LAPEL — The Frankton-Lapel Community School Corp. made an agreement with the Frankton-Lapel Education Association Oct. 12 to include a roughly 2 percent pay increase for teachers, administrators and other staff for the 2017-2018 school year.

The decision, approved unanimously by the school board, came as welcome news to district employees, who did not receive a raise last year.

Teachers last received a pay increase in 2015, said assistant superintendent Sterling Boles. At that time, the raise was about 1.5 percent.

“We have a good working relationship with our education association,” Boles said. “We try to be fair to everyone, and it’s usually not a difficult negotiation time. We try to be very transparent.”

About 150 teachers working in Frankton-Lapel Schools will benefit.

In other news:

• The official student enrollment count for the district as of Sept. 15 was 3,033. That’s a decrease of 149 from the 3,152 students last year.

• The letter grades given to Frankton-Lapel Community Schools from the Indiana Department of Education were improved upon from last year. Lapel Middle School improved by a full letter grade from a C to a B, and Lapel High School was a few points short of receiving an A.

• The school board approved the change from a valedictorian and salutatorian honor system to a Latin honor system. Beginning with the Class of 2021, Frankton-Lapel schools will instead recognize graduating students as summa cum laude, magna cum laude or cum laude.

• The school corporation inherited a 43-acre property outside of Frankton from former educator and school board member Jerry Cunningham, who passed away last winter. The board is seeking an appraisal of the land, which district leaders are considering selling.