No bonuses for district support staff

     The retention bonus program, initiated by Gov. Kim Reynolds and extended by the Monticello School Board, will not include support staff.

     Monticello Community School District Superintendent Brian Jaeger sent an email to district teachers and staff last week, explaining why the bonuses, worth $1,000 each, will be limited to teachers.

     Most teachers were included in the governor’s original criteria, but not all. The board approved payments to an additional 16 teachers who did not fit the governor’s criteria, at its March 28 regular meeting.

     In the email, Jaeger wrote that the board had discussed the payments to the 16 additional teachers, as well as the rest of the staff, during a March 9 exempt session.

     “We went into exempt session, because we saw that as a contractual item,” Jaeger said in an April 29 phone interview. “We talked about the 16 employees, and discussed how we were going to do that (provide bonuses). The concept of our support staff came up during that conversation.”

     In the email, Jaeger wrote that there simply aren’t enough funds.

     “In addition to the certified staff, there are about 150 additional employees to be considered in our school district,” he wrote. “There is not $150,000 lying around anywhere in our district to solve this problem, or it would already have been solved.”

     In the phone interview, Jaeger said ESSER funds provided by the federal government to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 were already accounted for within the district.

     He said the funds were used to increase teaching staff at the elementary school level to lower class sizes, hire a high school instructional coach, added two medical associates, and hired a custodial position.

     “Those kids at the elementary level were most affected by this,” Jaeger said. “Our plan was to try to get them back up to speed by the time they got to the upper grades. Our data shows that’s been helping pretty well.

     “We’re happy with that, and I hate to lose that. That’s where the board landed with that too.”

     At an April 25 school board meeting, four support staff employees spoke to the board. Each of them wondered if they were somehow considered less valuable.

     In the email, Jaeger responded: “This situation has never been about who is more valuable, as each person in this school district has done their part to make it through a few tough years.

     “The ESSER funds have a purpose as part of a districtwide plan to help our students recover learning loss through 2024. There is not any money lying around that is not budgeted for something in our school district. The board was really clear that they really wish we had the funds available to provide a retention bonus to our support staff.”