Twenty-nine Troup County School System teachers will be getting a $500 bonus around the holidays, as a thank you for the good work they are doing in the early portion of their careers.

Chief Human Resources Officer Chip Medders and Program Specialist Jim McMickin announced the bonuses during Monday night’s school board work session. 

Most of the 29 teachers started with TCSS during the 2016-2017 school year and have moved from induction status to renewable status. 

A few of the teachers being awarded started with another county but earned their induction certificate with TCSS, Medders said.

The induction status is for new teachers and defines the structure for professional development for young teachers. 

The total funding of $14,500 comes from a Title II A grant, which focuses on the recruitment, retention and development of teachers.

“Recruiting the best teachers to our system is high priority. More importantly, retaining those teachers is essential for our future, ongoing success. We have a great team of teachers and administrators on the recruiting trail and attending job fairs and selling our system [and] coming into our system,” Medders said. “We have to come up with ways once we get them here, once they train and are on board that they are happy with our school system. Our hope is when they come to our school system that they will want to retire here.”

Teachers who received the bonus were informed through a mailed letter that was sent out Monday. 

Another recently announced teacher retention initiative also has an important deadline this week. 

The deadline for the “Grow Your Own Scholarship” — which was announced at last month’s school board work session — is Friday.

The scholarship is for TCSS paraprofessionals who go to school and major in math, English language arts, early childhood education or special education. 

They must maintain a 3.0 GPA and must agree to return to teach in TCSS for a minimum of three years after graduating.

The scholarship will pay for up to $5,000 per semester.