Opponents of outsourcing school food services ask ‘WHY?’

Published 11:44 pm Tuesday, September 4, 2007

With many wearing round purple badges with a big yellow “WHY” printed in the middle, some 250 people crowded into the Whitfield County Board of Education meeting on Tuesday.

The group, “We’re for Healthy Youth (WHY),” was formed to fight the possible outsourcing of Whitfield County Schools food services workers to a private contractor, and its members wrapped around and outside the meeting room.

Board vice chairman Chuck Oliver — acting as chairman in the absence of Tim Trew, who was enjoying a previously planned vacation — cut the “WHY” crowd off at the pass.

“I long for the day when this many people come to the board excited about student achievement,” Oliver said, citing improved test scores and graduation rates in the system. “I know the majority of you are here to address the many rumors, which is your God-given right. But it might deflate you somewhat to hear there are not and have been no plans to outsource our school food services.”

Oliver read the crowd the board’s usual list of Guidelines for Public Participation, and handouts of extended guidelines were passed around the large audience. The nine-item list reminded that presentations should be limited to no more than three minutes, that they should not be abusive or slanderous, and that speakers should expect a written response to their questions within 10 working days if requested.

“This is not a forum. We cannot have a line of 50 people waiting to speak. We can’t have a discussion with 200 people,” Oliver said. “We’ve made statements to the press and to individuals, and to a person, this board has been of one accord — we’re not about to change a program that is one of the most well-respected and successful in the state.”

Diane James, a resident of the Westside community who recently wrote on this topic in a letter to the editor that appeared in The Daily Citizen, said she’d talked to one board member who said he wanted to look at the outsourcing option just as any citizen would look around for more competitive car insurance.

“But I don’t look for cheaper car insurance at the expense of the health and well-being of my children and grandchildren,” James said. “What you’re doing is a start, and it gets people thinking about privatizing lunches and taking jobs from these people … who the kids know by name. Why take that away? We are the voices of our children, and we need to be concerned with these things.”

Barbara Shields, a paraprofessional at Cohutta Elementary and president of the Whitfield Education Association, said the WEA appreciates board members visiting school lunchrooms since the group first opposed the idea of outsourcing.

“We hope you have seen why we have the best in-house lunch room service in the state, and why other systems are encouraged to come and visit our award-winning program,” Shields said. “We hope that you compare our meals with the meals served by private companies. Our children need and deserve meals of good nutrition for learning excellence.”

Six others stood up at the meeting to protest outsourcing food services, including a parent of a student at a school “where the people who clean the school have already been replaced,” and a former custodian who already “lost (her) job due to outsourcing.”

In June, the board of education voted unanimously to outsource its entire custodial staff to Southern Management of Chattanooga, affecting 58 employees. The contract cost $1.8 million, but officials said it is expected to save the system approximately $250,000 annually.

An Aug. 6 meeting in which George Smalley, assistant superintendent for operations, informed food services staff members that he had been developing a similar Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking information from private food support services companies, set off fears of further outsourcing. Outsourcing food services could affect about 160 employees of the system of 1,800 employees.

“There have been some discussions with an outside firm. It’s just like the Allstate man coming to your door to tell you what he can offer,” Oliver said Tuesday. “You wouldn’t kick him away from your door. How do you know how well you’re doing if you don’t look at others?”

Ralph Noble, a teacher at Eastbrook Middle School and former state president of the Georgia Association of Educators, a teacher’s union, said after the meeting that there’s a reason only one school system in Georgia, Atlanta Public Schools, has outsourced food services — quality.

“The custodians were told there were ‘no plans to outsource’ at one time, and they were outsourced two weeks later,” Noble said. “We absolutely had a great turnout tonight, and I think our message has been delivered.”

Noble pointed out the school system superintendent Katie Brochu previously worked for, York School District One in South Carolina, used Sodexho Food Services, a private provider. Brochu said York had used Sodexho for many years prior to her administration and it has worked “very well for many years.”

“I couldn’t compare (York with Whitfield). Both provide healthy choices in line with state and federal guidelines,” Brochu said. “I wasn’t there when (York) made the change. But I think you’ll find the existing staff generally stays when such a change is made nationally.”

Oliver said he felt the meeting went well and he maintains a private company will have to go “a long way” to convince him the system can do better than the current school nutrition department does and make a profit.

“No one in their right mind would change anything to give our children worse food,” he said in the meeting. “Why would anyone do that? That’s a rhetorical question.”

After the meeting, parent James Thomas said he still isn’t satisfied all his questions have been answered.

“They’re all telling different stories, but every time I call, I can only get a hold of one person,” Thomas said. “Our kids depend on these lunch ladies. It the board decides it wants to outsource later, I’ve decided we can just outsource them later (with a vote at the polls).”