By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The Kansas State Department of Education and Governor Laura Kelly addressed the media Sunday recommending schools across the state close this week to address the novel coronavirus.
USD 428 was already on spring break the previous week and now students are away for another week.
The Great Bend school district employs more than 700 workers. For the salary staff, the closure is treated similar to a snow day. Salary staff will still get paid their same rate, regardless of the number of days they are truly at work.
The pay structure is a different story for the classified staff, or hourly staff. No school means no pay.
USD 428 Assistant Superintendent John Popp says the district needs to keep these classified staff members with a steady income.
"If we are not able to pay them, they will need to go find other jobs," said Popp. "We will still need them very much so as soon as school resumes."
There is a large group of classified staff within the school district including teacher aides, paraprofessionals, some secretaries, and kitchen staff. These individuals already know during the summer and school breaks they will not be getting paid.
"They do not get paid through the summer already," Popp added. "For the rest of this year, we would like to pay them out if possible."
If a waiver goes through the Kansas Legislature, and it is expected to, then school districts will be allowed to pay their classified staff even for the shutdown period for however long it goes. USD 428 plans to honor the commitment to keep paying their hourly staff throughout the shutdown.
"We will not be able to go through the hiring process of getting new staff if these people leave," said Popp. "They need to work. They need to be paid in order to live."
The district already had the budget for the classified staff to be working and will look to continue their pay.
School districts throughout the state are playing it day by day on their approach based on KSDE’s recommendation. As of now, the recommended closure would end at the end of the week allowing students to come back school March 23, but the Centers for Disease Control recommended no gatherings with 50 people or more to take place for the next eight weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus.