With growth on the horizon and an $82.5 million bond election behind them, the board of trustees for The Taylor Independent School District board of trustees have placed their bets on Superintendent Devin Padavil for the long haul.
At the Jan. 23 meeting, trustees approved renewing Padavil’s contract for another three years, with a five percent raise over his salary of $182,000 per year starting for the 2023-24 school year.
“I am really grateful,” Padavil said in a phone interview. “I think it’s a strong sign of support for the work we are doing—it’s not just about me—that the continued effort we are putting into this community is going to pay off in terms of improving academics, improving student achievements, in how we measure it and in how the state measures it, and it’s creating a better-quality work experience for our people.”
In addition, Padavil was awarded a $5,000 retention stipend, effective immediately, officials said.
“We all agree he is doing a great job building a foundation for our school district, and he is building that foundation based off of the goals of the strategic plan that we have put in place,” said President Marco Ortiz. “We see a great leader for the kids in our district.”
Ortiz said his hope for the future is that Padavil will continue to build upon what he has begun with implementing the goals of the strategic plan, including good financial stewardship, good communication and quality customer service, and an exceptional workplace climate and student outcomes.
“The next thing we have to do is we need to start working on excellence in student outcomes,” Ortiz said. “And his team has put things in place that are going to help us this coming year.”
Ortiz said during this time of teacher and staffing shortages, it was important to make sure Padavil was compensated well for his efforts.
“With today’s times, I am part of a lot of networking organizations, and just like teachers and employees and things like that leaving districts, the same thing is happening for superintendents, you know,” Ortiz said. “Superintendents are switching around too, and we want to make sure that we keep the one we have here in place, and that’s why we weren’t afraid to say, ‘We think you are doing enough to where we want to increase your base salary because you deserve it, and we don’t want to lose you.”
