INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Tuesday night’s School Board meeting was an evening of restoration. Non-bargaining district employees, who had been subject to a 6.5 percent pay cut for several years, got their salaries restored to what they had been during the 2008-2009 school year.
“We’re righting what has been an unfair practice,” said School board Vice Chair Carol Johnson.
“I look at this as the first step in compensating all of our employees in a fair manner,” said board member Karen Disney-Brombach.
The School Board and Superintendent got a round of applause from the audience for that decision.
Next, the School Board voted to make Oct. 26, the day schools closed because of Hurricane Sandy, a paid holiday that would not have to be made up. That decision, too, got a round of applause.
Then, Carter Morrison, Assistant Superintendent of Finances, announced another restoration — this one of an over-payment to a construction company that had mistakenly overcharged more than $120,000.
“They just brought us a check,” said Morrison.
Dr. Adams wrapped up the meeting with a sigh of relief that the financial struggle of every employee in the district was finally getting a little better after years of cuts and reductions: “We’re beginning to see a little pin hole of light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
Her final words about teachers getting a promised two percent step increase finished up the night with loud applause from the teachers in the audience.
“It is our hope that this will be happily resolved,” she said.