By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— Teachers and staff in the Pelham City School System were in for a pleasant surprise Dec. 14 when Board of Education members and Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield personally thanked them for their hard work.

Each of the staff members was presented with an exemplary compensation check to thank them for their dedication to the Pelham school system. Teachers were presented with $500 checks and support staff members were given $250.

Board of Education President Rick Rhoades said the day was filled with smiles, hugs and thanks.

“We are asking a lot from our people and it’s only fair we try to compensate them,” Rhoades said. “This is something that has been planned for a long time as just a way to say thank you for the great work and the extra work that you did.”

When Pelham became its own school system more than a year and a half ago, the Board went through the system’s curriculum and changed it dramatically, according to Rhoades.

Rhoades said the teachers and staff have completed much extra training to prepare for the new curriculum, and curriculum for the new academies is changing on a weekly basis.

The young school system is also going through many construction projects, so Rhoades said the board has been consulting with support staff and teachers for items related to those projects.

“We just felt like it was so important to shake someone’s hand and say ‘Thank you so much for what you do for our students,’” Rhoades said.

Being a new school system, Rhoades said the board thought that exemplary bonuses would be a great way to say thank you, and that the end of the first semester was the right time to present them.

The decision to award these bonuses was made while budgeting for the current fiscal year, so the money was already factored in.

Each of the Board members visited each school Dec. 14, splitting up upon their arrival to hand-deliver the checks. Rhoades said there were a fair amount of smiles, and he hoped the staff members were pleased.

“You always want to be able to tell people a job well done…” Rhoades said. “It was very rewarding for us as board. It was a pretty special day for our school system.”