Board Proposes Raise In Adult Lunch Price

Pickett County Schools will raise the lunch price for adults and staff.

Director of Schools Diane Elder said the current price of an adult lunch is $3.50 but the state recommended the school system raise the price by a dollar as they are losing money on adult meals. Elder said she was not comfortable raising the price that much.

“I’ll tell you how I feel about it,” Elder said. “I like the idea of not increasing it a dollar because anytime we can get a teacher to eat in the lunchroom versus going out and getting something to eat I think that is a plus.”

Board Member Travis Parrott proposed raising the adult lunch price to only four dollars. The board approved increasing the price for adult lunches to four dollars but will now have to talk with the state to see if the raise is applicable despite the state’s recommendation.

“I’m just looking at if a teacher eats there five days a week at the end of the year that’s going to be a lot of money,” Parrott said. “And I know it’s a cheap meal already.”

Elder said about 80 percent of the staff eat lunches from the lunchroom. Elder said the state only had concerns with the adult price, not the student price.

“They put a little bit more on an adult meal than they do student meal just because of the guidelines,” Elder said.

Elder said if the proposal of only raising the price to four dollars does not go over well with the state the board will reevaluate the price at the November meeting.