By Ray King
At its most recent board meeting, the School Board for the Watson Chapel School District approved a request from Superintendent Jerry Guess to give bonuses to all the district’s employees.
On Friday, Guess talked to Deltaplex News about those bonuses.
Guess said the bonuses will be paid to all certified and classified personnel in the district in their June paychecks, which should be out about June 15. He went on to talk about extra funds that are coming to the district.
Guess said the district employs about 300 people with 175 to 180 of them being teachers and the state money is designed to bring all the districts into the state close to the state median, which he said was about $51,000. Asked how close Watson Chapel came to that, Guess said the starting salary for teachers at Watson Chapel is above the median but after that, salaries of about $49,000 are below the median and the additional state funds will help the district get closer.
He also talked about money the district has received and will receive from the Federal Government in COVID relief.
Guess said at least 20 percent of the next round of federal funds have to be spent to help students catch up “after this unusual year,” and predicted the district would spend more than 20 percent to do that
