Instead of giving school employees a one-time bonus, Mathews County Public Schools is now looking at a retroactive 1.5 percent pay increase, following concerns expressed during the public comment period of last month’s school board meeting.

At Tuesday’s monthly meeting in the Brooks Auditorium at Thomas Hunter Middle School, Superintendent of Schools Dr. David S. Daniel provided an update on what he called the “give-back” money for school employees.

In the division’s recently concluded budget, proposed employee raises of 5 percent had been reduced to 2 percent to offset unanticipated expenses, with the hope that this money could eventually be given back to teachers and other employees. As of June 30, approximately $172,000 had been unspent.

At the board’s Oct. 17 meeting, Daniel and school board members discussed using this money to provide a possible mid-year bonus of roughly $1,000 per employee.

Several employees pushed back on the idea, pointing out that such a bonus wo...