Taxpayers might owe $1.2 million to Kanawha County teachers and other school employees who missed few workdays this year.

By July, Kanawha County Schools Treasurer Harry Reustle projects a payout between $917,000 and $1.2 million for employees with strong attendance.

Last summer, board members passed an incentive policy by a 4-1 vote, citing hefty tabs for substitute teachers. They agreed to revisit the plan each year to see if it works.

Teachers and administrators with no absences this year will earn a bonus of $1,050 in July. The payout slides a bit with each day missed; an employee who misses three days will earn $840. A fourth absence disqualifies the employee from any incentive pay.

Employees are not punished for jury duty, military leave, vacation, bereavement or other exempt absences.

Carol Hamric, administrative assistant in charge of human resources, said the county school system saved more than $610,000 with the new policy.

The attendance payout from July through February was $979,830.45, she said. For the same period one year before, the substitute cost was $1,590,611.73.

Superintendent Ron Duerring wants board members to consider any tweaks to the policy soon, so that changes can be ironed out before the new fiscal year July 1. For now, board members will wait for Reustle to fine-tune the payout costs and other figures.

"So far ... it appears we're moving in the right direction and it's doing well," Duerring said.

Pete Thaw, the policy's lone opponent last June, disagreed.

"I don't believe the incentive policy is worth the money," he said. "We're going to spend more than a million dollars."

Board member Bill Raglin said it's sad when success is measured by dollars spent, as opposed to whether the incentive keeps more teachers in the classroom on a daily basis. Students learn more from their regular teacher than with a substitute, he said.

Taxpayers might owe $1.2 million to Kanawha County teachers and other school employees who missed few workdays this year.

By July, Kanawha County Schools Treasurer Harry Reustle projects a payout between $917,000 and $1.2 million for employees with strong attendance.

Last summer, board members passed an incentive policy by a 4-1 vote, citing hefty tabs for substitute teachers. They agreed to revisit the plan each year to see if it works.

Teachers and administrators with no absences this year will earn a bonus of $1,050 in July. The payout slides a bit with each day missed; an employee who misses three days will earn $840. A fourth absence disqualifies the employee from any incentive pay.

Employees are not punished for jury duty, military leave, vacation, bereavement or other exempt absences.

Carol Hamric, administrative assistant in charge of human resources, said the county school system saved more than $610,000 with the new policy.

The attendance payout from July through February was $979,830.45, she said. For the same period one year before, the substitute cost was $1,590,611.73.

Superintendent Ron Duerring wants board members to consider any tweaks to the policy soon, so that changes can be ironed out before the new fiscal year July 1. For now, board members will wait for Reustle to fine-tune the payout costs and other figures.

"So far ... it appears we're moving in the right direction and it's doing well," Duerring said.

Pete Thaw, the policy's lone opponent last June, disagreed.

"I don't believe the incentive policy is worth the money," he said. "We're going to spend more than a million dollars."

Board member Bill Raglin said it's sad when success is measured by dollars spent, as opposed to whether the incentive keeps more teachers in the classroom on a daily basis. Students learn more from their regular teacher than with a substitute, he said.

"I'm willing to wait until the end of the day and see how things go," Raglin said.

Thaw believes an attendance policy that board members passed last May has been more effective in curbing substitute teacher costs.

"I don't know where you get that," Raglin told Thaw. "I don't see that at all."

Teachers, service personnel and other county employees cannot take more than five "unauthorized" days off. If they do, employees possibly need to meet with supervisors to correct the reasons for their absence.

Thaw argued that top county administrators and some employees other than teachers do not need substitutes if they miss a day of work.

"You're going to tell me a child's education is disrupted when someone in accounting is gone? That's crazy," he said. "Children don't care who's working here all day or not working here all day."

Also Thursday:

"We have a lot of crowded kitchens, and the numbers will prove that," he said. Dunbar Intermediate, for instance, offers the only kitchen among elementary schools that meet the state's square-foot guidelines.

The kitchens at Central and Flinn elementary schools, South Charleston High and Horace Mann Middle School are also pretty cramped, he said.

Raglin worries that cooks will burn or injure themselves because of the tight spaces, and asked Wilson to check how much it would cost to make the kitchens larger.

To contact staff writer Davin White, use e-mail or call 348-1254.