Asheville City Schools votes to privatize school meals for the 2023-24 school year

ASHEVILLE - The city's Board of Education voted 6-1 at a special meeting June 29 to proceed with hiring Chartwells as an outside food vendor for Asheville City Schools' child nutrition program in the 2023-24 school year after contract negotiations.

Board member Liza Kelly was the only one who voted against the contract.

There was no public comment taken since it was a special meeting and by law and board policy, they only have to make public comment available at regularly scheduled meetings — but board members did address the concerns that have been voiced by parents and staff over the last couple of weeks.

Contract Agreement With Compass Group USA, Inc. Chartwells Division.docx by McKenna Leavens on Scribd

Board member Amy Ray acknowledged that she has received public comments through emails. Ray told the board that when she originally heard about the possibility of working with Chartwells she was against it, but after speaking "thoroughly with staff and parents she changed her mind."

"This is an equity decision for me," Ray said. "Our participation is exceedingly low; our students deserve more options, and they deserve better options."

On June 15 the Asheville City School Board held a special meeting where they voted to enter into contract negotiations with hiring an outside food vendor for lunches in the 2023-24 school year. Since that decision, the board has received some backlash from concerned parents.

According to the contract, Chartwells staff is not promised the same state benefits as ACS employees, but they will get the same hourly rate as ACS staff members.

ACS has entered into five, one-year contracts, they have the option for five years to enter into single-year contracts.

"They are going to make an investment in our kitchens, so they have the opportunity to make food where our kids are better nourished," Ray said.

Unlike Ray, Kelly said that she was originally in support of Chartwells but after speaking with parents and staff she no longer thinks they are a good fit for ACS.

"I have concerns that Chartwells will come in and say that we need hundreds and thousands of dollars in upgrades, and we'll approve that and then we'll be saddled with a whole lot of debt," Kelly said.

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ACS will be participating in the hiring of every employee, according to the contract. ACS has the option of Chartwells investing a maximum of $250,000 into their kitchens, that investment is spread out over five years, allowing for the school district to pay it back in that amount of time if they so choose.

"If our data shows that our Cougars aren't eating in our cafeterias, then why not change," Board member Jesse Warren said. "Let our kids decide, let's give it a shot."

"I feel it's really important for our integrity, as district leadership to continue to invest in our people and programs," Kelly said.

Who is Chartwells?

Chartwells is a privately owned food and beverage service, a division of Compass Group USA, a billion-dollar corporation. In 2015 Chartwells settled a D.C. False Claims Act Whistleblower lawsuit at $19 million to resolve allegations that it overcharged the city for food supplies. Allegations fell along the lines of Chartwells mishandling the contract by “delivering supplies late, delivering spoiled products and delivering food items in short supply.”

In 2012 Compass Group USA paid $18 million “to settle allegations by the New York Office of the Attorney General that Chartwells wrongfully retained rebates on purchases of food and non-food commodities made under contracts with 39 school districts in New York,” according to a news release from New York State’s Attorney General.

Yet, in 2023 Forbes named Compass Group USA one of America’s best large employers with over 400,000 employees. The company also won the 2023 International Association for Food Protection award – this award is given to one company a year to honor their quality in food safety.

ACS spokesperson Dillon Huffman told the Citizen Times in a June 26 email that “The board of education stresses the importance of our child nutrition staff, and we value them as key members of our Cougar family. Our Board of Education is committed to making sure any employee hired by Chartwells will have pay parity with ACS staff.”

Many parents have voiced concerns about school meals not being a place where the district should look to save money.

“According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, School Nutrition programs in NC run as a proprietary enterprise, similar to a business. Therefore, they are supposed to run separately from the traditional state, federal, or local school funding,” Huffman said.

The contract states that all ACS employees as of July 1, 2023 “shall be permitted to remain employees of SFA or may elect thereafter to become employees of FSMC.” The contract says that they will do their best to provide employees with a comparison of salary and benefits by Chartwells and ACS prior to making any final decision on employment.

SFA being Asheville City Schools and FSMC being Chartwells.

Chartwells can hire any additional employees on or after July 1 and they should be paid “at minimum” the hourly wage that ACS employees get in the same or similar jobs.

A Citizen Times public records request found that most child nutrition workers make between $15 and $18 an hour base pay, and every employee receives a local supplement on top of that. The percentage of their supplement is dependent on years of N.C. state experience. The living wage for Asheville is $20.10, according to Just Economics.

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For fiscal year 2022, Asheville City Schools received $66,000 in state dollars and $2,163,645 in federal reimbursements for Child Nutrition, according to Huffman.

Asheville City Schools will pay Chartwells through meal revenue and the allotment they get from state and federal funds. The goal in hiring Chartwells is ensuring that ACS will no longer have to pull from local funds and just use the money they receive from state and federal funds that are specifically allotted for child nutrition, Huffman told the Citizen Times.

"Chartwells is a huge company so they're able to secure supplies and produce at a much cheaper rate because they've got the buying power," Huffman said.

Emphasis on the students or the profit?

ACS has made it clear that it will keep every one of their current employees, if Chartwells offers a better option for salary then ACS employees are also welcome to be employed with them.

The contract with Chartwells can be reassessed every year allowing for it to be non-renewed without penalty.

Carl Davis, a parent of an elementary schooler in ACS told the Citizen Times on June 22 that he wouldn’t mind spending a little more on general tax dollars so that ACS doesn’t have to switch to an outside vendor.

“I worry when you bring in a private sector entity their motive first and foremost is profit. That’s where they have a duty to their shareholders to turn a profit. Their emphasis is going to be on selling whichever items bring the highest profit margin for them and that may or may not be the ones that are actually most healthy,” Davis said.

At the meeting on June 15, the board unanimously voted to Hire Chartwells as the outside vendor ― for the last six years, the child nutrition department has ended the year in debt. At the beginning of fiscal year 2022 the child nutrition department was negative $787,528, Huffman said.

Outside food vendor: Asheville City School Board votes to proceed with hiring outside food vendor for lunches

According to the contract, there will be no additional costs to Asheville City Schools if Chartwells hires more employees. Chartwells will assess if they need to hire more employees based on improving ACS facilities and the need for an increase in student participation.

McKenna Leavens is the education reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at mleavens@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter @LeavensMcKennna. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville City Schools votes to privatize school meals with Chartwells