The Houston Board of Education extended Dr. Justin Copley’s contract as superintendent through 2028-29 and approved a 3% pay raise during the closed session of Tuesday’s monthly meeting.
The extension and raise, which will begin with the 2026-27 school year, were approved 5-1-1. Marty Merckling voted no and Tressie Neugebauer abstained.
Copley took the reins as the district’s superintendent in 2022 following Dr. Allen Moss’ six-year tenure. Copley was HHS principal four years.
A Plato native, Copley’s first job in education was high school business teacher in his hometown. He served in that role five years before becoming an administrator at Success, where he served two years. He joined HHS as principal in 2018.
Copley and his wife, Heather, a preschool teacher at Houston, have five children.
Other closed session moves
Resignations were accepted from Dana Wilson (middle school math teacher), Micah Lee (head high school girls basketball coach), Steven Huffman (bus driver) and Sarah Niebruegge (paraprofessional at Exceptional Child Cooperative in Plato). Niebruegge’s last day was Jan. 13. All other resignations are for the end of the current school year.
Contracts were extended to Krista Cockrum (HALO paraprofessional) and Tracy Bergeon (paraprofessional) for the current school year.
Watch the video replay of the meeting
what is his salary?
His salary in 2022 was almost 90k. So if you guess a 3% raise every year. He should be around 100k for the 26-27 school year.