LINCOLN -- The School Board last week approved additional pay for all employees for extra duties occurring from July 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, because of covid-19.
The district will pay $20 per day for each day employees worked during the 10-month period for the number of days in their contract. This does not include days that school was not in session, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, or if employees were using sick leave or personal leave and were not at work.
Jana Claybrook, learning services director, said the district has set aside a maximum of $525,000 for the additional pay and will use federal covid-relief funds for the one-time, additional pay for employees.
Covid duties include work related to social distancing such as extra lunchroom and bus duties, extra cleaning and sanitizing responsibilities and participating in the district's Ready for Learning plan to meet safety protocols for covid-19 and provide on-site and virtual education for students.
"We dedicated $20 per day no matter what your job is," Claybrook said about compensation.
School employees didn't know ahead of time that district administrators planned to recommend the additional covid pay, Claybrook said.
School Superintendent Mary Ann Spears told board members the district's financials are in good shape. For 10 months out of 12 months, the district has used 73% of its budget.
In fact, she said administrators are looking for ways to spend money by the end of June, so the district does not have too much carryover.
The budget has been helped by money the district is receiving from federal covid-relief funds, referred to as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds or ESSER. Lincoln will receive a total of $4.2 million from the ESSER fund.
"This has been good for the district," Spears said.
Some of the ESSER money can be used to upgrade air quality and ventilation, and the company Trane has submitted a proposal to Lincoln for improving indoor air quality.
Nathan Hudgens, director of maintenance, said Trane's assessment shows the middle school has the most needs at this time for air quality. He said the district will take Trane's assessment and prioritize it.
Many of the units at the middle school are older than the 15-year recommended life span, Hudgens said.
"We'll look at the oldest units first and work our way through the plan," Hudgens said.
Spears said the district is budgeting about $1 million to $1.2 million for air quality and will not use all of the money in one year. The money has to be spent by September 2023.
In addition to HVAC systems, Spears said the district proposes to spend about $550,000 on loss of learning.
In other action, the district approved major and minor coaching stipends. After the meeting, Claybrook said stipends remained the same but information about stipends is now located in one document.
Stipends range from $2,500 for senior head coaches to $1,500 for junior head coaches to $500 for seventh grade assistant coaches.
The board also approved Pee Wee stipends for coaches, paid with registration fees, and approved the annual contract with Aramark for food service.
The following teachers were hired: Yvette Townsend (middle school master classroom leader), Brooklyn Keeling (high school language arts), Miranda Snarr (high school language arts) and Madison Lowrimore (high school business education).
The board accepted resignations from teachers Zoey Vincent, Kelsey Igo, Angela Guillory, Jordan Watson and Amanda Harrison.
Lynn Kutter may be reached by email at [email protected]