By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

An early retirement incentive and new light poles for the Stephen Decatur Middle School parking lot were approved by the Worcester County Board of Education last week.

On Tuesday, Dec. 3, the school system’s governing group met, and they unanimously passed an early teacher retirement incentive, as they have in prior years. Chief Operations and Human Relations Officer Dwayne Abt said the program supports recruitment efforts and yields turnover savings.

“We should be seeing some turnover savings as with our senior teachers retiring, those at the top of our scale, making the most money,” Abt said. “When we do these things, we usually see turnover savings each year.”

The incentive will also fuel teacher recruitment, which is done via a job fair each March. Given budget concerns and staffing questions, the operations officer noted that the school system could not take advantage of last year’s fair. However, he added, “This year in March, with this incentive, we will be able to be first out of the gate, hiring great people again.”

The program incentivizes teachers to retire early by offering 10% of the employee’s salary and paying up to $25 per sick day that would have remained in the individual’s bank. Board member Bill Buchanan motioned the initiative, which was seconded by member Jon Andes.

The Worcester County Board of Education also approved replacing the original 28-year-old light poles in the Stephen Decatur Middle School parking lot.

According to Maintenance and Operations Manager Sam Slacum, the existing fixtures were determined to be structurally compromised upon inspection. The old poles will be replaced with new aluminum, high-efficiency LED lighting.

Slacum said that four bids were submitted for the project. These companies include Carters Electric for $106,500, Lywood Electric for $92,530, Mid Atlantic Energy for $104,000, and Adex Electric for $77,738.

Adex Electric was chosen to complete the SDMS light replacement initiative. The Worcester County Commissioners are providing funding.