By Andrea McBride
Staff Writer
CARO — The Caro Community Schools Board of Education approved a new retirement incentive at Monday night’s meeting.
The motion was carried to award teachers and administrators a retirement incentive of $100 per day for every sick day accumulated over 100. The offer is available to staff members with good attendance who have been employed a minimum of ten years.
Board members Theron Nesbitt, Robert Fetting, Paul Strasz, Rita Papp, Tina Gomez and Dean Tomlinson approved the motion while Henry Knier voted against it.
Retiring teachers were previously paid $65 per day for up to 100 sick days they had banked.
Teachers hired after July 1, 2013 may only accumulate a maximum of 130 sick days. However, the board unanimously approved a motion to offer a letter of agreement to compensate teachers half of the substitute teacher pay of $42.50 for any accumulated sick days over 130.
Teachers hired prior to July 1, 2013 will not lose sick days, but those hired after that date are required to request payment by June 15 of each year. Failure to do so will result in loss of payment for banked sick days over 130.
The district will see extensive savings if enough teachers take the incentive, as the cost of experienced teachers differs from that of new teachers.
The board also approved one-year contract extensions for Steve Clark, Jon Studley, JoAnn Nordstrom, Brady Palmer, Michelle Warren, David Wheeler, Kim Byington, Bill Pouliot, John Riley, April Jaster, Mike Wiederhold and Scott Dwyer.