When someone asked a couple of weeks ago whether donating a sick day to Willie Mae Watkins would result in the forfeiture of the "Perfect Attendance Bonus", I laughed...assuring them that the administration would not do such a thing.

When the individual still expressed some hesitation, I said..."Go ahead and sign the donation list, I will follow up on your concern, and if it turns out that your generosity would result in the loss of the $250 bonus...I will make sure that your name is stricken from the list."

Maybe this was a case of "Be careful what you ask for..."

When we did this in the past, the question never even came up. It never crossed our minds that penalties might be assessed, and the administration never raised the issue. (Whether anyone in the past with perfect attendance ever donated a day to another employee, I have no way of knowing...although I would venture a guess that they have. I DO know that no one was ever forced to forfeit their perfect attendance bonus for doing so, because I would have heard about it...loud and clear!)

When I expressed my dismay diectly to Superintendent Gary Whitledge and pointed out that this action by the District would NOT save any money (and only cause hard feelings and lower employee morale), he responded by saying that "I've got to follow my directive." So...evidently the decision was made by the Board of Education, although this topic was NOT mentioned in open session last Thursday night.

Well...I indicated on Monday that "The times they are a changin'."

Thursday, I will place in the school mailbox of every employee...since, again, this was not a "CAT thing"...a short and simple memo informing one and all that if he/she signed the donation list for Willie Mae Watkins - and has perfect attendance - to please notify Angela Coleman, De De O'Shea, Deborah Hammel, or Ron Newell of that fact. I will collect these names (as I did with the donation lists) and deliver same to Brenda Jones by the imposed March 1st deadline, with the direction to strike those names from the list.

NOTE: Do NOT feel guilty about doing this! The whole idea of asking all employees to donate ONE day was so that everyone would share equally in helping one of our own in her time of need. That way, no one would be asked or required to carry any extra burden. Folks...the response was fantastic! We more than met our goal and have insured that Willie Mae will NOT be forced to go on disability for the remainder of this school year...and will continue to have her health insurance premiums paid as a regular employee.

(A few employees DID indicate in the original sign-up that they would be willing to donate more than one day. So...if the penalty imposed by the District causes us to fall short of the full year, we should be able to cover that loss.)

In closing, do NOT let this unfortunate incident cast a shadow over the spontaneous and generous display shown by you for a member of our educational family. You did the right thing, something that cannot be diminished by cold application of "rules and regs".