Her mother is a cafeteria aide at Junior High School 259 in Brooklyn.

Her supporters include heads of the locals representing 15,000 social workers, 20,000 clerical employees and 26,000 crossing guards and cafeteria aides.

It is up to individual districts to determine how to conduct those checks on prospective employees, whether they are teachers, bus monitors, groundskeepers or cafeteria aides.

He can chat comfortably for 20 minutes with an $11,000-a-year cafeteria aide, yet he has increased his salary to $292,000 and approved opulent spending at the council.

Each board controls dozens and sometimes hundreds of appointed positions ranging from a $69,000-a-year school principal's post to cafeteria aides paid $9 an hour.

As an example, some union leaders point to Mr. Hill's failure to act sooner against Mr. Hughes, president of the cafeteria aides' local.

McWilliams was born in Rhode Island to a father who was a mill worker and a mother who was a cafeteria aide.

The race was tight, with several of the largest unions, most notably the one representing crossing guards and cafeteria aides, solidly backing Ms. Roberts.

District Council 37 represents social workers, secretaries, librarians, cafeteria aides and thousands of other public employees.

Now, while the board is cutting teaching positions that would help reduce class sizes, thousands of cafeteria aides and administrative clerks are protected in their jobs.