Teacher pay raises imminent following Russell Co. school closures

RUSSELL COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) – The Russell County Board of Education approved the closure of Swords Creek Elementary and Copper Creek Elementary schools on Tuesday.

The schools will close at the end of this school year.

Division Superintendent Kimberly Hooker said it was tough to reach the decision, and all options were discussed in order to make the budget work.

“Nobody wants to close schools at all,” Hooker said. “We had to look at our budget closely and to be fiscally responsible, we had to look at everything that we could do to make this budget work.”

The closures will impact about 230 children. Students and teachers at Copper Creek will move to Castlewood Elementary, and the Swords Creek population will move to Honaker Elementary.

Hooker said Castlewood and Honaker are large enough to accommodate the new faces. She estimates that the student-to-teacher ratios will be manageable.

The district will save about $600,000 by closing the schools. Hooker said the goal is to raise teacher pay. Starting pay is currently $36,000 for new teachers, but Hooker said that number could rise to $42,000 as soon as next school year because of the closures.

“The important thing that we’re trying to do is increase our teacher salary pay,” Hooker said. “We had to dive into our budget to see where we can cut.”

Swords Creek and Copper Creek will be vacant following the end of the school year on May 24. Hooker said talks are underway about what’s next for the two schools.

“We will be discussing that with our Board of Supervisors to see what we can work out with those two buildings,” Hooker said.

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