To the parents of Rowan-Salisbury School children:

This is an announcement to prepare you for an inconvenience that will affect your family in upcoming weeks.

On Thursday, I attended a meeting of frustrated cafeteria staff, maintenance staff and bus drivers. The Rowan-Salisbury School Board has delayed making any decisions concerning the low wages paid to its staffs.

RSS wasted over $18,000 paying a consultant firm to tell them that the employees were underpaid.

RSS is at the bottom of over 100 school districts in the state when it comes to paying a fair wage. Districts all around us pay more than RSS, with the highest being $5.66 per hour more to do the same job. A small amount of Stanly County employees have taken a stand and sat out. Thursday evening, there were many more than a few ready to take the action. This number is growing, and if the school board does not take action within the next few weeks, the shortage of drivers, food service employees and maintenance staff will be even more burdened with shortages. Some long term employees with over 20 years of service are not making even $15.00 per hour.

You as a parent will be faced with hardships. We are sorry for that, but you as a parent should help us get the message to the school board that there needs to be an across the board raise of wages.

The staffs will not wait until January; The time is now.

I will not be affected by this as I recently left the system to take a better paying job.

However, I do stand with them for a wage increase.

— Michael Chapman

Salisbury