Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Meals topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board renews Chartwells contract amid debate over custodial duties and planned staff reductions
Summary
The board approved a renewal of the district food-service contract with Chartwells, 6-1, while several members pressed staff about custodial duties, production kitchens and planned reductions to custodial positions.
The Fond du Lac School District Board of Education voted to renew its food-service management contract with Chartwells at its April 28 meeting, approving the renewal 6-1. Board members spent substantial time asking how the contract and district practices affect custodial workloads and whether prior informal practices had shifted duties between Chartwells employees and district custodial staff.
District staff told the board the food-service contract and renewals are governed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's request-for-proposal process: districts award a base-year contract (the district's base proposal dated 2023) and may approve renewals for additional years up to a five-year total before reopening the RFP. Staff said the district was acting on a second renewal year this evening; they advised that if the board wanted an earlier competitive RFP it should direct staff to begin that process and noted an RFP can take roughly six to eight months.
Board members raised two linked concerns: whether Chartwells staff or district custodians are responsible for wiping cafeteria tables and removing trash, and whether planned reductions to custodial staffing would leave schools short-handed. Staff said the contract specifies that district custodians are responsible for wiping tables and removing trash and that management had not always enforced that allocation in the past. The resulting change in practice, staff said, shifted some cleaning duties back to custodians. Board members said custodians already perform physically demanding work and expressed concern about planned reductions: staff referred to a planned elimination of 12 custodial positions, of which six positions are currently unfilled.
Why it matters: meal programs are required to operate daily, so contract terms, production-kitchen locations and staffing affect whether meal service is timely and whether other employees' workloads increase. If custodial staffing drops while expectations for cleaning increase, the district may need to adjust assignments or return cleaning responsibilities to the food-service provider via a renegotiated contract.
Key details - Contract governance: staff described DPI rules that treat the RFP and the successful base-year proposal as the operative agreement; renewals are permitted up to four times (five years total) before reopening an RFP. - Pricing: staff referenced a DPI-guided cost increase (about 3% in the example presented). District and federal (USDA) regulations also influence meal pricing and program requirements. - Production kitchens: staff identified production kitchens that prepare food for some elementary schools (district staff referenced Riverside Elementary and the high school site identified in meeting materials) and said food is transported to other buildings. - Custodial duties: district staff said custodians are contractually responsible for wiping cafeteria tables and removing trash; past informal practice allowed Chartwells staff to perform some tasks but reconciliation of duties was enforced more recently. - Staffing reductions: staff noted 12 custodial positions will be eliminated and that six of those positions are currently unfilled; staff said the district aims to maintain at least one daytime custodian per building.
Quotes from the meeting "It is one of the most regulated...the RFP, per the DPI regulation, as soon as it is awarded, the RFP becomes the actual agreement," said a district staff member summarizing DPI procurement rules. "If you don't approve the renewal, you are effectively charging us to immediately go to the DPI request-for-proposal," the same staff member told the board, warning that an unplanned RFP could be difficult to execute on short notice.
Next steps: district staff agreed to provide the board with the contract and a staffing breakdown for production kitchens and Chartwells hourly assignments on request; several board members also asked for a timetable if the board chooses to direct staff to launch a new RFP.
Ending: With the renewal approved 6-1, the district will continue the current food-service arrangement while staff follow up with the requested contract-level details and staffing clarifications.
