Rockland school committee ratifies cafeteria and custodial contracts

The Rockland School Committee unanimously ratified new contracts for the cafeteria and custodial units during its May 12 meeting.

Committee members ratified a three‑year tentative agreement with the cafeteria unit and a parallel agreement with the custodial unit, both approved by their memberships, school negotiators said. The contracts include a change to the probationary period and modest adjustments to allowances and shift/detail assignments.

Miss Hess, who presented the cafeteria agreement to the committee, said the cafeteria contract mirrors other recent staff agreements and includes “a 1 year probationary period as opposed to the 90 day probationary period.” She also said there was a “slight increase in their uniform allowance.”

On the custodial contract, the committee heard that custodians who perform event details may receive additional duties or tasks as determined by the building principal. The presentation described occasional “detailed shifts” for town‑ or school‑sponsored events and said principals may assign additional inventory or special projects to custodians when appropriate.

A committee member moved to ratify the cafeteria contract and the motion carried. A separate motion to ratify the custodial contract also carried. Committee speakers repeatedly thanked cafeteria and custodial staff for their day‑to‑day work feeding students and keeping buildings clean.

The ratifications were procedural approvals of agreements negotiated between the district and the employee units; no additional budgetary figures, wage rates, or effective dates beyond the contract term framework discussed were provided at the meeting.