Charlotte Observer reports that new Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Clayton Wilcox’s created the position of schools ‘culinary development manager.’ Surprise–the school board went for it. But keep reading:
On Monday, the board also approved hiring Francisco’s husband, Jody Francisco, for a new job as manager of culinary development in the department of community engagement at $85,000 a year. On Monday and in the first news release sent out Wednesday, Jody Francisco was described as manager of community engagement. A manager’s job would not normally require board approval, but policy requires the board to sign off on hiring family of top executives.
Wilcox said Jody Francisco’s job will include making cafeterias more responsive to students with special dietary needs, working with school gardens, developing partnerships that promote healthy eating and working to make school food taste better within federal health guidelines. Jody Francisco, a former chef, worked in food services at the Maryland district. “He can wear a lot of different hats,” Wilcox said.
Wilcox says he expects some to say he created a job for Laura Francisco’s husband, but says the position is one he’d have created anyway. “I’m trying to respond to what the community’s asked us to do,” he said. The child nutrition department, which actually runs the cafeterias, will remain separate from Jody Francisco’s department.
And who you might ask is Laura Francisco? None other than Wilcox’s chief of staff.
