Raeford — During their regular monthly meeting, the Hoke County Schools Board of Education approved another round of retention bonuses for their employees. The board unanimously approved the End-of-Year Supplemental and Retention Bonus for all district staff.
“We are excited to be able to provide these bonuses for all Hoke County Schools’ employees,” Board Chair, Angela Southerland said. “We appreciate all of our staff and are so grateful for everything that they do to help our schools, district, and most importantly, our students to be successful.”
The funding for the bonuses comes from the Appropriations Act of 2021, Section 7A.12, the North Carolina General Assembly. This Act created a recurring appropriation to provide funding for LEAs and charter schools in North Carolina to provide salary supplements to teachers and instructional support in their units. Federal ESSER funding will supplement the Appropriations Act monies to enable the district to give certified, full-time employees a bonus totaling $4000, with non-certified, full-time employees receiving $3,000.
The latest enhancement supplement follows a series of employee bonuses distributed by the board earlier this spring. The school board hosted appreciation luncheons for several classified staff groups where bonuses were distributed and employees with 20-plus years of service to the district were recognized. Prior retention bonuses received by these non-certified staff will be subtracted from the total $3,000 amount.
“As a board, it is important to us that all of our employees feel appreciated,” Southern shared. “We plan to continue to look for ways to show the staff that they are valued.”
Interim Superintendent Dr. Shannon Register also noted, “It is important when it comes to the employee recruitment process to be able to provide these types of compensation packages as well.” Register continued, “It is very competitive when it comes to recruiting high-quality teachers and staff. When potential teachers or employees are considering coming to Hoke County Schools to work, they take a variety of things into consideration, including salaries, supplements, and bonuses. It is imperative that we provide these types of things so that we are able to recruit and retain the best staff; after all, our students and families deserve it.”
The End-of-Year Supplemental and Retention Bonuses are set to be distributed to staff on Friday, June 2.
