Davis School District employees get $500 pandemic stipend
Jan 19, 2022, 6:29 PM | Updated: Jun 8, 2022, 6:22 pm
FARMINGTON, Utah – Davis School District employees are getting an extra thanks for enduring all the hazards, changes, and stresses caused by the pandemic.
The school board unanimously approved a $500 stipend.
While teachers are taking on more than their fair share through the pandemic, school board members saw that all employees were carrying some extra weight.
This stipend came as a thank you and to provide some relief.
The district-wide stipend comes as the pandemic, omicron specifically, brought some more difficult challenges.
Several schools have held test-to-stay events and now many more have switched to remote learning as those state test-to-stay guidelines were suspended.
“The last 20 months have been extremely stressful for all educators, all individuals in education, and in particular, the last few weeks,” said Denise Willmore president of the Davis Education Association.
She lived the struggles as a second-grade teacher at Valley View Elementary.
“I don’t think you could compare to anything in my lifetime and I think this year has been almost harder. And we’re hearing that from many teachers. It’s been almost harder than last year was.”
The stipend has been in the works for some time, before the omicron surge.
“It’s an incredible amount of work that everyone’s been involved with,” said district communications director Chris Williams.
He said the board wanted to make sure there was money available to everyone.
“We have one school that has one kitchen manager working all by herself. We have bus drivers who are running double routes. We have teachers, of course, who are switching from in-person one day to remote learning the next day,” he explained.
It’s a struggle that will continue for now.
Willmore said the students have kept her and others going. “And knowing that for some students, their teacher is their only constant in their life.”
That stipend is coming, in part, through CARES funds and budget reserves.
Employees will get the money in their February paycheck.
