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Superintendent fires up the grill to celebrate an end to the teacher walkout

The first-year superintendent filled the smoker with ribs, pork shoulder and beef before heading to the capitol to watch a historic budget vote, giving teachers a 20 percent raise over the next three years.

FLORENCE, Ariz. - Nothing says welcome back-to-school like a few dozen pounds of smoked meat. Florence Unified School District Superintendent Chris Knutsen is planning to celebrate an end to the teacher walkout by feeding his teachers.

"Everyone should have one of these in their toolbox if you are a first year superintendent. You will find yourself over 20 years continuing to rise through the ranks if you feed people," Knutsen said while pointing to a smoker originally made by students at Chandler high school 20 years ago.

The first-year superintendent filled the smoker with ribs, pork shoulder and beef before heading to the capitol to watch a historic budget vote, giving teachers a 20 percent raise over the next three years.

"It was challenging to navigate this last two weeks," Knutsen said. Administrators were having to balance their support for fellow teachers with an obligation to keep schools open for parents.

Knutsen was hoping to celebrate his teachers at school on Thursday, but the budget didn't pass in time to open school.

"So now all that meat is smoked, cooked and in the freezer right now," Knutsen said.

Parents in the district received a letter from the district Wednesday saying Knutsen would be up all night cooking "beef, pork shoulders and ribs for tomorrow's celebration if the vote could pass by 3:00 a.m. "

Not every parent was happy about having to wait until the middle of the night to find out if school would be happening, but Knutsen was just trying to have a little fun.

"I know not a lot of people are going to agree with it, but I care about my people. But when you feed them in a time of crisis, it has a tendency to make things a lot better," Knutsen said.

The meat isn't going to waste, because Knutsen plans to pick a day to feed the teachers at schools all across his district sometime next week.

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