Retention Bonuses
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Bonus or Slap in the Face? by Patricia Behnke A teacher of typing goes to her mailbox during preplanning and pulls out a letter from the school board. She begins grinning from ear to ear. "Look what I got!" she yells to anyone within hearing distance. A Spanish teacher looks at her, and then pulls the identical letter out of her box. "Well, it's about time I got some compensation for all the money I spend on decorating my classroom. I think I heard something about this back in April. It had to do with Critical-need teachers." "Wow," the ESE (Exceptional Student Education) teacher exclaims. "I haven't even taught students yet, and I get a bonus!" The band director of the school comes to his mailbox, sweating and red in the face after conducting practice on the football field with over two hundred students. He actually came up for a drink of water before heading out into the heat for the evening's practice. "What's going on?" he asks. "Check out your mailbox," urges the Spanish teacher, "then you'll know." "Let's see. The new bell schedule, a notice to meet with the parents and counselor of one of my ESE students after school Monday. Yeah, so what?" "You don't have this?" The Spanish teacher holds out her letter. "Dear teacher," the band director reads. "According to Line 79A of the 2000-01 Appropriations Act, your principal has identified you as being eligible for a teacher recruitment or retention bonus not to exceed $1,200. It is our intention that this bonus payment will be included in the September 15th payroll as part of your gross compensation." He goes back to his mailbox to be sure he didn't miss anything. Nothing. The English teacher comes down the hall. "Well, I'm going to enjoy this weekend, the last one with no essays to grade!" She smiles at everyone. "Hey, how come you all look like someone just slapped you?" "Well, check your mailbox, and then we'll tell you," the ESE teacher says. "She'll have one for sure," he says quietly to the business teacher. "FCAT workshop, mandatory, next Thursday. Is that it?" she asks. "No, not really," the band director says. She smiles at her colleagues. "What's going on?" she asks when she sees the long faces. "Well, everyone here except you, PE, social studies and fine arts teachers, are getting bonuses of $1,200 in their paychecks September 15," the Spanish teacher teacher informs her.
