Elkhart food‑service staff urge board to address outsourcing losses in sick/PBI time and 12‑month status

Elkhart food‑service employees told the Elkhart Community Schools Board of Trustees on June 24 that the district’s transition to Chartwells as a food‑service management company has left many workers facing the loss of accrued leave, a change from 12‑month to 9‑month employment and limited information about how those changes will affect household budgets.

The concerns, raised during public comment, centered on leave balances employees said they accumulated over years of service and on inconsistent communication from district administrators during the outsourcing process.

“I'm at 14 years and 7 months of service. I have 969 hours accrued. And if I total that out, that's about $26,000,” said Sarah Castelman, a food‑service employee, describing time she said she set aside to cover family needs and future costs. Castelman said she is not currently eligible to retire and asked the board to consider options such as crediting a portion of accrued hours to retirement for employees who will lose hours under the new contract.

Another employee, who identified herself as Shannon and said she works in the food‑service department, described the scale of district operations and the staff’s contribution: “This past school year alone, our elementary staff served ...” and later provided a total of 2,024,465 meals served across programs over 180 days. The remarks were offered to emphasize the magnitude of work performed by food‑service personnel.

Angela Schwamm, the food‑service secretary, told the board she was told positions would be assigned based on program needs rather than 9‑ or 12‑month labels and that many 12‑month employees — she said about 23 others like her — would lose 12‑month status. “I have 837.5 PFI hours,” Schwamm said, adding that staff were given about 13 days to decide whether to accept employment with Chartwells and that many questions submitted by employees remained unanswered.

Diana Carr, who identified herself as a food‑service employee, said she emailed the board with questions in June and received no acknowledgment; she also provided her accrued leave totals: “I have 1,248 hours of sick time and 14 days of banked PB days.” Carr said the district told her it would pay banked PB days if she moved to the new vendor, but that there was no lateral job movement available and that employees would be shifted to 9‑month status.

Board members did not take new action on the outsourcing item during the public‑comment period. The comments were recorded under the meeting’s public‑comment process; several speakers asked the district to preserve accrued leave values, apply some of those balances toward retirement, or otherwise mitigate the financial impact for long‑tenured employees.

The employees’ remarks also contained specific requests for clearer communication and for equal treatment of earned benefits regardless of whether staff choose to go to the new vendor. The transcript reflects that employees provided detailed hour and dollar estimates and requested concrete remedies; no formal motion or vote addressed those remedies during the meeting.

The board later approved unrelated administrative and financial items during the meeting, but the public‑comment segment closed without a board statement committing to a particular remedy for the food‑service staff who spoke.

Board members and district leaders have previously said the Chartwells contract is intended to increase accountability and operational changes. Public commenters in this meeting said they support some elements of the transition, such as accountability and uniforms, but asked the board to consider preserving accrued benefits and clarifying which jobs will remain 12‑month positions.

The employees who spoke requested follow‑up from district leadership and asked that outstanding questions (logged previously on a staff spreadsheet, according to speakers) be answered before decisions are finalized.