Outsourcing dished out despite appeals.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Despite pleas from puzzled employees and community members, the Springfield School Board voted Monday to outsource management of food services after this year.

By a 4-0 vote, the board opted to sign a one-year, $219,327 contract with Chartwells School Dining Services, which manages food-service programs in more than 550 school districts across the nation.

The move coincides with the retirement of food services director Russ Shallock, who has helped make the program one of the most profitable in the region, with an approximate $1.3 million surplus at present. He's also earned kudos for replacing about 50 percent of the conventional produce in school salad bars with organic fare.

Several audience members, many of them food-service workers who worry that contracting out for management might threaten their job security, said they couldn't understand why the district was looking to outsource.

"I say, why change something that's good?" asked food-service worker Sherrie Byrnes.

Board members acknowledged the program's success and said the decision had nothing to do with cost-savings. By outsourcing, they said, the district may be able to boost participation in the meals program by offering a wider range of high-quality, nutritious fare and more effectively marketing services. (Participation in the program is about average, Shallock said, ranging from about 14 percent at the high schools to about 70 percent at elementary schools.)

"The issue was about whether we could do a better job of providing food services to our kids," Chairwoman Laurie Adams told the audience following testimony from more than a dozen speakers opposed to the plan. With new state and federal guidelines calling for healthier fare, she added, "I just think we need help as more requirements come down the pike."

In fact, the district is poised to approve a new wellness policy that calls for a healthier mix of foods and beverages in the school meals program, vending machines and school stores. That policy was up for a first reading Monday and will be approved later this month.

The district sought proposals from outside companies following considerable discussion during the past year about ways to improve food services. A 12-member selection committee that included food-service workers and students reviewed documents and visited schools to assess the services of both Chartwells and Sodexho, which also submitted a bid.

Chartwells scored higher - in part because the company projected a $208,281 profit for the district compared with Sodexho's $2,511.

Officials from both companies attended Monday's meeting, and it was a Sodexho vice president who voiced the only support for Chartwells. He said either company would answer to the district and work cooperatively with current employees.

"Chartwells is going to provide some direction, leadership and support to make them better," Robert Schrenk said.

But other speakers voiced a range of concerns, including the possibility that contracting out might make it more difficult to provide organic and locally grown foods, as well as items made from scratch.

Meredith Whitten, coordinator of the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition's Farm to Cafeteria program, said Springfield already had a strong reputation and would miss a chance to emerge as "a national leader in progressive, exciting whole foods being prepared from scratch."

Others said they fear the proposal paves the way for further outsourcing.

"I really see this as a way to privatize the entire food services over the long run," said James Mattiace, a social studies teacher at Springfield High.

Board member Garry Weber assured the audience that wouldn't happen. "My word to you would be that's just not how we do it here in Springfield," he said.