to about $90,000 for a small number who reach master-teacher status.

“While I’m skeptical about aspects of the  plan, I wholly support efforts to pay teachers their worth,” said Mike Stahl, executive director of the Pikes Peak Education Association. He said he thinks the district is moving too fast and that more collaboration with the rank and file is needed.

In other district news:

• Incumbents who won re-election to the board — Deborah Hendrix, Richard Price and Linda Pugh — were installed for four-year terms.

Hendrix was re-elected board president.

• The district  has received a “fully accredited” designation from the state, having jumped from the lowest “watch” category four years ago to the second highest today.

• District 2 received a $1.5 million 21st Century Community Learning Center grant from the federal Department of Education  for after-school and summer-enrichment programs at Carmel and Fox Meadow middle schools.

Each school will receive $150,000 a year for five years. The grants are awarded to high-poverty districts.