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Local school food service workers to receive state-recommended pay increase in July
By Lynn Hotaling
School officials learned Monday (Oct. 25) that local cafeteria workers will get a state-recommended pay raise after all.
School finance officer David Steinbicker told members of the Jackson County Board of Education that all school food service personnel will receive a 58-cent per hour raise as well as a one-step promotion effective July 1, 2005.
The pay increases will occur so long as the school food service account has "in excess of 2.5 months operating balance," Steinbicker said.
"I anticipate that we'll be able to fund the increases," he said Tuesday.
School board members last December approved a new pay scale for cafeteria workers that rewarded employees based on years of service. It was stipulated then that local increases built into the pay scale would take the place of state-recommended pay raises.
However, during the board's September meeting, Smoky Mountain High School cafeteria manager Dale Phillips said that school food service personnel were disappointed that they were not going to get the $1,000 raise proposed by state officials.
Phillips said school food service workers did not realize that if they accepted the new local pay scale they were foregoing state-recommended raises.
The 58-cent per hour incresase will add up to $1,000 over a 10-month period, Steinbicker said.
In other action Monday, school board members approved a new schedule of meeting locations.
Beginning Nov. 22, the school board will hold a series of meetings at county schools, with that meeting at Scotts Creek. December's will be at Cullowhee Valley; January, Smokey Mountain Elementary; February, Blue Ridge; March , Fairview; April, Smoky Mountain High; and May, School of Alternatives.
All meetings will be at 6 p.m. on fourth Mondays except December, which will be Dec. 13.
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