DPI administrative review finds program and recordkeeping issues in district food service; Chartwells and district outline corrections

A state administrative review by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) identified multiple recordkeeping and program-control problems in the School District of Beloit food service program, district and Chartwells representatives reported March 4.

The review covered three sites in depth and produced findings and corrective actions the district and its food-service operator, Chartwells, are implementing. Sarah Warren, director for Chartwells, said the DPI reviewers praised some site practices but also flagged issues that required specific corrective steps.

"They gave special recognition to the physical education teacher who was very active and involved in the cafeteria," Warren said of reviewers' comments about Gaston Elementary. She also described corrective actions required after reviewers found incomplete production records and milk inventory problems at some breakfast carts.

District administrators said findings included: expenses not correctly allocated by program; vending machine revenue and related credit-card fees charged inappropriately to Fund 50; missing or incomplete production records at Gaston, Merrill and Beloit Memorial High School; instances of nonreimbursable meals served under offer-vs-serve rules at the high school deli; missing civil-rights and nondiscrimination notices in some materials; and food-safety plans that were not site-specific.

"None of the food in the district is owned by the district. It's owned by Chartwells," said the district representative relaying the DPI finding about how some food purchases were handled. That arrangement required repayments and accounting adjustments, the district said.

District and Chartwells staff described specific corrective steps already underway: deactivating a vending machine at Keck, repaying items improperly charged to Fund 50, adding a full civil-rights nondiscrimination statement to the local wellness policy and family handbook, completing a triannual assessment requested by DPI and retraining staff on offer-vs-serve procedures and portion sizes. Chartwells assistant director Holly Goodwin said the company is creating site-specific, condensed food-safety binders so satellite kitchens see only procedures relevant to their operations.

Warren and Goodwin said the DPI reviewers asked the district to provide an additional week of production records for February 24–28 and to submit documentation of staff training. Warren said Chartwells and district staff completed an offer-vs-serve training for high-school staff shortly before the March 4 meeting and would upload training trackers to DPI.

Superintendent Dr. Bryan Garrison framed the review as a continuous-improvement opportunity and noted that the administrative review for food service occurs on a multi-year cycle accelerated by DPI scheduling delays during the COVID period. "We're always looking at opportunities day to day in our food services program — how we can overall be better," he said.

Committee action: The Business Operations and Finance Committee reviewed the administrative-review report and directed administration to bring the DPI findings and recommended corrective actions to the full board for further discussion; the committee did not take a final vote on policy or contract changes at the committee meeting.

What's next: District staff said 30-day corrective-action periods have begun for items that require time-bound remediation and that they will present the full set of corrective-action documentation and timelines to the board at a later meeting for formal acceptance or action.

Notes on scope and limitations: The district and Chartwells said DPI did not take fiscal action against the district. Chartwells representatives emphasized most of the findings were technical and training-related rather than evidence of intentional misuse. Neither the district nor Chartwells asked the board to terminate the vendor contract at the March 4 meetings; instead the focus was on corrective action and improved controls.

Ending: District and Chartwells officials said they will provide the DPI-required documentation and training records to the state and will report progress to the board when the corrective-action timelines are complete.