Baton Rouge school's fund allocation criticized

The Baton Rouge Parish School Board recently put forth a proposal to pay all the teachers and librarians an additional $2000. However, this was met with much opposition from members saying that the idea neglects other staff members. 

Board member Connie Bernard pressed for adding an additional bonus of $1000 for all the staff members. She said that paying just the teachers and the librarians is a "morale killer" and sends the wrong message. The school which is no stranger to staffing shortages has had even more trouble this year. Superintendent Sito Narcisse proposed the additional $2000 costing an estimated $8 million. This comes just as many schools in the district have increased teacher pay either in the form of an additional check or permanent raise. Narcisse on Thursday acknowledged that there is a negative reaction from some quarters but he wants to do something for the said employees right away instead of waiting for the completion of the salary compensation study. Once the study is completed it will result in increased pay for other fractions as well. The study is however stalled by the selected firm as it deals with the covid crisis. 

If the study gets approved up to 2800 teachers and librarians will not get the additional paycheck until late April. Not only that, in order to qualify for the additional pay they would need to have a "classroom rooster" which means that educators not assigned students in a classroom wouldn't be paid.

Source: The Advocate