JACKSON MIDDLE SCHOOL EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN ABOUT A YEAR

JACKSON -- The contractor working on the Jackson Middle School said the school building will be completed in about a year.

During a construction update presented to the Jackson Board of Education Monday night, Howard Hemmann, project engineer for Penzel Construction Co., estimated the building will be finished May 6, 1995.

"We feel we do not have any problem meeting that date," Hemmann said. "In fact, we think we can make it in April, but not before then.

"We do not anticipate any problems with the weather from here on out. We fought the snow and ice last winter to get the building up out of the ground. Everything is pretty well on schedule."

Hemmann said the last of the concrete floor slabs will be completed this week, and construction of the masonry walls is well under way. All underground plumbing and electrical fixtures have been completed.

Although board members expressed some disappointment that the building won't be completed sooner, School Superintendent Wayne Maupin said the target date allows the district to begin planning for the opening the middle school for the 1995-96 school year.

In other business, the board received the proposed 1994-95 teacher salary schedule from the teacher salary committee.

The proposed schedule would raise the base annual salary of a new teacher in the district $400, from $19,400 to $19,800, a 2 percent increase.

The new schedule also adds a 23rd step in which a teacher with a master of arts degree and 16 years of service would receive $36,432.

Marilyn Jansen, chairman of the salary committee, said the pay increments in each of the 23 steps also was increased, from $582 to $594.

Jansen said, "We feel this schedule is affordable, yet attractive to the teachers. All of the (Community Teachers Association) members who voted on the schedule approved it unanimously.

"The faculty realizes what we have put into the new schedule is fair, considering that the district is adding new staff positions. We're all aware we need new staff and other things, and I believe the faculty recognizes that, which is why they were willing to accept this schedule."

School Superintendent Wayne Maupin said the district received additional money from the state under Senate Bill 380 that went toward the salary schedule and hiring additional staff. "This is a schedule the district can afford and will not jeopardize us financially," Maupin said.

The superintendent said the total cost of the new salary schedule won't be determined until the cost of teacher's health insurance premium is calculated. The board will consider adoption of the salary plan at its May 10 meeting.

The board on Tuesday also approved a request by the Jackson Evening Optimist Club to build a 130-foot concrete walkway from the front of Orchard Elementary School, across Orchard Street, to Willow Bend.

The sidewalk will allow students who walk to school to stay off of the busy circle drive at the front entrance to the school. Work on the sidewalk will begin in June.