School board approves $3 million in pandemic bonuses

SPRINGDALE — The School Board approved about $3 million in bonuses Tuesday for employee efforts during the covid-19 pandemic.

“Our teachers and our support staff are working incredibly hard to come to work every day,” said Jared Cleveland, superintendent.

The board voted 6- 0 in support of the bonuses.

Debbie Creek was absent from the meeting.

Full-time employees working an average of 25 hours per week or more will receive a one-time bonus of no more than $800, according to supporting documents. Bonuses will be prorated for employees who are not full time.

“Everyone in the school district gets the same amount, regardless of position,” said Kevin Ownbey, board member.

Employees must have worked on site at least one day on or after Aug. 24 to qualify for the bonus, according to the documents.

Substitute employees will also receive a one-time bonus of $250, according to the documents.

Substitutes must have worked a minimum of 30 days in the fall 2020 semester prior to Dec. 1 and must have received a paycheck in November 2020 to qualify for the bonus, according to the documents.

“We couldn’t have gotten this far in the school year without them,” said Kelly Hayes, deputy superintendent, of substitute teachers.

The bonuses are being funded through a one-time increase in property tax revenue during the 2020-21 fiscal year because of the timing of tax payments to the school district by the county collector, he said.

The bonuses will be paid this month, Hayes said.

The board also unanimously voted to move forward with accepting bids for the sale of several pieces of district property.

The properties include .92 acres at 1600 Butterfield Coach Road the district purchased for $20 in 1890, 1.3 acres on the corner of South Daylilly Trail and North Old Wire Road purchased for $10 in 2017 and the 1.18 acres at 800 E. Emma Ave. purchased for $3,000 in 1922, Cleveland said.

Several properties that were donated to the district will also be sold, he said.

The properties include 15.55 acres at the corner of Brush Creek and Downum roads, 6.68 acres on the easternmost lot of Bitter Lane, 13.42 acres on the corner of Dodd and Old Wire roads and 4.52 acres on the center lot of Bitter Lane, Cleveland said.

Bids will be accepted until noon Jan. 12, he said, and will be accepted or declined by the School Board at its monthly meeting at 5 p.m. that same evening.

The board likewise voted 6-0 to approve repurposing Lee Elementary School, 400 Quandt St., to consolidate staff from several district satellite administrative buildings into one location.

Lee was built in 1951 and is the district’s oldest and smallest school at 46,761 square feet, Cleveland said. The school is also landlocked, which prevents any further growth for the building, he said

The change will begin to go into effect at the end of the school year, Cleveland said.

The final vote for the evening resulted in the board unanimously deciding to name the new elementary school on the corner of East Fletcher Avenue and South Barrington Road in Tontitown after Jim Rollins, a former superintendent of the district for 38 years.

Administrators said the school is approximately 90,000 square feet, will cost about $21.5 million to complete and will serve some 820 students from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Annette Thompson, the current principal of George Elementary, was announced as the Tontitown school’s first principal at the meeting.

Thompson said she was hired by Rollins when she started with the district when she was 24.

“I cannot tell you how happy and excited I am,” Thompson said. “It’s just such an honor to lead that school.”