Making good on a promise to show Anne Arundel County Public Schools employees they are appreciated for the work they are doing under very difficult circumstances, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell – with the full backing of the Board of Education – today announced that permanent AACPS employees will receive a $1,000 Employee Appreciation Bonus next month.
The bonus, which will be pro-rated based on an employee’s full-time equivalency, will be delivered to all permanent employees except those on a Leave of Absence by December 16, 2022. Dr. Bedell will not accept the bonus.
“No school system can be great without great people,” Dr. Bedell wrote in a letter to employees today announcing the bonus. “As I have said before, the work you are doing in the face of some stiff challenges is incredible. No matter your role in our school system, our students benefit every day from your dedication and passion. Please don’t ever forget that.”
The bonus will be paid from savings accrued through vacancies across the school system. It will not require AACPS to ask for any additional funding.
In his letter, Dr. Bedell also informed employees of a healthcare premium holiday to be reflected in the December 28, 2022. As a result of the level of the school system’s health care fund balance, no healthcare premiums will be deducted from that day’s pay.
The moves follow a virtual teleworking day in which Dr. Bedell allowed employees to engage on November 22, 2022.
“I fully realize that the bonus is a small gesture of appreciation,” Dr. Bedell wrote in his letter to employees. “However, it is critically important to me and to the Board of Education that we continue to find ways to simply say ‘Thank You.’ ”