One Time Bonuses

The November 3rd, 2014 board minutes revealed that a one-time salary bonus of $1,000 was awarded to; Shelly Thomas, Curriculum Director, and to Sue Buchholz, Business Manager.

When questioned about this new practice a board member responded:

I do feel at times if an individual is going about and beyond their normal duties we can support something in the way of a bonus.  Is this going to happen in all cases, no.  Does this happen all over the country, in many districts, yes.  You are seeing school districts being more structured in the sense of a private business.

In this particular case, I felt, along with others, that a bonus was justified.  We are reviewing this with all employees moving forward.  We want to recognize and reward those individuals who have exceeded expectation.

The December 5, 2016  board minutes reveal that a one-time salary bonus of $1,200 was awarded to Robert Lennon, Director of Pupil Services, and to Emmy Mayer, Altmayer Principal.

So every 3 years they select 2 people.  And so far it's all been admin.  What is the point?  From what I have seen most upper management types at work just delegate authority anyway.  When I see someone other than the top getting these (call it what is is) kickbacks, then I might think something other than the board member fed me a complete line of bull-crap.


The funny part is they basically bribe/reward kids these days to "encourage" good behavior.  Yet they don't really do this with their own employees.

What I'd suggest:

First this bonus program needs definition and transparency.  What is the criteria for those they select, and why isn't that public?  Second, define how many people per year will be selected.  Ideally some sort of ratio per department?

Then and only then will the "annual" (cough) evaluations mean something.  So then you can start revising the evaluation questions to make them more fitting for each department.  As in each department head crafts the questions under some basic guidelines.