The retention bonuses will be paid in December 2022 and August 2023, respectively. According to the district, the first bonus to be paid in December will include $1,500 to teachers, professional/exempt employees and security resource officers; $1,000 for hourly and part-time employees; and $500 for part-time employees with an official start date on or before Nov. 1 and all other full-time employees with a start date between Sept. 2-Nov. 1. Employees who have given their notice to resign on or before Dec. 31 will not be eligible for the incentive.
The second bonus will be paid in August 2023, according to the district. This bonus includes $2,500 for teachers and professional/exempt employees employed with the district as of May 1, 2023; $1,500 for hourly and part-time employees with the district as of May 1; and $500 for hourly and part-time employees starting in WISD between May 1-July 1, 2023. Eligible employees must sign an agreement acknowledging they must reimburse the district for this bonus if they submit a resignation, are terminated or are released from their contract prior to Dec. 31, 2023, according to the district.
"We understand the stress and work that has been placed on teachers since the pandemic. We wanted to provide the December bonus to our employees to let them know how valuable they are and to hopefully brighten their holidays a little. Knowing how hard it is to find teachers now, I recommended the future bonus to help us retain the teachers we have now going into next year," Superintendent Tim Harkrider said in a statement.
In addition to retention incentives, the district's sign-on bonus will give $500 to all eligible full-time employees hired for a calendar of 217 or fewer work days with an official employment between the date of the resolution and Feb. 28, 2023, and full-time employees hired for a calendar of 226 or more work days with official employment between the date of the resolution and April 28, 2023. The bonus will be paid in August 2023.
To be eligible to receive the bonus, employees must also be employed full-time with the district through the end of the 2022-23 calendar and have not given notice of resignation on or before Aug. 31, 2023; current employees are not eligible for the signing bonus as well as former employees who worked for WISD on or after Aug. 1, 2021, according to the district.
"The sign-on bonus is to help us secure employees we need urgently, including child nutrition [staff] and bus drivers," Harkrider said in the statement.
The district previously offered a $1,000 incentive to returning full-time employees this fall, Community Impact reported.
