CMS will consider doubling bonuses for full-time and part-time employees
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education will consider increasing an employee retention incentive for full- and part-time employees, doubling bonuses board members approved in December.
The proposal is expected to be addressed at Tuesday’s board meeting.
It would increase a previously-approved bonus of $2,500 to $5,000 for eligible full-time staff, and a previously-approved amount of $1,250 to $2,500 for eligible part-time staff, according to information the Observer obtained Friday.
The increased bonuses, if approved, are expected to cost the district about $49 million, with officials using federal American Rescue Plan funding.
School officials said the bonuses are for all employees, including teachers, maintenance and cafeteria workers, and are part of an effort to recruit and keep employees.
The district employees about 19,000 people, including 9,000 teachers.
Christine Pejot, chief human resources officer, told the Observer in December that CMS has experienced increased levels of attrition and challenges with recruiting new employees since the beginning of the 2020-21 school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Our heroes are tired’
Last month, hundreds of staff were not in school due to quarantine measures or positive coronavirus test results, and the surge in cases continued to cause a lot of problems in the classroom, on school buses and in the cafeterias.
CMS school board member Margaret Marshall called the district’s educators “heroes.”
During a January board meeting, Marshall said: “I often see signs in front yards of folks that I know work in the health care industry that say ‘heroes work here.’ We need to put that in every educator’s yard, every bus driver’s yard, every person who’s running masks to school, everybody who’s involved in education right now because they are heroes.
“Our heroes are pretty tired right now.”
Staff shortages, including substitute teachers, have been a problem since school began in August. By October, 500 teachers had resigned, with an additional 91 resigning by December.
CMS has addressed the issues through increases in pay and new initiatives, including expanding the Guest Teacher Program and adding a new instructional substitute performance bonus to help attract more workers.
CMS has also raised the starting wage for bus drivers from $15.75 an hour to $17.75.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 5:41 PM.
