A few days before Thanksgiving, Vanessa Garza headed to H-E-B to buy a turkey and and all the fixings she would need for her holiday feast. As she went to pay, she knew her bosses had it covered.
Garza, 39, an intervention teacher in the Judson Independent School District, and more than 3,300 other district employees had received $50 H-E-B gift cards for their hard work and adaptability during the coronavirus pandemic.
“That was a really nice surprise,” she said. “It was really nice to get that little extra token of appreciation.”
A substantially bigger extra token, however, was on its way to every full-time Judson ISD employee — a $750 bonus in their December paycheck.
Across Bexar County, tens of thousands of school employees have received pandemic-related bonuses or pay raises, much of it in recent weeks.
Almost from the moment they realized how large a body blow the virus had struck against teaching and learning, school district leaders have been trying to hold on to staff working countless additional hours and taking on new responsibilities.
At the high end of these rewards, trustees in Harlandale, Southwest and South San Antonio ISDs have approved bonuses of $1,000 for full-time employees to be distributed this month. Last week, Southwest ISD’s board approved additional bonuses for part-time employees — either $400 or $500 depending on the number of hours they work each week.
“The Judson ISD board of trustees is so grateful and appreciative of the herculean efforts that have been displayed by the Judson ISD family during this unprecedented time of COVID-19,” Judson Superintendent Jeanette Ball said in a statement to employees. “The board of trustees and I want to provide this retention incentive during the December paycheck to acknowledge the invaluable work you do and to show our utmost gratitude.
“The work you have done and the work you will do in the future is simply beyond measure,” she added.
Throughout the fall semester, members of the Judson American Federation of Teachers union chapter pressed administrators for a bonus like the $500 they received last year, except this time they wanted it to go to all full-time employees, not just teachers, Garza said.
“Everybody is working their tail off — everybody,” she said.
Most teachers in San Antonio have returned to classrooms, where they are at greater risk of being infected with the virus, and many are teaching classes “synchronously,” meaning they instruct in-person and remote students at the same time.
The remote instruction model and the fact that physical learning materials cannot be distributed in class have forced them to find new ways to structure lessons, create assignments and respond to students who might be doing work or asking questions at any time of the day or night.
Teachers and custodians have also had to do more cleaning than ever before.
“I can’t tell you that it’s easy waking up every morning to come to school and do this,” Garza said. “But I love what I do. I’ve been doing this all my life, and I love to teach and that’s where my heart is.”
Judson trustees approved the bonus unanimously, despite the district’s $2.7 million budget deficit.
“Though our situation for our budget is not exactly where we would like it to be … at this time I do feel that our employees deserve an incentive,” Ball told the board.
Many of San Antonio’s other school districts have approved similar proposals or adjusted salaries to help their staff get through the semester and encourage them to stay during what is arguably the most difficult time for teachers in recent history.
Teachers in Southside ISD received a 3 percent raise and nonteaching staff received a raise of between 3 and 9 percent early in the fall to acknowledge the “challenges that staff faced at the start of the school year because of the pandemic,” said Superintendent Rolando Ramirez.
Employees in North East ISD will receive a bonus equal to 1 percent of their pay grade midpoint, which for full-time teachers equals $560.
Edgewood ISD’s board approved a $500 bonus for full-time employees and a $250 bonus for substitute teachers who have worked at least 20 days with the district and are eligible to continue working.
Substitute teachers have become increasingly valuable to school districts this year as full-time teachers have had to miss time to quarantine after possible coronavirus exposures.
“This year has been like no other. I am extremely proud of our staff and the way all our departments have been able to pivot and adjust to all the challenges we have faced since March,” Edgewood Superintendent Eduardo Hernandez said in a statement.
Alamo Heights ISD gave full-time staff a $500 bonus “in recognition of their outstanding service, extra efforts and commitment during the past few months,” said spokeswoman Patti Pawlik-Perales. Part-time employees will receive bonuses based on their level of employment, she said.
Full-time employees in East Central ISD will receive bonuses of $510 by the end of the month.
At their Nov. 17 meeting, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD trustees and Superintendent Clark Ealy expressed support for a $500 bonus for all permanent employees. The board is expected to approve it Tuesday.
Juggling unprecedented logistical challenges and soaring expenses for technology, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, not every school district has been able to find the funds for staff bonuses. Northside ISD and San Antonio ISD, two of the city’s three largest school districts, have not approved bonuses or raises.
SAISD spokeswoman Vanessa Barry said budgetary constraints have prevented a bonus, but the district is looking to create more opportunities for teachers to earn additional funds as soon as next semester.
Northside ISD spokesman Barry Perez said staff could receive raises at some point in the current school year, but that depends on the availability of funds.
Northside AFT, the teacher union at the district, sent a letter to Superintendent Brian Woods and board members on Dec. 3 outlining specific health and safety concerns, requesting a conversation with administrators and asking that trustees consider passing a $1,000 bonus for all full-time employees.
The union tweeted a petition for the bonus, calling employees “the front lines of this pandemic (who) have worked harder than they ever have before.” It garnered about 300 signatures within the first 24 hours, said Melina Espiritu-Azocar, the union’s lead organizer.
“There’s really not a value to put on the extensive amount of work that our members and the employees of the district have put in,” she said. “We felt that was an amount that would be fair to make sure that the work these folks are putting in is valued and appreciated.”
Woods responded to the union’s letter on Dec. 7 with an email, writing, “To be clear, I am not offering a meeting. … Any changes to pay for employees will be considered by the board at a future date.”
The union plans to approach the board at its Tuesday meeting. A tweet encouraging members to attend features an image from the Disney animated classic “The Lion King” and the observation, “Everything the light touches is where a local school district voted to give employees a retention bonus. What about that shadowy place? That’s … Northside.”
Espiritu-Azocar said the union is not expecting the board to offer the funds, but members will continue to ask for it.
Staff writer Krista Torralva contributed to this report. | Andres Picon is a staff writer covering San Antonio education. To read more from Andres, become a subscriber. andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon
