GARDEN GROVE UNIFIED School District Board of Education (OC Tribune photo).

By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune

Honors and an hourly wage increase for some employees topped the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education.

On a 5-0 vote, the board approved a 3.325 percent per hour increase for district classified employees represented by the California School Employees Association. The increase is retroactive to July 1, 2023.

Classified employees include bus drivers, custodians, groundskeepers and other non-certificated staff.

Also on Tuesday night, there were recognitions of winners of the First Impressions Art Awards as well as for the “Project Gratitude,” and the GGUSD’s Bus “Roadeo” competition.

Additionally, the board approved the purchase of 24 fast-charging stations to power the district’s 30 electric-powered buses. Currently, the district has six charging stations.

The cost of the new stations will be $937,274, but the district will receive a rebate of up to $528,000 from Southern California Edison.

The next meeting of the GGUSD board will be on May 7.