By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

Alabaster teachers who stayed with the about 160 students stranded at the city’s schools overnight on Jan. 28 will have a choice between a monetary bonus or an extra vacation day.

During its March 10 meeting, the Alabaster Board of Education voted unanimously to approve a compensation package for the about 100 teachers who stayed at the schools overnight with students during the Jan. 28 winter storm.

Through the package, the teachers who stayed overnight will have a choice between a $200 bonus or an extra vacation day, said Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

“It’s just a small way for us to say thank you to those teachers. We would like to do more,” Vickers said during a March 10 interview, noting most of the students who stayed overnight were at Creek View Elementary School and Meadow View Elementary School.

On Jan. 28, a winter storm took central Alabama by surprise as it caused widespread icing on area roads and made travel impossible for the city’s school buses. The icy conditions also made it difficult for dozens of parents to pick up their children on Jan. 28, forcing the children to stay overnight.

On Jan. 29, Alabaster police and firefighters helped Alabaster City Schools officials to transport the remaining children home to their families. While students were at school on Jan. 29, teachers in Alabaster and Shelby County schools held activities to keep children occupied while they awaited transportation home.

Vickers said no school employees asked for compensation for staying overnight and into the next day.

“Not one employee asked me to do this. It’s just something we wanted to do,” Vickers said, drawing applause from the standing-room-only crowd at the March 10 school board meeting at Alabaster City Hall.

School Board President Adam Moseley said his child stayed overnight at school on Jan. 28, and said he was personally appreciative for the teachers’ efforts.

“There’s nothing we could do to express how genuinely we feel about you guys staying with our children,” Moseley said.