AUSTIN (KXAN) — Del Valle Independent School District’s new superintendent is outlining changes to this school year in our “Set for School” series.
New this year, district leaders made the decision to have teachers arrive earlier and stay later.
“We are going to continue with the expectations that our teachers arrive before the bell rings so that the classrooms are ready for teaching and learning. And that teachers remain for 15 minutes after the bell rings,” said Del Valle ISD Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez.
Gutierrez explained the primary reason for the longer school day for teachers has to do with school safety and security.
“To ensure we have appropriate supervision before the bell rings and after it rings,” Gutierrez said. “But it’s also important that we are ready for our students as soon as they walk through the doors. So the decision has been made and we are going to move forward with the expectation.”
District leaders also approved a pay raise for teachers at DVISD.
“We are very thankful for the dollars that poured in to provide our teachers with a very healthy raise but the dollars did not come to support raises for all other employees like transportation, maintenance, custodians, administrators,” Gutierrez said.
DVISD is entering the 2025 school year with a balanced budget but according to Gutierrez, additional cuts may be needed to provide competitive raises for everyone.
“That is going to be the challenge this year is because we were able to give a 1.5 percent salary increase for all other employees, but our hope is to do a little more to keep up with rising costs. So as a district we are going to have to look at our budget so we can possibly make additional cuts so we can be able to keep up with the rising costs,” Gutierrez said.
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