Attendance earns rewards for educators

School system employees will be rewarded for good attendance, thanks to a policy which was revised by the Columbia County Board of Education Tuesday.

"The heart of it is to recognize employees who are a part of the public school retirement program (not teachers) who are not afforded the opportunity to utilize accumulated leave (towards length of service to retirement). They have no incentive not to use those days off," Superintendent Tommy Price told the board.

In the past, only those employees who have missed no days or one day were rewarded. This policy change will also reward those who have missed two days. The new policy doubles the amount of incentive pay for auxiliary employees in the public school retirement:

Teachers who have missed no days will receive $500, one day $250 and two days $125

Auxiliary employees participating in teacher retirement will receive $200 for no days missed, $100 for one day missed and $50 for two days missed

Auxiliary employees who participate in pubic school retirement will receive $400 for no days missed, $200 for one day missed and $100 for two days missed.

"We think this will make it a little sweeter for those who might want to earn incentive pay through perfect attendance," Price said.

This is the second effort by the board this year to improve conditions for its auxiliary employees. The board also extended a 3.25 percent teacher pay raise to its auxiliary employees.

"It shows them we really do appreciate the work that they do," said Trustee Mildred Blackburn.