On January 12, 225 teachers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (CMS) each received a $1,250 bonus in an off-cycle paycheck. Unfortunately, the teachers soon learned that their bonuses were accidentally issued and they are now being ordered to return the funds. It’s reported that the school district in North Carolina did not catch the payroll error for five days.
Before apologizing to the hundreds of high school English teachers who received the extra funds on January 12, the CMS district said they didn’t catch the $281,250 error until five days later on January 17, and then notified the teachers on January 18.
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The impacted teachers received an email from a Charlotte school district human resources leader who spoke on the hefty payroll mistake and explained how they would be fixing the issue. They simply stated that the $1,250 would be deducted in full from their next paycheck.
Five hours later, a subsequent email was issued telling the 225 teachers that they would now have the option to re-pay the money in a lump sum from their February check or they may choose a payment plan, where the payments will be spread out over the next three months.
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Speaking with WBTV, CMS spokeswoman Susan Vernon-Devlin said that these bonuses were intended only for new teachers as an incentive to recruit them to work at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools full-time moving forward.
She said, “The recruitment bonus was intended for teachers who are new to a critical shortage teaching area. These 225 teachers are not new to their area and should not have received the bonus. This was an unfortunate oversight.”
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In a statement given to PEOPLE, the Charlotte school district added, “These [impacted] teachers do receive the monthly ‘retention’ critical shortage differential in the amount of $200 a month. However, the recruitment bonus was inadvertently processed, as well, this month in error.”
The Charlotte school district added, “We understand the challenges this error may have caused, and we are committed to working closely with each of the teachers impacted. We value the work of all CMS employees and sincerely apologize for any distress or inconvenience.”
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed also spoke to WBTV and said, “The Board is aware of the overpayment to 225 teachers that occurred last week. However, we are legally obligated under NCGS 143.64.80 to recoup any overpayment of state funds. We understand the impact on our teachers and are confident staff are diligently working to avoid these situations in the future.”
The Charlotte school district is one of the largest districts in North Carolina and provides education for more than 141,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School’s About CMS page on its website, they have 184 schools throughout Mecklenburg County and employs more than 20,000 teachers, support staff, and administrators.
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