Garrett County schools certified for free meals systemwide as board approves grocery, chemical contracts and purchasing-group membership

The Garrett County Public Schools Board of Education approved contracts for grocery and janitorial-chemical supplies and voted to join a purchasing cooperative, and district officials announced the system received federal certification to provide free meals to all enrolled students next school year.

The district accepted grocery bids from AF Wendling / Gordon Foodservice and janitorial/chemical supplies from Janitor Supply and approved participation in HPS Incorporated, a school food-service purchasing program tied to the Gordon Foodservice submission. Later in the meeting, the district announced its Community Eligibility Program (CEP) application had been certified; the certification will allow the system to serve free breakfast and lunch to every enrolled student without meal applications.

CEP certification and immediate operational changes. "We were notified this morning that our application for the Community Eligibility Program was certified, which means that we will be able to offer students free meals, both breakfast and lunch next year in the entire system," board staff member Scott Germaine said. Germaine said the district expects higher federal reimbursement after grouping schools for the program and estimates "an extra $40,000 a year to start." He also said the district will stop collecting meal applications and that families with existing meal-account balances will be able to request refunds.

Procurement decisions and rationale. Scott (presenter) asked the board to approve two recommended vendors after competitive bids: AF Wendling / Gordon Foodservice for groceries and Gordon-related supplies, and Janitor Supply for chemical/janitorial items. The presenter said the grocery bid assumes some purchases will come via the HPS Incorporated cooperative; joining HPS was presented as a one-year trial with a negotiated membership cost of $1,200 (the presenter said the fee could range from $760 to $3,300 depending on purchasing volume) and a 1% rebate on purchases.

Board discussion touched on nutrition and budget limits. A board member urged exploring healthier options next year because vendors' catalogs include processed items; the presenter responded the program must meet federal nutritional guidelines but noted a budget constraint: "we have about a dollar and a quarter to pay for food for every meal." The presenter added the district already spends "well over $150,000 a year on fresh produce" and said the district had previously purchased hydroponically grown lettuce from a local FFA chapter.

Bread bid and purchasing experiment. The district announced it will not award a separate bread contract this year and instead will experiment buying bread through the grocery supplier to test price and quality before rebidding a more targeted bread solicitation.

Board votes and motions. A motion to accept AF Wendling / Gordon Foodservice and Janitor Supply for groceries and chemicals was moved by Rodney and seconded by Sadie; the board voted in favor. A separate motion approving participation in HPS Incorporated as part of the Gordon Foodservice bid was proposed by staff and approved by the board. (Votes were voice votes recorded as "aye" in the meeting transcript.)

Operational notes for families. Officials said the district will issue a press release the following day to notify families about CEP, provide instructions for refund requests for existing meal-account balances (the presenter said some accounts range from a penny to almost $600), and remind families to cancel auto-recurring meal payments. The presenter also said the district expects no more student meal debt because CEP and recent community donations already eliminated nearly $15,000 in outstanding balances from the prior year.

What remains next. Staff will implement CEP, monitor reimbursement changes, and proceed with the HPS membership trial. The board discussed but did not set a specific timeline for evaluating nutritional changes to procurement beyond next yearwith staff noting some changes will be limited by the federal reimbursement rate and the districtper-meal budget.