VIDALIA — Salary for teachers hired in August in the Concordia Parish School District will be divided into 13 paychecks for their first year starting in 2017, Superintendent Whest Shirley said.

Shirley said the change is to ensure that the newly hired get paid without waiting an inordinate amount of time for their first paychecks.

“It’s an accounting nightmare, but we’re going to make it happen,” Shirley said.

This change is particularly beneficial for the Teach for America instructors who are often recent college graduates, Shirley said.

Shirley said he remembered once when he was a principal passing out the first paycheck of the year, one recent hire became upset when she realized she wouldn’t be paid for two months.

“I said, ‘You were hired in August, your first check won’t be until September,’” Shirley said. “She just started crying. She said, ‘Coach Shirley, I can’t go two months without a check.’”

When he became superintendent and the same issue rose with the many new hires this year, Shirley said it was a “no-brainer” to change the policy.

Changing the number of paychecks in no way changes the salary of the teacher, Shirley said.

At the Concordia Parish School Board meeting on Sept. 14, President Raymond Riley announced the change.

“Morally, no one can go two months without pay,” Riley said. “I want to put it on record that our new employees will get paid the first month, instead of waiting two months to get paid.”

Shirley said approximately 30 new hires and Teach for America instructors received their first check this August.