Geary USD 475 is considering offering financial incentives to attract employees for hard-to-fill positions.

Up first will be speech language pathologists. The bonuses would not total more than $3,000 if approved by the Board of Education.

Bridget Seemann, Director of Human Services, noted she would like to offer an amount shown by the district’s research for hard-to-fill positions. “For instance right now it’s our speech language pathologists so that we can offer them a signing bonus so that we can bring them into the district and get rid of our contracts.”

When the school district can’t fill the position they have to contract out for the service.

The use of these bonuses could begin in November when district staff attend a speech language pathologist conference in November.

It may not be easy to find all the desired candidates. Two Board members noted that other states such as Texas are already paying bonuses of $10,000 or more. But USD 475 will not exceed $3,000.

Seeman assured the Board that with this effort officials are trying to attract people to USD 475 and live in Junction City.  The proposal for the bonuses will be brought to the board for final consideration at their October meeting.