Whether you attended Senior Leadership Institute, New Staff Training, New Teacher Training, or of course, Infusion this summer, you likely noticed that breakfast was missing as we kicked off the day. The rumors are true- we are no longer providing breakfast at network events or meetings. 

Last March, we announced that we were cutting Home Office expenses by 8% and eliminating several positions, and we also asked schools to reduce their campus discretionary spending by 1%. These changes were made to ensure that we were able to increase every returning teacher’s salary by an average of 12%. 

One of the discretionary cuts we decided to make was network-sponsored breakfast. This was a minimally disruptive way to do what was requested by teachers and leaders across the network- place every available dollar on the bottom line of teachers, social workers, school psychologists, Center Program staff, and paraprofessionals.

While the bagels and fruit (but not coffee!) may have fallen by the wayside, we are happy to mention what has been gained at schools across our network: 

• A $2,500 one-time base salary increase for ALL teachers, social workers, school psychologists, Center Program staff, and paraprofessionals 
• Returning team bonus of $1,000 on August 20 to all DSST team members based in schools (this is on top of our 12% investment).

• No full-time classroom teacher at DSST will earn less than $46,000 in 2019-2020.  Meaning, for any teacher who would not reach a minimum of $46,000 after the $2,500 one-time raise, we will automatically fill that gap to ensure that every teacher at DSST is earning at least $46,000.

We hope you’ll agree that sacrifices like these are well worth the salary increases for our school-based staff. 

PS: Prodigy Coffee, which provides professional development and hands-on learning for young adults, also does a great breakfast sandwich. 

Do you have feedback or suggestions? Please reach out to humanresources@scienceandtech.org