The Monroe County Board of Education debated and then voted down proposals to award $500 bonuses to non‑certified staff at its October meeting, after members disagreed about whether cafeteria workers should be covered and how to pay for the awards.

The debate centered on two motions. Sharon Freeman, a board member, moved to give "all non certified employees, which is 271 employees, $500 bonus plus benefit," saying that "Miss Arden will take care of her 89 on the cafeteria side." The motion was seconded. After discussion and a roll-call vote, the motion failed; the board chair said the motion needed six votes to pass and reported there were five favorable votes.

Board members who opposed the first motion raised budget concerns and precedent. Mitch Avery, a board member, said he was "not in favor of this," arguing that "our expenditures are exceeding our revenues" and that approving unbudgeted bonuses would require digging into the fund balance. Another board member pressed that if bonuses were approved for non‑certified employees they should also include cafeteria workers, saying, "If we're gonna give the non professionals a bonus, then it needs to include the cafeteria workers." A subsequent motion to extend the $500 payment to all uncertified employees, including cafeteria workers, also failed on roll call.

The board discussed dollar figures on the record during debate. A speaker stated the non‑certified bonus proposal would total $153,806.05 for 271 employees. A separate figure for teacher bonuses referenced earlier in the meeting was corrected to $162,000 by one member during the discussion; board members noted that combining those amounts would exceed $300,000 and that the money was not included in the approved budget.

The board clarified how cafeteria bonuses had been handled in the past: members said cafeteria workers had received periodic bonuses paid from food‑service budgets and that those payments were separate decisions made by the food‑service supervisor. The motion that Sharon Freeman moved expressly stated that Lisa Arden would "pay for food services," and members debated whether that excluded cafeteria staff from the board motion.

No further action on bonuses was taken at the meeting; both the original motion and the motion to expand coverage failed on roll call. Several board members asked staff to keep budget implications in mind for future decisions.

The discussion occurred during the regular agenda; the motion results were recorded by roll call and announced by the chair. No supplemental funding source or spending authorization beyond the votes taken was approved at the meeting.