Board approves multiple food-service policies while debating RFP for vendor selection

The Palmetto Aerospace Academy Board of Directors on Wednesday approved several food-service policies and spent an extended portion of its meeting discussing a request-for-proposal for a meal vendor and related procurement concerns.

Board members voted to adopt a suite of nutrition-related board policies covering the child nutrition program, food-service operations as a self-supporting nonprofit, limitations on other food sales during the school day, a nondiscrimination statement for nutrition programs, and a new employee meal-charge policy limiting staff credit to $10.50. Each policy was presented, moved and seconded, and approved by voice vote during the meeting.

The most contested item was the board’s review of an RFP process that produced two proposals and a staff recommendation to contract with Revolution Foods. The academy’s presenter explained that a five-person review team that included Director of Food Services’ assistant Miss Safada and board members Mister Schatz, Mister Riley and Miss Lynch evaluated proposals on multiple criteria, not price alone, and conducted a site visit of the competing vendor. "We followed every—everything as instructed within the…