School board to honor athletes, adopt salary schedules

The Maricopa High School girls basketball team will again be recognized this week, and Maricopa Unified School District employee salary schedules are set for approval.

The MUSD Governing Board meets Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

The basketball team will be honored formally for winning the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division II state championship. Also being honored at the meeting is Division III All-State football selection Elisha Donaldson.

The basketball team will also be honored the night before by the Maricopa City Council at a meeting in City Hall that starts at 7 p.m.

The school board's consent agenda includes the approval of the salary schedules for classified, certified and administrative employees.

“There are no budget implications if these salary schedules are adopted,” Superintendent Steve Chestnut said. “They are cost neutral.”

The schedule for classified staff is unchanged, according to Chestnut. Classified staff generally includes office personnel, maintenance, transportation, food, library and other support areas. The schedule specifies the school psychologist, speech and language and health service.

The schedules for the certified employees and administrators affect only new employees. Both schedules were discussed at previous meetings.

“In five of the past six years, we have not been able to fully fund these salary schedules,” Chestnut said. “The new stepless salary schedules do not explicitly state that there will be an annual 2-percent salary increase (teachers) or 3-percent (administrators) for one year of additional experience. However, 2-3 percent is a worthy goal if sufficient funds exist.”

Teachers continue to receive additional salary for completing additional college coursework.

***ADVERTISEMENT***The board will also look at a first reading of altered graduation requirements. It was revised in February to add back in the required 0.5 credit for physical education and 0.5 credit for health, which were omitted during the fall update. This revised policy removes the 0.5 credit for health and adds that credit requirement to electives.

Personnel issues include the resignations of Maricopa Elementary School teacher Roberta Cianciosi, Santa Cruz Elementary School teachers Christine Mecsey and Shannon Ward and Maricopa High School teacher Christopher Day.

New hires include Desert Wind Middle School teacher Candice Freeman, substitute teachers Marilyn Larrain and Glamora Maeweather, Exceptional Student Services paraprofessional Samantha Becenti and custodian substitute Angela Villareal.