PELHAM

PUBLIC                                                       

SCHOOLS                              

                                           

18 Franklin Place                                                                                                                          

Pelham, New York 10803                                                                                  

 

Dear Parents

On Wednesday December 16th, an article appeared in the Journal News about school lunches.  It contained information, which we would like to clarify in this correspondence.  While the food served in our school lunch programs is provided by an outside service, we take responsibility for this service very seriously.  Our goal is always to ensure that our students receive high quality, healthy and safe meals.

 

Last spring, Aramark, the food service provider for the Pelham Schools for 2008/09, was fined for $1,250 based on violations received during an inspection of the lunch program at Hutchinson School by the Westchester Department of Health. Because Aramark is no longer our food provider, we have requested that they provide us with details related to the violations and their fine from last year. While some violations are common in schools, the goal is to quickly correct the situation and to continually make improvements.

 

Our contract with Aramark was terminated in June and we now have a new food provider. Before going out to bid, we worked closely with members of our Wellness Committee, including Board member and pediatric and adolescent medicine physician, Dr. Martha Arden, and Pelham resident and dietician, Mary Veith, to identify guidelines for the selection of a new provider.  Dr. Arden and other members of the Wellness Committee participated in the interview process. The District also hired a firm, which specializes in the preparation of school food service proposals. We took this step to ensure that our specifications were clearly articulated in the request for proposals and that the new food service provider would meet those prerequisites.

 

Chartwells met all the specifications, was the lowest qualified bidder, and is our new food service provider. Chartwells is a subsidiary of Compass, USA. It currently operates in more than 4,200 sites, including 2600 elementary schools, 700 middle schools and 900 high schools. Chartwells comes with excellent recommendations and a long history of excellence.  At our request, they are providing more staff and collaborating with members of our District Wellness Committee to improve our program.

 

In addition, the School District has required Chartwells to have ServSafe certification, one of the highest national standards in training and certification in food safety and handling. Upon each inspection by the Department of Health, Chartwells also will submit a report to the District.  Pending the issue, either Chartwells or the District remedies the problem. If the violation is related to the food service operations then Chartwells is responsible.  If the violation is related to the plant, then we are responsible.  It appears to us that because the fine in June was levied against Aramark, the violation was related to the food service operation, which is the responsibility of Aramark to remedy.

 

If you have further questions on this matter, please feel free to contact my office. I can be reached at 738-9140, ext. 1140 or at arubbo@pelhamschools.org.

 

Sincerely,

Angelo Rubbo

Assistant Superintendent for Business