| With a large number of teachers set to retire, the Calhoun County Board of Education is trying to lessen the impact, says school board president Lee Evans.
"Early notification will help us get replacements," Evans said.
Fifteen teacher and service personnel applied for retirement at the last board meeting.
Evans says a policy is out for comment, and if adopted will encourage teachers to let the board know their intentions ahead of time.
The local school system will provide a $500 bonus to all classroom teachers who deliver written notice to the superintendent by February 1st of their intention to retire at the conclusion of the current school year.
Classroom teacher is defined as those professional educators who have a direct instructional or counseling relationship with pupils, spending the majority of their time in this capacity, including speech-language pathologists, remedial specialists, and librarians, says the policy.
The policy expands further, saying, "It is the intention of Calhoun County Board of Education to provide a $500 bonus to all personnel, service and administrative, who deliver written notice to the superintendent by February 1st of their intention to retire at the conclusion of the current school year, when and if county funding is sufficient to allow this benefit."
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