VIDALIA, La. – To reward its employees, the Concordia Parish School Board voted Tuesday to give an across the board salary increase for the 2001-02 school year.

In May 2002, all full-time employees will receive an extra $500 and part-time employees will receive an extra $250.

&uot;This is recognition for work they’ve done,&uot; said Ricky Raven, a school board member. &uot;We’re going to try to do it year to year.&uot;

The money will come from local funds, said Superintendent Lester &uot;Pete&uot; Peterman.

&uot;We just felt like we needed to do something for our employees,&uot; Peterman said. &uot;(Its) the board’s way of saying we appreciate our employees – everyone of our employees – and we’re going to do what we can for them when we can.&uot;

Employees might receive the increase in future years if the funds are available, board members said.

The board also voted Tuesday to provide employees with their &uot;13th checks&uot; in 2002, which they have received for several years.

The checks provide $400 to certified staff and $200 to support staff. They will receive the checks in June 2002.

The checks were guaranteed the first three years but had to be declared by the board afterwards if employees were to receive them, Peterman said.

Also on Tuesday, the board voted to approve a change order to build six classrooms at Ferriday Lower Elementary instead of four.

&uot;We’re basically wanting to plan for future expansion,&uot; Peterman said.

As part of the project, classrooms will also be added to Monterey School and Vidalia Upper Elementary. It is funded by a 13-mill five-year tax increase approved by the voters to replace portable classrooms.

Board member the Rev. Johnnie Brown asked if the classrooms would include enough storage space but Peterman said all six classrooms would be basic in design.

&uot;The original concept of this was we were going to build functional classrooms to replace the portable buildings,&uot; Peterman said.

And the students will be in a better environment when their classrooms are no longer portable even without a great deal of storage space, Peterman said.

The school board had originally wanted six classrooms at Ferriday Lower Elementary but held off until it received bids for the project, Peterman said.

Mike Grantham, board president said to remember the teachers would go from having no storage space in the portables to having some space in the new classrooms.

It will cost about $190,000 to build the two extra classrooms and $1.6 million for the entire project.

It should be completed in time for the second semester of the upcoming school year.