District proposes trimming paid workdays for school nutrition staff as a budget option; board pauses final decision

School nutrition leaders presented a revised annual calendar for school nutrition employees that reduces paid non‑student workdays and aligns some training with district professional development. Staff said school nutrition is an enterprise fund and must move toward breaking even; paying employees for non‑student workdays reduces available revenue for meal operations.

The recommended calendar reduces employees' paid days from prior practice and marks several non‑student days as unpaid (staff presented the change visually with yellow marks on the calendar). Staff said the proposed reduction would save the program money (staff cited $35,000–$66,000 in potential savings depending on the number of days removed) but they recommended a moderate cut (202 paid days) to preserve required prep, opening, and manager training time. Nutrition managers said the calendar is meant to give employees as much notice as possible; several board members expressed concern about low‑paid hourly employees losing paid days and urged caution.

The board did not finalize the change. Members suggested sharing the calendar as a "worst‑case" planning scenario for staff (so employees have notice) while holding final implementation until budget decisions are settled. Board members ranked reductions in nutrition worker days among possible contingency options but said it should remain a last resort.

Status: Staff will not place the nutrition calendar on the consent agenda for immediate adoption; they will provide additional information on impacts and communicate with employees in the short term.

Direct quote: A staff member said, "We did not want to bring that back to eliminate all those workdays, though, because they do have required training they do throughout the year."