AUSD child‑nutrition audit finds procurement gaps; district hired consultant to fix process

District Child Nutrition manager Nicole presented results of two state reviews: an administrative on‑site review (service and meal counting) and an off‑site procurement review focused on vendor procurement processes. She told the board the on‑site administrative review at EV Cain was positive, with meal counting and service found compliant, but the procurement review identified system gaps specific to the Child Nutrition department: no department code of conduct, absent written procurement procedures for some vendor agreements, and instances where multi‑year vendor relationships were continued without the required procurement steps. Nicole said the district had been using a vendor called Sodexo but had not always followed the formal bid process required by state and USDA rules.

Nicole said the district has hired a procurement consultant, Carrie Braverman, who has extensive experience with school‑food procurement, to walk the district through corrective steps and to ensure compliance for the 2025–26 school year. She also reported Child Nutrition has an excess fund balance of $342,129.57 that must be planned and spent in line with federal/state rules or could be subject to repayment or withholding. "We would have to pay back the funds. We'd have to they could withhold funds from us," Nicole warned when describing noncompliance risks.

The board asked follow‑up questions about audit cadence (procurement review occurs within a five‑year window; administrative review within an eight‑year window), next steps and timeline for policy updates (e.g., an updated wellness policy and code of conduct by year end). Staff committed to updating procurement procedures, annual code of conduct, and to using the consultant to document corrective steps before next school year.