Troy School Board unanimously approved to raise school breakfast and lunches by a quarter to help erase a debt of $46,000 from last year’s meals.

   When Superintendent Dan Wendt read the debt, it was met with stunned silence by the board.

   “That can’t be normal,” said one board member. 

   It was the first time for Troy that school meals had dipped so far in the red, and it was a direct result of two major factors.

   The first was that the price of food rose to unprecedented rates last year. That stemmed from the cutting of federally subsidized food that had supported school districts for decades.

   “The federal government reduced the amount of surplus commodities,” Wendt said. “They used to basically give away food. That stopped last year.”

   That, and the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program not adjusting for the costs associated with getting food to a rural community, meant the 65 percent of Troy students using the program actually created a net deficit for the school district.

   The proposed – and ultimately accepted – increase of a 25 cents per meal will affect 35 percent of Troy Elementary students and 36 percent of Troy Middle and High School students.

   Prices for breakfast for elementary students, junior high/high school students and adults will rise to $1.25, $1.50 and $2.25 respectively. Lunches will rise as well, to $1.75, $2 and $3.25.

   Joe Pepiot, board member, was concerned how the cost might affect a family who doesn’t qualify for free and reduced lunches.

   “I don’t think it’s fair that 40 percent of us have to pay more,” he said.

   The quarter-a-meal price hike wouldn’t even come close to filling the $46,000 debt incurred by school lunches, instead coming closer to $5,000.

   What about the $41,000 staring the school district in the face?

   According to Mary Brown, district clerk, with $11,600 from this year’s budget to start the hot-food lunches and an expected $18,000-$20,000 from the county, the debt is shrunk to more around $10,000, but that should still be a warning for this year.

   “Last year the fund was in the hole early, deep,” Brown said. “It cannot be in the hole at the end of the year. It cannot.”

   The quarter price rise, while seemingly small, raises Troy School District from one of the cheapest meal plans in the state to one more along the average.

   “That quarter was to keep more in line with other school districts,” Wendt said. “Now, we’re right about in the middle of the state as far as prices go.”

In other school board action…:

• …The board ruled that late negotiations on teacher salaries wouldn’t be fair, and the agreed upon figures of no raise this year and 3 percent raise next year would be abided by.

   The classified negotiation team tried to change the board’s mind for the next two years of raises of 1.5 percent, but the board remained firm.

   “We need to stand our ground,” said board member Doug Chapel.

   Another addition created in the secretive negotiations was an education incentive. Once a year, school district employees may take one credit of higher education credit, or the equivalent 30-hour seminar of a board pre-approved course in a subject related to the employee’s job description.

   No advanced fly-fishing classes allowed, joked the board.

   This education incentive would advance participating employees one year in their seniority, and potentially earlier past thresholds in the pay schedule. The classes would come out of employee pocket.

• …The board approved the hiring of Ashley Paasch as the junior high’s new volleyball coach. It also approved the resignation of long-time tennis coach Steve Prieve, who had been hired 20 years ago by current board member John Konzen.

• … The board considered redrafting contracts for part-time employees, as part of an outcry from Chapel, Pepiot and Keith Haggerty, representative for the Yaak, on part-timers receiving benefits similar to full time employees.

   As it stands now, a retired teacher could pick up his or her pension, and still come back to teach part-time to the maximum of $19,000 a year along with health insurance options.

   Other members of the board, such as Melinda Thompson, were concerned that by cutting benefits, Troy would lose experienced teachers coming back part-time, putting the schools in a bind.

   The motion was made to approve part-time contracts with a caveat for renegotiations in the future. 

• …The budgets were approved for the schools, and they stayed very similar to last year. The high school was given 75.9 mills, based on a taxable value of $8.93 million. Last year it was 75.91 mills. The total budget was $1.89 million for the 2012-2013 school year.

   The Elementary school gets 122.23 mills, exactly the same amount as last year. The budget is $2.43 million.

   Both schools are using 23.78 mills to pay off the debt incurred by the Troy Activity Center.

•… High School principal Jacob Francom announced that the Trojan Pole would be stained and finished in the next few days.