SALEM — On the heels of cutting nearly three dozen jobs last Friday, the Salem schools are looking to save additional money by privatizing the school lunch program and possibly custodians.

Superintendent William Cameron Jr. said the schools put out a request for proposals to see if it will be cheaper for a private company to run the school lunch program rather than staffing it with district personnel.

The lunch program is running at a deficit, School Committee member Jim Fleming said.

"We can't make informed decisions without being informed," Cameron said at last night's School Committee meeting at Collins Middle School. "(We'll have to consider) what would be gained and what would be lost." The RFPs are due back to the central office in a month.

As of yesterday, approximately 33 teachers' aides, custodians and secretaries no longer had jobs in the Salem schools and will remain on recall lists in case positions open up. Of roughly 80 job cuts that were proposed initially, the jobs of nearly 50 teachers and staff members were spared thanks to private donations and a state intervention.

"There has been a great deal of pain and unpleasantness for many people," Cameron said. "Much has been lost here."

The School Committee voted unanimously last night to put Cameron in charge of reinstating jobs and recalling employees as more donations are raised.

"What I'm trying to avoid," said Vice Chairman Brendan Walsh, who proposed the motion, "is I don't want principals at each other's throats trying to save 'their' person or PTOs at each other's throats trying to save 'their' person. I think that the superintendent — and only the superintendent — can make that decision."

"I assured the principals last week," Cameron said, "that before any restoration plans ... we would have consultation with them."

Last night's meeting contrasted with school board meetings during the last two months. Recent meetings drew standing-room-only crowds, protests and vigils outside, and emotional comments from the audience as the teachers reluctantly approved a contract by nine votes, and the school administration announced budget reductions and job cuts to close a $4.7 million midyear deficit that surfaced in the fall.

Only a handful of residents attended last night's meeting and few spoke at the podium. Longtime teacher Mary Ann Grassia told the school board that the situation in Salem classrooms is dire — and was dire before the budget cuts this winter. She cited "continuous cuts" to the technology budget, basic supplies budgets getting frozen at the end of each school year, the loss of stipend positions and teacher training, and cuts in custodial hours.

"I stand here deeply concerned," said Grassia, a first-grade teacher at Witchcraft Heights Elementary School. "... Our children are now lucky to see a technology teacher once a month. ... Taxpayers need to know."

Grassia said classroom temperatures, which are set at 65 degrees to save money, are below the ideal temperature for learning.

"We're told to wear layers, suck it up," she said. "We're uncomfortable, and they (the students) are really cold."

Among the job cuts that took effect this week was the elimination of the school benefits clerk. As a result, Cameron announced last night, school employees will now go to City Hall to register for their health and life insurance plans — they will no longer be administered by the schools.