The Shawnee Mission school board on Monday unanimously approved a one-time $700 retention bonus to qualifying employees, including classroom teachers and classified staff, like custodians and food service workers.
Why it matters: The move is aimed at rewarding employees who worked through the pandemic-impacted 2021-22 school year and have stayed with the district for this new school year, according to board documents.
What they said: “It’s just to retain employees through the pandemic as staffing has been very difficult,” Hubbard said. “We are happy to be recommending a $700 retention payment for all employees in the Shawnee Mission School District.”
The details: Shawnee Mission plans to pay the retention bonuses with federal pandemic relief funds, and the money will not come out of the district’s general operating budget.
- Superintendent Michelle Hubbard confirmed all certified and classified staff are eligible for the one-time payments.
- The payments will cost a maximum of $2.3 million, according to board documents.
- Shawnee Mission expects the business office to process the retention payments by Sept. 6, according to board documents, meaning the money should appear on teachers’ and staff’s paychecks within the next month.
Who qualifies? The following criteria must be met for employees to qualify for the $700 payment:
- They were employed on or before Jan. 25, 2022.
- They completed a contract for the 2021-22 school year and maintained their employment into the new school year.
- They are still employed with the district for the current 2022-23 school year.
- And they must still be employed when the retention payment is processed next month.
Zooming out: The pandemic has wreaked havoc on local schools’ staffing over the past two years, with shortages in SMSD particularly pronounced at the start of the winter semester this past January amid the Omicron surge in COVDI-19 cases.
- Though SMSD reported relatively few openings for certified teaching positions at the start of this school year, the district was still struggling with shortages for classified staff, including custodians, food service workers and classroom aides.
