CCISD approves one time retention incentive for staff

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a one-time retention incentive of $1,500 for full-time staff or $750 for part-time staff at their regular meeting Tuesday evening. 
The funds for the incentive came from an increase in the district’s fund balance due to an Impact Aid payment of approximately $4 million, according to Superintendent Dr. Joe Burns. This Impact Aid payment brought the district’s total fund balance to $93,367,121, of which $59 million is reserved for construction. 
With this incentive, Copperas Cove ISD joins other school districts across the state in incentivizing its staff for staying. 
“We know that we’re only as good as the staff that we hire, the staff we employ, the work that they do on a daily basis,” Burns said. “Our staff has done an outstanding job over the last two years- I go all the way back to March of 2020 whenever we didn’t come back from Spring Break like we thought we would- and our staff is just hung in there and worked really, really hard.”
Burns said that the district has seen employees come and go, but the majority have stayed firm. 
“This year, we gave what we thought was a pretty healthy pay raise, then Killeen went off the rails, and so we’re still behind them a little bit,” Burns added. 
Earlier this month, Killeen ISD’s board of trustees approved a $1,000 stipend to full-time employees and a $500 stipend to part-time employees hired by Dec. 7, 2021, with current and new substitutes able to receive a retention stipend based on the number of days worked in the 2021-2022 school year. KISD covered the Federal Income Tax and Medicare taxes on the stipend by increasing the total amount to ensure each employee receives the amount outlined. KISD also established a new teacher referral stipend program, offering $500 for the first referral and then $1,500, $3,000, $4,500, and $6,000 for an employee’s fifth referral, with an additional $1,500 per teacher referral and no limit on how much an employee can earn through Aug. 31, 2022. 
Copperas Cove ISD will offer all full-time employees, which includes the Superintendent and other administrators, a one-time payment of $1,500 and all part-time employees a one-time payment of $750. The district will pay the Medicare taxes on this payment, but the employees are responsible for the federal income taxes. Burns said the employees would see the full amount, but it will show up on their W-2 as income. 
This incentive excludes contractors, including substitute teachers. It is only for staff who have an annualized salary and who work either part-time or full-time. 
Burns said the district hopes to have the incentive paid out to staff before Christmas. However, for an employee to receive the retention incentive, they will need to sign an acknowledgement that they are going to stay with CCISD through the end of the school year or their contract period, or they will have to refund the incentive back to the district. 
“It is an incentive for retention, not for saying, ‘Bye-bye,’” Burns said. 
The board approved amending the 2021-22 Fiscal Year Budget for additional funds received from TASB for damages incurred during Winter Storm Uri in the amount of $1,084,988.93. 
The board also approved a new company for the fire alarm monitoring for CCISD facilities. 
“We had an issue last year during the winter storm, where the current fire alarm monitoring company or the current fire alarm monitoring company that we had at the time, we contacted them and needed assistance with our fire alarm, once we started having water and all those things, and they refused to respond to our call for service,” Burns said. 
When the district went out for bids, that company submitted a bid, but the district disallowed them for their denial of service. 
The district recommended the selection of Cen-Tex Fire and Security for the district’s fire alarm security, monitoring, inspection and repair services. 
The board also approved a proposed guaranteed maximum price amendment to the district’s Construction Manager at Risk contract with BWC Education Group at Hettie Halstead Elementary School. This GMP amendment establishes the Guaranteed Maximum Price for phase Four of the construction project of $3,644,218. Work will begin at Hettie Halstead Elementary next month. 
During recognitions, the district announced the winners of this year’s Christmas Card Decorating Contest. In third place was Nathan Harris of Copperas Cove High School. In second place was Marcus Harris of Fairview/Miss Jewell. First place went to Jason Walwyn of Copperas Cove High School and his son, Jasai Walwyn of House Creek Elementary School. 
The winning design featured a scene of hands of different races placing ornaments on a tree, with each ornament representing a CCISD school. 
The board also recognized several employees upon their retirement. 
Jeff Davis retired after 30 years of service. Claudia Wintersdorf retired after 33 years of service. Donna Speigner retired after 28 years of service. Anthony Jones retired after 26 years of service. 
Not present but still recognized were Amal Baty, who retired after 43 years of service and Heike Henry, who retired after 40 years of service, as well as Rosa Sanders and Victoria Wheeler, who each retired after 20 years of service.