The school board voted unaimously to approve Hero Pay for every employee of the Siloam Springs School District for the challenges they faced during the coronavirus pandemic during the school board meeting held Thursday.
Hero Pay will be paid on or before July 31, according to a report by Superintendent Jody Wiggins.
Hero Pay will consist of pay for all contracted employees who worked between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 and is based on the number of contracted days worked at $10 per day, the report states.
The additional pay will also be available for substitute and guest teachers who worked at $10 a day over the course of the school year on student attendance days, the report states.
Lori Boyd and Julie Kelly -- the presidents of the Personnel Policies Committee representing certified and classified educators, respectively -- spoke about how grateful they were for the Hero Pay.
Boyd said the 2020-2021 school year has been a trying year for everyone; no one has come away unscathed.
"There's only two words that are adequate and even they are not adequate," Boyd said tearfully. "Those words are thank you."
Boyd said she was happy the school system also included substitute and guest teachers in receiving the additional pay. She also said she was more excited for them because they often are the unsung heroes of teaching.
Kelly echoed Boyd's comments saying it was huge that substitutes and guest teachers were receiving the additional pay, but also appreciated the same being given to every employee whether they were an educator or a bus driver.
"We know that this year our bus drivers, our food service workers and our custodians worked so incredibly hard and were probably put in danger more than some of the rest of us," Kelly said.
Boyd and Kelly also said teachers don't do this for the money, but the money is a way to say thank you.
The school board also approved the following items:
• The regular meeting minutes from the May 13 meeting.
• Meeting minutes form the special board meeting of May 25.
• Heard reports from Wiggins and Assistant Superintendent Shane Patrick.
• Approved the May 2021 financial statement.
• Approved the Building and Content insurance Bid Recommendation for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the Student Accident Insurance Bid Recommendation for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Northwest Arkansas Community College for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the agreement for a Speech Language provider for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved Emergency and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) full time employees for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the election of school board officers for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the financial resolution for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved emergency sick leave for an employee.
• Approved policy updates for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the renewal of classified employees for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved the summer hire list.
• Approved three student transfers into the Siloam School District from Gentry.
• Approved one student transfer out of the Siloam Springs School District to Gentry.