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Ashland School District No. 5, Jackson County, Oregon - The Board of Directors met in a special session March 30, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the Ashland Middle School Commons. Present were: Keith Massie ) Heidi Parker ) Board Members Amy Patton ) Juli Di Chiro, Superintendent Jill Turner, Business Manager I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 4:03 p.m. by Chair Marr. II. Roll Check A roll of the board was taken and all members were present. III. Report on past participation in the meals program and impact of various proposals Jill Turner reported on the Phase 1 and Phase 2 reductions and explained that the district is short of its reduction goal by $200,000 even if the food service program is contracted out. IV. OSEA Proposal Cindy Drought, OSEA Field Representative, presented a proposal from the classified staff. She explained the advantages to an in-house program include local control, dedicated staff, no profit motive, strong local economy. She recommended maintaining the current food service program for one year and allow time to research options other than contracting out the food service program. Food service employees spoke about catering to increase district revenue, a win-win with local growers, and current waste in the kitchens that could be eliminated. V. Review proposed RFP for contracting out the operation of food services Jill Turner reviewed the Request for Proposal explaining that it must have approval from the Oregon Department of Education when it is for a food service program. If the district intends to change its relationship with Sodexho and look at contracting out the food service program, we would need to have the RFP. The district has two options for saving money – maintain the budget which has food service hours reduced, or send out the RFP and consider having an outside company completely run the food service program. An in-house program would be very difficult to implement for the next school year. The Board took a break at 8:19 p.m. and reconvened at 8:25 p.m. VI. Public Comment Public comment was received as follows: We don’t have enough information to make accurate comparisons between food service programs. Once you privatize, there is no returning. There are lots of possibilities that are not reflected in the information available. The bad economy is terrible, but it is not permanent. It is not good to cut programs that you won’t be able to bring back. Consider the 4-day school week proposal. Incorporate student workers in the program – use our cafeterias as a model to teach students. Don’t take away local jobs. If the money is not reduced in this program, it will be reduced in something else. VII. Board Reaction to Public Comment Board member’s comments included: Families need to show support for the program by sending their child to eat at school. More fully explore the reasons for lack of sales. This is about cost control – we need to manage our costs. Food is the most important thing we can do for our lives. VIII. Consider Approval of RFP The Board agreed to wait until the April Board meeting to reconsider the RFP. IX. Consider Scheduling Additional Community Input Meetings on the Budget The Board scheduled a work session for April 8, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Ashland High School Library to discuss Phase 2 reductions, 4-day school week, and communications. X. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:16 p.m. Respectfully submitted by
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