ROCK SPRINGS – Employees within Sweetwater County School District No. 1 will be seeing a one-time bump in their pay later this month.
The district’s board of trustees unanimously approved a one-time Workforce Stabilization Incentive that will be paid out to most part time and full-time employees Sept. 25, with contracted staffing, substitutes not serving in full-time teaching positions, coaches and sponsors not in a part time or full-time role, and temporary employees not eligible for the incentive.
Two different payouts are scheduled, with full time and part time employees receiving $705 and long-term substitutes receiving $352.50. The funds come from remaining Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III grant money the district needs to spend. According to Jessica Libbee, the district’s director of grants and federal programs, the district has until Sept. 30 to spend its ESSER III funds.
ESSER funds were approved through the federal American Rescue Act and helped school districts address needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding, if not spent, would need to be returned. According to Carol Jelaco, the chairwoman of the school board, the figures that will be paid out was determined by totaling the number of employees and the long-term substitutes and dividing the remaining funds equally between employees in the two groups. Libbee said the one-time payments meet the ESSER requirements because they’re being spent as a reward to teachers and employees for working and teaching during a difficult period.
Vacancies and Hires
A vacancy notice released by the district highlights 30 open positions within the district. Open positions include two English teacher roles and two math teacher roles at Rock Springs High School, as well as a district-wide physical education and health teacher and a sixth-grade teacher at Eastside Elementary School.
The school board approved four hires Monday night. They hired Teal Romango-Seiloff as the director of district daycare, Michael Barry for a resource position at RSHS, Roxanne Everhard as the WY BILT literacy interventionist at RSHS, and Fiona Barry as the assistant chief financial officer for the district.
