The break room coffee machine is a staple of many a workplace. Usually though, it tends to fall on the “economical” or “value” side of the java spectrum.
But not in Castro Valley, California, where officials with the Castro Valley Unified School District are taking fire for the purchase of a $14,000 espresso maker.
The outrage was immediate. According to KPIX News in San Francisco, the school board’s facebook page was flooded with angry comments when word of the pricey espresso maker – paid for with taxpayer money – got out.
“There is no good explanation for a $14,000 espresso machine bought with district money — period!!!!!” reads one facebook comment.
School board officials defended the decision during a public meeting Thursday night, arguing that the espresso machine will actually help to save money by allowing the school to start catering their own events.
Castro Valley Assistant Superintendent Candi Clark also argued that purchasing the pricey machine will help to save a job at the school board.
“We have a 14.5 hour position in the child nutrition department that we are working really hard to keep,” she told people during Thursday’s meeting.
“This is an opportunity to keep that position.”
In the end, those arguments proved pretty persuasive – the board unanimously approved the purchase of the expensive espresso machine.
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