Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Guilford County Schools OKs $1,500 employee bonuses and extends mask requirement

KERI BROWN/WFDD

Guilford County Schools has approved $1,500 bonuses for most employees in the district.

The Guilford County Schools Board of Education voted on Tuesday to approve the bonuses for all employees, except for principals and assistant principals. Superintendent Sharon Contreras also recommended including an additional $500 bonus for the district's lowest-paid classified staff, including custodians and bus drivers.

Distribution of the bonuses, which total nearly $17 million, will still need to be approved by the state Department of Public Instruction. 

According to a news release, the money will come from the federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER).

Also at Tuesday's meeting, board members voted to continue a mask mandate requiring students and staff to wear a face covering while in school buildings or school-related settings.

North Carolina passed a law in August requiring school districts to vote monthly on amending mask policies.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools board members also voted on Tuesday to continue a mandatory mask requirement which will be reevaluated at their next meeting in January. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate