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PSS support staff get incentive pay
The Public School System issued incentive checks to over 200 PSS support staff who were not included under the Project Restart grant.
During a Board of Education meeting last Tuesday, former PSS acting director of Finance Kimo Rosario said 226 non-certified employees, or support staff, received their $1,000 incentive checks yesterday.
Rosario said another $1,000 will be issued to these support staff once local funds are transferred to PSS accounts, which is expected in the next two weeks.
PSS has been working on identifying extra funding to provide incentive checks for support staff who were not included in Project Restart, an incentive program for teaching staff.
According to Tim Thornburgh, PSS Federal Programs manager, Project Restart took care of 701 teachers, instructors, teacher aides, principals, and vice principals in terms of retention incentives.
The group received their incentive back in December 2019 and again in April following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Support staff, however, were not covered under the program and never received any incentives check until yesterday.
According to Saipan Tribune archives, all teachers, teacher aids, school administrators, substitute teachers, librarians, and other qualified school-based personnel were given $1,000 each back in December.
The grant was intended to retain school-based personnel and motivate them to stay for the entire school year. Each individual who qualifies got $2,000. The first payment was back in December and the second payment of $1,000 was initially supposed to be disbursed at the end of the school year in June.
Thornburgh discovered the Retention Incentive Program under Project Restart, a federal program that awards grants that can be used for school operations, recruitment of teachers, renewal of teachers, rewards, and performance incentives for teachers.
