A way to financially subsidize teachers and substitute teachers who work during their planning blocks/breaks was one of two topics discussed at a recent Lee County School Board Committee meeting.
During the Finance Committee meeting the committee discussed and passed a teacher compensation classroom coverage plan.
Sandra Bowen, school board member and member of the finance committee said in the past when a teacher or substitute teacher took their break, sometimes they would use that time to fill in and teach in another classroom during that time.
The Employee Bonus Plan, if approved, would give full-time employees, certified and classified, a $2,000 bonus. The plan would also provided a tiered bonus for substitute teachers depending on the number of days they serve in the classroom.
Substitutes will be paid depending on the number of days, tiers in four categories $2,000; $1,500; $1,000 and $500. The school would get about $40,000 a month for the program would come through the federal government funds geared toward COVID relief.
Bowen said there has been a need for substitutes and full-time teachers have been called upon to pick up the slack especially during the pandemic. She said the program, upon board approval, would continue until the end of the school year.
The School Board’s Facilities and Technology Committee met as well and discussed the future of infrastructure within the school district.
The committee agreed through consensus that Southern Lee High School Girl’s Locker Room would go to Compendium Contracting LLC. for $279,877, pending approval by the board. If approved, construction is expected to begin in February.
Chris McNeil, director of maintenance, discussed the need for gym renovations at the two high schools and one middle school. He placed the most emphasis on the need for an auditorium at the Southern Lee High School, where the school’s band could practice and assemble in four additional classrooms.
He said the auditorium is estimated to cost about $5.8 million. McNeil said he wasn’t sure there were funds available for the project, but the need should not be forgotten.
