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School board votes for district-run food service

The district will end its contract with Sodexo in June
Popular Today
 Posted: 10:00 AM March 09, 2010

The Ashland School Board voted 5-0 Monday to implement a district-run food service program this fall.

In June, the district will end its contract with Sodexo, which has managed the district's cafeterias for the past five years.

At the meeting in the City Council chambers, dozens of parents spoke in favor a district-run program, saying they wanted their children to eat more organic, local food at school.

"We have a vested interest in our kids' education and I also believe we need to have a vested interest in what we feed our kids," said Jill Williams, a community member of the district's Food Service Study Committee.

The only speakers to express support for the Sodexo program were two Sodexo employees.

The district-run program will likely cost about twice as much the Sodexo program would next year, due to increased staffing costs, said Jill Turner, district business manager.

Turner estimates the Sodexo program will cost the district about $78,000 this year. Next year, the same program would likely cost about $88,000, she said.

Board Chairman Keith Massie was originally reluctant to vote for a district-run food service program because he was concerned about the cost.

"We're digging a deeper hole by going to self-operating, so it's going to be harder to dig out of that hole," he said.

However, Massie said comments from community members at the meeting convinced him that a Sodexo program wouldn't work for the district, because of the animosity against the corporate food company.

—Hannah Guzik


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