School Committee prepares request for new food vendor
By Donna K. Drago

The School Committee reviewed a draft request for proposal for new food service vendors at its Jan. 3 work session.

Julie Kallfelz, the committee vice president, put together the draft using a boilerplate RFP form from the state Department of Education that has been modified to include nutritional specifics desired by the Jamestown district.

The committee discussed putting out a three-year contract that includes a probationary period and "good bail-out language" in case the new vendor does not meet Jamestown's needs.

Among the language specific to Jamestown are objectives that include promoting healthy eating "by offering only healthy choices every day." The School Committee asked potential vendors "to maximize the use of RI-grown/locally grown products, including but not limited to fruits, vegetables, and dairy products, whenever possible." And the committee also asked that the vendor "develop and maintain the cafeteria as a nutrition education learning environment," where all posters, promotional materials, and messages will promote only healthy foods and positive nutrition and lifestyle habits.

The RFP draft asks the vendors to include offerings rich in whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, one serving a day of which must be an orange or dark green offering. No added sweeteners or artifi- cial sweeteners will be allowed in any product, the RFP states.

Last month, the school board held a bidders conference to see if any area food vendors would be interested in giving a quote for a healthy lunch program and four vendors showed up. They are the two largest food-service companies in the country, Aramark and Sodexho, which serve millions of children per day across the U.S., the North Kingstown food service department, which currently has the Jamestown food contract, and Ocean Side Catering of Newport, the only small business to show an interest.

The committee expects to finalize the RFP by its Jan. 18 meeting.

In other business, the School Committee asked Superintendent Robert Power to provide it with a preliminary budget at its Jan. 18 meeting. Budget hearings for the upcoming fiscal year will be held during February.

Committee member William "Bucky" Brennan asked that the numbers of employees in special subjects like physical education be reviewed in light of declining enrollment.