These coins were given as a thank you to teachers for their hard work on the front lines during the pandemic. The superintendent, Dr. Scott A. Ziegler, also sent a heartfelt letter to his staff. "Dr. Ziegler did not put those letters and those coins together to tick anybody off, I guarantee it,” Sandy Sullivan, the president of the Loudoun Education Association, said. She said teachers know the superintendent meant well, but the gesture is being received differently. “It's just the timing was off,” Sullivan said. Meanwhile, the school board has approved $1.6 million in bonuses to be split up among administrators and nurses who worked on vaccination efforts, school principals and other administrators, as well as nearly $12,000 each for 9 cabinet members.