ORRINGTON – The cost of lunch at Center Drive School has increased from $1.35 to $1.50, Superintendent Allan Snell said Wednesday.

“They’ve been the same rate for at least five years,” he said. “Food costs have increased to the point where we had to make a change. One dollar and 50 cents is the norm for the area. We just held off as long as we could.”

The Orrington School Committee set the rate during their regular meeting on Tuesday and also increased pay for educational technicians for 2005-08.

“It’s a three-year compensation package with a 3.25 percent pay increase,” Snell said.

Several small changes also were made to the ed tech pay package, including increasing the number of sick days from 10 to 12 and adding an incentive that allows for three unused sick days to be bought back by employees at the end of the year.

The board also increased mileage for expenses from 30 cents per mile to 34 cents per mile, which is the state rate, Snell said.

Anna Watkinson was hired as the cheering coach by the board during the meeting, and Charles Colson was given the math team coaching job.

The board also accepted the resignations of middle school science teacher Jessica Harrington, who accepted a job teaching biology at Bangor High School, and Ellen Brochu, special education-resource room instructor, who will be working at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden.

“We’ve been interviewing this week and have interviews next week and hope to have it [the hiring] done within a week,” Snell said.