By KEN CARPENTER
Great Bend Post
Great Bend School District employees will soon be getting a bonus for the extra work they put in during the Covid-19 pandemic. The USD 428 School Board voted on Monday night to give a $1,250 stipend to classroom teachers and a $1,000 stipend to other district staff.
Schools Superintendent Khris Thexton told the Board that teachers and staff should be compensated for keeping Great Bend’s schools open during the pandemic.
"We had a lot of students that were quarantined that teachers stepped up and did a lot of work on the back side to make sure they were continuing to get their education,” Thexton said. “A lot of extra time was spent in this process.”
Assistant Superintendent John Popp explained how the dollar amount for the stipend was determined.
“But how much time were you spending helping those kiddos who were quarantined above and beyond what you would normally do?" Popp said was an important question. "As we extrapolated it over the year, it came down to about two hours per week in all the different grade levels each teacher was spending in supporting those students."
Popp said other district employees deserved more pay as well because extra cleaning and maintenance were added on to their normal duties. The stipends will be issued as an extra paycheck and should be delivered to all teachers and eligible employees by the end of this month.
The money to pay the bonuses will come from federal Covid relief funds and will amount to almost $700,000.