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School bus drivers Avery Clark and Mike Ray react to surprise “Be More Bucks” presentations noting they would receive an additional $2,020 bonus on top of $1,000 previously promised by Gov. Brian Kemp. (Submitted photo)
White County teachers and staff members were treated to a special surprise last Friday by the school system.
It was long-known that Gov. Brian Kemp had promised a $1,000 bonus to personnel, but the total was more than tripled with another $2,020 in coming from CARES 2 stimulus funding the school system received, said Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett.
“As you know we got the CARES money ... our summer school and all the things we were able to do with CARES 2, we still believed we would have the money to be able to do this,” Burkett said.
She added that one of the categories for the federal relief money was so school systems could give teachers hazard pay related to the COVID-19 pandemic..
“We just felt like if we had the federal money, [what’s a] better thing to do with money than give it to the people who just gave us so much extra all year?” Burkett said. “It was hard. It was scary, you were anxious, it was hard all the time, but people made the most of it. So it was exciting to get to do it.”
Administration teams at all schools were told what was going to happen last Friday morning, but they wanted to surprise everyone at the same time, the superintendent said.
“So at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, April 23, everybody began to give out their envelopes,” Burkett said. “They were all doing it different ways. I like that our principals got to experience the same joy and be creative.”
Watching the reactions of the employees was a lot of fun for Burkett.
“It took them a while to realize what it was,” Burkett said. “And just watching, I’ve gotten tons of pictures and watching people’s facial expressions was really cool.”
The money went to all faculty and staff members, including bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and school nutrition. She added that the custodians also received funds, but not the same amount because of how some of it was designated.
“The governor specified who was suppose to get [it], the governor specified that first thousand,” Burkett said. “But we were able to, the extra our custodians had to do, just them being on the front lines, they were the ones when we had a positive case in a school building, they were the ones that had to go in and clean that room. So with all of the extras they had to do, we were able to give them some too.”
In total bonus pay from the state and federal dollars, Burkett said they gave out $1.6 million.