White County board reviews snow‑day pay options for hourly staff, plans spring follow‑up

The White County Board of Education heard a district staff briefing on Nov. 6 about how snow days affect hourly and non‑licensed employees and school nutrition finances, and agreed to gather more information for a decision in the spring.

Director Trombarger told the board the district is currently paying employees for the extra minutes worked each day and described that accounting practice as sound, but cautioned that if the district uses many snow days the missed days would be deducted from paychecks later in the year. “Everybody's getting paid for the time that they're working right now,” Trombarger said, adding that “if we miss 10 days of snow, if we miss all 13, those are gonna be deducted … at the end of the school year.”

The staff presentation included per‑day cost estimates for support staff and a separate analysis for school nutrition. The nutrition program’s labor cost was reported as about $7,200 per day and average daily food sales near $17,000; staff noted that a snow day both reduces labor outlay and removes the revenue that would otherwise fund the program, magnifying the net impact.

Board members pressed for clarity about how the district has implemented an extra 15 minutes of daily work for educational assistants to cover arrival and dismissal; staff said that added time converts to approximately 6.2 days of pay over the year and therefore partially offsets potential snow‑day losses. The district recommended no immediate policy change but suggested the board could consider targeted options at the end of the fiscal year or before next year’s budgeting cycle.

Chair directed that the item be put back on the agenda in March so the board can review updated financial projections and consider whether to authorize a different approach (for example, bonuses or an allocation from fund balance) to reduce earnings volatility for hourly staff.

Clarifying details from the meeting: the extra 15 minutes per day paid to certain educational assistants currently equates to about 6.2 days of pay across the year; school nutrition labor cost was reported at roughly $7,200 per school day and average food sales were cited at about $17,000 per school day. The board did not take formal action on a new policy at the Nov. 6 meeting.