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By NATHAN HOWELL | Special to the Reporter

PELHAM — Faculty and staff at Pelham City Schools were recently provided with extraordinary compensation checks for the sixth year in a row.

The compensation comes in the form of an extra $750 for certified staff and $500 for non-certified staff, according to PCS Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield.

“We want to build each other up, and this event has been a real celebration over the years.  It is our plan to recruit and retain teachers,” Coefield explained.  “We started this in our second year as a school system. PCS is has invested more than $950,000 per year on additional teacher compensation since we began as a system including two local pay raises, additional academic supplements, an enhanced benefits package and this extraordinary compensation.”

For teachers, this means that they are rewarded for the effort they have put in during this especially challenging year.

Charlotte Clare Norris, a Pelham Park Middle School teacher, explained that the incentive helps her to feel like her efforts are paying off and that she is glad to call Pelham her professional home.

“I think extraordinary compensation displays how much Pelham City Schools recognizes and appreciates all that we as educators have done for our students,” Norris said.  “This has been an incredibly challenging and rewarding year, as we have learned to adapt to teach students remotely and in person. The extra incentive makes you feel appreciated and grateful to be working in a school system that supports and values its teachers.”

Norris works with students in show choir and theatre at PPMS and has found that even though the year has been tough, she is grateful for the opportunity and certainly feels like her work is being acknowledged by the administration.

“Putting on a show choir and theatre performance during a pandemic was definitely a challenge, but bringing joy to my students made it so rewarding,” Norris said. “ It’s incredible to have a school system that recognizes the work myself and other teachers put in to make sure all of our students feel supported and are successful at school. We are so appreciative to Dr. Coefield and our school system for this extra incentive.”

For Dr. Coefield, the feeling is mutual as he thanked the staff for their continued work through a particularly hard year.

“It has always been our school board’s intent to make sure our staff feels appreciated. We want them to know we recognize all of their efforts, and especially this year with the stress of COVID,” Coefield said.