By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Three days after the Alabaster City School System handed out about $26,000 to Thompson High School students who earned passing scores on Advanced Placement tests last May, the school system nearly matched the number when rewarding those students’ teachers.

During an Oct. 19 meeting, the Alabaster Board of Education presented about $23,000 to 12 THS teachers for their students’ performance while taking the AP tests.

Through an A+ College Ready Grant and additional funding from the city’s school system, ACS began offering $100 incentives to students who earned a score of three, four or five out of five on the end-course test in the THS AP classes. THS currently offers 14 AP classes in subjects such as math, art, social sciences, English, science, government, biology and foreign languages, allowing students to earn college credits before graduating high school.

Through the A+ College Ready Grant and local funding, ACS also began offering $100 stipends to teachers for each of their students who earned a passing grade on the AP tests. A+ funded the English language, English literature, math and science-related AP bonuses, while ACS funded the history and art stipends.

“As superintendent, I’m so proud not only for the grant, but for what our teachers are doing with that grant,” Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers said. “These checks range from the hundreds to the multiple, multiple thousands. We had one teacher who received over $8,000.”

During the meeting, the School Board presented checks and certificates of appreciation to Ava Andrews, Renee Brown, Nathan Button, Kimberlee Campbell, Debbie DeCroes, Nerissa DeRamus, Ashley Downs, Paul Furman, Michelle Holdbrooks, Crystal Lamar, Dian McCray and Beth Ronilo.

ACS Chief School Financial Officer Linda Agee said the school system was unable to pay the taxes on the stipends, but said ACS did not cut federal income and Social Security taxes from the teachers’ stipends, meaning teachers received the gross amount they earned through the program.

School Board members praised the teachers for increasing the school system’s number of passing AP scores.

“What you have done is made an opportunity for students to reach above the normalcy or mediocrity that too often exists in education,” BOE member John Myrick told the teachers. “I know that will result in better lives for these children.”