Operations update: successful federal review of food service, new safety tools and bus GPS rollout planned

Operations Director Mr. Roberts reported to the board that the division’s Federal Program Administrative Review of food services (FPAR) returned largely positive feedback, with only minor corrective actions required.

“The staff received glowing remarks as far as their customer service, the way the food was presented, how clean the space was,” Mr. Roberts said, adding the off‑site documentation reviews also went well and that the findings were primarily documentation items such as one week in October 2023 where a grain component was slightly short.

Safety and security: Roberts outlined progress on school safety planning including tabletop exercises for lockdown, reunification and off‑campus shooting scenarios. He said the division expects delivery of a weapon‑detection system and associated training; the system vendor will train staff and the safety team will pilot deployments and training in each building and for events.

Transportation technology and parent communications: Roberts said GPS hardware installations and training are scheduled and that March 5 is a driver and aide training date for the Wayfinder GPS/parent app pilot. The division plans phased roll‑out to staff first, then pilot with a small number of buses before broader parent access.

Maintenance and athletics funding: the operations update included increases to building repair, vehicle maintenance, utilities and athletic budgets to account for inflation and program demand; the operations presentation noted a need to move some larger projects into the capital improvement program (CIP) for multi‑year planning.

Ending: board members thanked the cafeteria and facilities teams for the positive review and acknowledged the operational challenges of balancing safety, maintenance and transportation needs within the proposed FY26 budget.