How do boards support their administrator’s request to recognize (monetarily or otherwise) individual employees (e.g., teachers, paras, custodial etc. both bargaining and non-bargaining) for performance excellence?
VSBA Member to Member
Questions and answers from and to board members.
In my short tenure on the board, monetary recognition has not been requested.
Neither of my two boards have received requests from administrators to recognize performance excellence, other than a requested raise in the budget for a (non-unionized) member of the support staff.
The topic has never come up. We now have an interim principal so we’ll see if the topic arises this year.
We discourage such recognition but occasionally something slips in.
I have found the board to put together a luncheon or offer non-monetary items such as flowers. But it is something I believe we should look into and set up a procedure for it.
Our SU has started an annual dinner in late spring to honor individuals (teachers/educators and support staff/professional) picked by the administration both from the SU and individual districts whom have demonstrated outstanding contributions and commitments to our school community. They each are honored by their direct supervisory and give a token of recognition; not money.
We have on occasion paid extra $ to staff, both teachers and others, when the Principal has requested it to recognize extra effort/time spent on work beyond their job description. The recognition of performance excellence was suggested once in contract negotiation and was shot down immediately by the negotiators. Their explanation was that it would be divisive. I was surprised at the time, but that was my first negotiation.
We back the choices our administrators make and give them the authority to make these decisions on their own. They don’t need our permission or approval.
We do not offer monetary recognition although as a board member I’m not necessarily against that. I do believe that the best recognition we can give (beyond a reasonable contract of employment) is support for those things that help the employee do their job better and in a more pleasant manner. Sometimes this could be a policy change, purchase of new or more materials, professional development, and whatever else you can come up with (after consultation with the employee of course).
If the principal were to ask for support in recognizing excellent staff performance I would support him completely. So would the rest of the board, I believe. Being that the community and school is dealing with very limited financial resources I doubt we could reward staff monetarily. In better times, perhaps.
Always supported.
Anything of this nature is usually handled at budget time where by the board approves a ‘bonus’ for recognition of excellence that gets inserted into the employee’s salary for the upcoming year.
The last board I was on very much supported admin requests to recognize individual employees for performance excellence and groups of employees like the early ed teachers.
There is a policy on “gifts”, but the board usually buys a card and has it distributed for people who wish to sign. No monetary gifts have been given since I have been on the board.
Recognition is by established events. Nothing monetary.
We have recognized opportunities for recognition with notes of appreciation from the school board. For several years, we offered monetary incentives for originality and ingenuity in approaches to curricula and performance but were met with somewhat cynical responses from both awardees and non-awardees, so when faced with budget crunches the past 3 years, we have discontinued that program. We do continue to send thank you and congratulatory notes when appropriate. We have had a practice of sending flowers – sometimes bouquets, sometimes plants – to retirees both professional and support staff. Over the past 15 or so years, we have received one thank you (not to be cynical). It does not seem that efforts of appreciation make a difference in most cases.
The idea hasn’t come up. Our administrator does not request compensation outside of the contractual agreement, except stipends for additional duties such as teaching summer school. Performance evaluations are made but compensation is not directly tied to performance.
I’m not aware of the Board doing anything (monetary or otherwise) to recognize individual teacher performance excellence, other than indirectly, when, for example, a teacher might present on a special project or class and get kudos from the Board about that work. I think anything more formal would need to be approached extremely carefully and is fraught with potential problems.
The Board takes a great deal of pride in our staff. We fully support the principal if she has a recommendation siting someone’s performance excellence and make sure that said recognition is well published. We do NOT extend any sort of “monetary recognition” however.
Never done it.
WE DO NOT MONETARILY RECOGNIZE EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE BUT WILL OFFER PUBLIC KUDOS.
Our board has established no policy on this issue. My personal opinion is that unless a board has adopted a policy that restricts the Superintendent from making non-monetary recognitions, the Superintendent is free to do as s/he wishes. Any scheme for salary-for-performance would of course have to be a result of collective bargaining ratified by the board. Such ideas, though politically popular in some places, are in practice unfair. See Ravitch, Diane: The Death and Life of the Great American School System.
Two contracts ago we put language in for the teachers to receive incentive pay and only one of district teachers participated for one year only.
In the past we have excel-rated pay prior to retirements for some contract non teacher individuals although if you will recall several years ago superintendents tried that scam and the pension fund put the breaks on the practice!
We have not had requests to compensate teachers for performance.
There have been periodic Board acknowledgements (mention at public meetings, letters, plaques) for particularly noteworthy accomplishments or services rendered. We do not support monetary awards.
The idea hasn’t come up. Our administrator does not request compensation outside of the contractual agreement, except stipends for additional duties such as teaching summer school. Performance evaluations are made but compensation is not directly tied to performance.