By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Dearborn Heights District 7 agreed to self-operate its food service on half days Sept. 3 and 4 while it continues the process of selecting a food service management company.
During a special board meeting Aug. 29, the board decided to have five staff members at five buildings monitoring children as they are provided a standard grab-and-go breakfast during the half days. Supt. Jennifer Mast said she wanted to contact additional Sodexo employees to be hired by the district until a contract is reached, but wanted to speak with the board before doing so.
Sodexo was the food service management company that previously served the district, which is required to go out for a bid every five years giving companies the opportunity to submit their bids.
The district would pay employees, and once a contract with a food service management company is approved, it could be reimbursed by Michigan Department of Education.
“If we have to agree to this, I do want the record to show I am only agreeing because there are no other options,” Trustee Marcia Lebar said. “I think this is a horrible plan, horrible idea. We owe it to our family, our students and our community — so much better than this, so much better.”
A special meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 5 to further discuss and address the long-term plan for food service of breakfast and lunch.
For the long term, the board unanimously voted to direct Mast to submit ChartWells — a food service company which submitted a bid in April — entire proposal and contract to Board Attorney Jeremy Chisholm for review.
In addition, the board directed Mast to contact ChartWells to discuss a tentative agreement. A one-year contract with one four-year renewals is still up for grabs after the board failed to agree on a company on June 12.
Three food service management companies that were considered included Sodexo, ChartWells and Southwest Foodservice Excellence. Mast recommended SFE, but when the board rejected it and decided on incumbent Sodexo, MDE representatives asked the board write a letter explaining its reasoning. The letter was necessary because the board did not select the highest scorer, which was ChartWells.
Mast explained why she recommended SFE instead of ChartWells.
“This is a business decision for me,” she said. “I am responsible for making business decisions for the district. They’re not always easy and they’re not always what I would want to do. I make them because they’re in the best interest of the district.
“So, was finance a big piece of that decision for me? Absolutely it was. This district has been in a pay freeze for 12 years. I would’ve never considered making a recommendation to the board that would’ve given the least return to the district because it just wouldn’t be in my thought process.
“When I made my recommendation I didn’t see faces. I didn’t think of all the employees I worked with for 22 years and breaking their hearts, I wasn’t thinking about who I liked and didn’t like — that doesn’t come into play in this job, if it did, all the decisions would be different all the time but I’m not in that role. So, I made the decision that I thought was best for the district.”
Mast explained how the bid calculator is laid out.
“The way the bid calculator sheet works is you start with price per meal, there’s a formula to go by, the lowest price per meal offered was from ChartWells,” she said “hey get the highest amount of points because they have the lowest price per meal, then the second lowest price per meal gets filled in and the sheet was filled out.”
Chisholm provided the board with an update on what MDE had to say and what its options were moving forward.
“The state did approve the contract extension from July 1 to Aug. 31 which is a good thing and means the school can be reimbursed for all the food that was served over the summer months,” he said.
The board’s first option was to go through the entire rebidding process, which could take up to six weeks and didn’t guarantee contract approval by MDE.
Second, was to award the contract to the top point scorer, which was ChartWells, and have an almost guaranteed contract approval from MDE.
The third option was to continue with the resolution adopted by the board during a meeting one week prior which was to award a contract to SFE and recede the Sodexo contract.
That option would’ve required the district to submit justifications on why it selected a company which was not the top bid scorer and have the letter reviewed by MDE for approval.
A fourth option suggested would’ve required the district to self-operate the food service as a in-house program with hired employees and no management company.
Chisholm explained that MDE indicated it might approve an extension with Sodexo, but that Mast was informed on Aug. 29 that Sodexo wouldn’t agree to that.
When Mast was asked why she recommended SFE when ChartWells was highest bid scorer and the board knew they wouldn’t have an issue with MDE she said, “The financial benefit to the district was better with SFE and in the interviews that followed — in opening — the answers received from the companies were more in line with District 7.
“Aside from the description of the food — and there was also a huge push for participation — that’s how they make money. So participation is how you make money because. You get reimbursed for how many people participate in the program. There was such a strong push in the presentation for raising participation in what they do here and that’s huge because that’s how you make money.”
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected])