According to the announcement, school officials are rewarding all administrators, teachers and staff in the county for taking on additional duties related to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The specifics of the bonus are as follows:

“Classified and certified employees who were employed prior to October 1, 2021, and remain employed through December 17, 2021, will qualify for the first bonus payment of $500 in January. Those who are employed between January 2, 2022, and May 27, 2022, will qualify for another $500 bonus payment.”

Additionally, “employees cannot have a break employment during either of the time periods to receive the bonus payment. New employees hired between now and the end of December can qualify for the second bonus payment.”

The announcement also states that nutrition employees do not qualify but will be receiving a separate $500 bonus in January.

“I think our schools in Rutherford County are going to come out of this stronger than we were before,” said Doug Bodary, assistant superintendent for budget and finance with Rutherford County Schools. “We were one of the very few school systems in the state of Tennessee (that) grew despite the pandemic. Honestly, I am proud of our county as a whole and our system in particular.”