SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic Sarno was not commenting Monday on three city councilors’ proposal to give COVID-19 service bonuses to school employees including teachers.
“Merit pay” of up to $5,000 per individual has already been awarded to numerous nonbargaining and union employees, including patrol officers and police supervisors.
The bonuses are funded through a federal COVID-19 relief program. The total numbers of employees and cost has not yet been released by the city, as bargaining continues with other unions including the one representing firefighters.
Sarno on Friday proposed extending the bonuses to school nurses and tradespeople, which prompted the proposal for teacher bonuses from Councilors Tracye Whitfield, Victor Davila and Justin Hurst.
In a letter Friday evening, the three councilors urged Sarno to “enter into collective bargaining negotiations with the representatives of all school department employees deemed ineligible by your administration for this ‘so-called’ merit pay and determine which employees are eligible and for what amount (both of which are subjects of collective bargaining).”
Whitfield, Davila and Hurst said the nurses and tradespeople “rightfully deserve to be compensated for being on the frontlines of this pandemic.”
The decision on the two school unions “serves as welcome news to the many other Springfield Public School employees who have served and are currently serving on the frontlines during what may turn out to be the worst wave of the pandemic yet.”
The councilors said they urge Sarno, who is chairman of the School Committee, to work with superintendent Daniel Warwick on merit pay for other school employee groups. In their case the bonuses would need approval from the School Committee.
“Over the course of the past month, we have heard from custodians in the Springfield Public Schools, who were on the frontlines cleaning fire stations to ensure that our first responders could answer the call of duty,” the councilors said. “We also heard from the technicians, network engineers and system engineers who provided over 28,000 staff and students the ability to continue education at home. In addition, we are hearing from our principals, administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, health assistants and so many other school personnel who adjusted on the fly to remote instruction so that our children received some semblance of normalcy at the outset of the pandemic. The dedication of these employees was truly amazing.”
Many of the school employees worked from their regularly assigned work stations during the pandemic, which is part of the criteria for merit pay, councilors said.
“Furthermore, special consideration must be given for all school teachers and personnel who are servicing the many students in the Springfield Public schools who are unvaccinated during the height of this pandemic,” the councilors said. “Many of these individuals continue to put their lives and families’ lives in jeopardy so that our students are not left behind and receive the best education that we can offer.”
Related content:
- Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno proposes COVID merit pay for school nurses, tradespeople
- Springfield patrol officers, police supervisors reach agreement on COVID merit raises as firefighters protest
- Springfield firefighters demand COVID merit pay; Mayor Domenic Sarno calls union leadership a ‘political pawn’
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