The DOE has agreed to pay five hours of overtime to school administrators for every COVID-19 case that required extra work to track and inform infected students and staff.
They’re cashing in on COVID cases.
The payout will come under an unprecedented agreement hammered out between the principals’ union and the DOE in November. It will be at least partially funded with federal COVID-19 aid. Since the current school year started on Sept. 13, 2021, the DOE’s Situation Room has tallied 176,156 positive COVID tests.“It was a very daunting task,” the principal said. “In the beginning we had to quarantine all close contacts. If a staff member was the computer teacher and that teacher saw five classes during the day, you had to notify all those close contacts.”
Each school will get a list of COVID cases deemed “actionable” by the DOE. The administrators will then divvy up the funds, based on who handled the cases.Peter Warren, director of research at the government watchdog Empire Center, said top managers shouldn’t get overtime payouts.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The hourly “per session,” or overtime rate for principals, assistant principals, and other supervisors is now $56.50 or $57.18.