The Portage Township School Board gave itself pay raises Monday in keeping with a new state law.
Board Vice President Wilma Vazquez said she believes the previous $2,000 annual salary had been the same for several decades.
With the new law, board members can be paid one-tenth of the previous year’s salary for the lowest-paid teacher in the district. Boards need to pass a resolution to that effect to get the new rate.
“It’s always been set by the state,” board President Andy Maletta said. With the resolution, the rate will be updated annually, he said.
The board also signed a memorandum of understanding with Sleep in Heavenly Peace to build bed parts for the nonprofit. The agreement allows the group access to Portage High School on build days for the career and technical education students.
“This chapter is a really strong partner with us,” Superintendent Amanda Alaniz said.
Vazquez rattled off statistics from the organization’s website. More than 300,000 beds have been built with almost 800,000 hours of volunteer labor donated. In Portage, 67 beds are needed. More than 1 million beds have been requested since the organization began.
The board also approved a student-parent handbook for PACE Virtual Academy, the district’s new online school that will begin serving students this month. Among key features is requiring 33% of the coursework to be completed by a certain time. If that doesn’t happen, students will be required to go to the PACE center for an hour or more at a time twice a week, Alaniz said.
Students will graduate with the same academic distinctions as Portage High School offers.
Vazquez said she was impressed by how detailed the handbook is, promising a safe educational environment and opportunities for athletics and extracurricular activities.
This week, sixth graders and freshmen are undergoing orientation. Teachers will gather Friday for a back-to-school meeting and vendors fair. School starts next week.
“We’re excited for another new year here and look for to more great things to come,” Alaniz said.
