Colleagues,

I appreciate each one of you for your dedication as we continue to prepare our students to be college- and career-ready. 

In recent correspondence, I committed to providing raises for teachers and teacher-types and explained future plans to reward all of our valued employees. My goal was to provide salary increases to teachers with at least a TEM 3.0 score. However, since we received an update from the TN Department of Education this week stating that the performance data needed to determine these scores may be delayed until sometime in December, I decided to give 3-percent raises to ALL teachers and teacher-types*. 

To prevent further delays and financial uncertainty for our deserving educators, salary increases will be reflected on the November 18 paycheck for teachers and teacher-types who were employed with the District during the 2015-16 school year and remain employed through November 9, 2016. As an added benefit, pay will be provided retroactively to your first day of work for the 2016-17 school year.

You are all deserving of our gratitude for demonstrating your commitment to our students and patience throughout this frustrating process.
 
Please know we will continue to develop ways to reward other employee groups as our school system works to improve support for every team member and student. 

Thanks for everything you do to prepare our students for a successful future and meet our goals for Destination 2025.  
 
Sincerely,
Dorsey E. Hopson, II
 
*Teacher-types include: librarians, counselors, school-based instructional facilitators and PLC coaches, social workers, psychologists, ROTC instructors, alcohol/drug counselors, occupational therapists, audiologists, physical therapists and speech therapists