Schools Get Cheesier

The city’s school board agreed to hand over extra cheese to a fromage contractor in a food-focused budget vote, prompting a debate around how much cheddar the district actually saves when choosing minimum-bid contracts that bulk up midyear.

The Board of Education took that vote Monday night during its latest online-only meeting.

The school board members voted unanimously to approve four food budget-related change orders, each of which saw increases to those contracts’ original bid and funded amounts. 

The largest relative increase was a 140 percent spike in the school district’s contract with Gilman Cheese Corp. That means that the district will be paying $70,000 more, or a total of $120,000 instead of the originally approved contract of $50,000, for cheese products for school cafeteria meals this school year.

The other change orders approved on Monday included a $75,000 contract increase with J & A Baked Goods Inc., bringing that contract from $175,000 to $250,000 to cover costs incurred for an increase of bakery products; a $50,000 contract increase with Precision Food Service to increase funding from $150,000 to $200,000 for on-call kitchen refrigeration services; and a $150,000 contract increase with Thurston Foods from $2,200,000 to $2,350,000 to cover increases for grocery products for the district’s nutrition program.

Click here to view the change orders. 

"That's A Heck Of A Lot Of Cheese"

Board of Education Vice President Matt Wilcox, who also chairs the board’s Finance & Operations Committee, helped his Board colleagues to understand the reasons for the increases like unit-pricing fluctuating and demand increasing. 

Board of Education members Darnell Goldson and Edward Joyner raised concerns about the costly increases that were originally contracted because the lower bids were fiscally responsible.

“We have a process that’s supposed to be fair for everyone and supposed to save this district money in the long run,” Goldson said. ​“When we put out these bids, people put their low bids in and then we find out later on that the lower bidder is increasing their contract by 140 percent, that’s a heck of a lot of cheese.”

“This is the last one that I’m going to vote for that’s more than 20 percent unless the explanation is really really good,” Goldson added. ​“At the end of the day it cheats our students, it cheats our tax payers when we have a process in place to use, then we circumvent that process with these change orders. Why even have the process? Why even have the bid if we’re going to come back six months later and increase it by 140 percent?” 

Board secretary Edward Joyner initially stated that he would not vote in favor of the change orders because he spearheaded the writing of the board’s procurement policy and agreed that the contract increases were not fair to the bidding process. ​“The stuff that we had to go through to get the policy written in the first place was designed to eliminate stuff like this,” he said. 

The budget increases were due to fluctuations in unit prices and higher demand for the particular food products like cheese and bakery goods. After further discussion and explanations, Joyner and Goldson ended up voting in favor of the change orders.

Wilcox read the board an email from Acting City Purchasing Agent Shawn Garris when asked for further explanation of the change orders. That email stated: ​“The language found in the city’s procurement documents allow for unit price and quantities to fluctuate based on city needs or supply and field conditions…under current city’s change order policy a change order that exceeds the 20 percent limitation shall not be performed for purchases made until justification is made and accepted by the purchasing agent and change order committee.”

Wilcox then read an additional email explanation from the city’s Acting Controller/Budget Director Michael Gormany. That read: ​“Food services has unique food contracts where quantities are estimated at the beginning of the year with the understanding that they may change, the understanding that purchasing food contracts may fluctuate in the year based on the school menu, food product availability, and other factors serving NHPS students.” 

Wilcox clarified that the Finance & Operations Committee requested the explanations before approving and recommending the change orders to the full board. 

“I’d like to see you all set a budget for your groceries last May and stick to it today,” Wilcox added. 

“I do set my budget at home, and I don’t go past the budget unless I get extra money. I don’t have a choice. I can’t spend money I don’t have; I can’t make up money, and I can’t deficit spend,” Goldson responded. ​“I don’t think there’s a 140 percent increase of the number of kids that are in the school and if the demand for it is increasing then we need to cut something somewhere else.”