Remember when Corda and Opdahl were so eager to outsource the school kitchen services so that the ongoing deficit allegedly incurred would go away? Ah, promises, promises. Today we find out that the deficit hasn’t gone away because some parents have failed to pay for school lunches to the tune of $90,000. It’s funny how no one in this school administration ever admits to any responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Here parents are to blame, the implication either that parents are too cheap, too poor, to irresponsible to pay for school lunches for their kids. Nowhere in the Hour’s report, does Opdahl or Corda accept responsibility for communication failures that lead to this situation.
Norwalk is not the only public school system who faces the delicate task of collecting on school lunch fees. Recently, in the Los Angeles, debate swirled over the introduction of the cheese sandwich:
When too many parents fell behind on paying for school lunches, the Chula Vista Elementary School District decided to get tough … on the children.
They told students with deadbeat parents that they had one lunch choice: a cheese sandwich.
The sandwich, on whole-wheat bread, came with a clear message: Tell your parents to pay up or no more pizza and burgers for you.
Cheese sandwiches and other “alternate meals” have been added to menus in school districts across the country as districts try to take a bite out of parents’ lunch debts.
The strategy worked in Chula Vista: Lunch debts in the district fell from about $300,000 in 2004 to $67,000 in 2006. Some angry parents say success came at too high a price, however.
The cheese sandwich, they say, has become a badge of shame for the children, who get teased about it by classmates. One student cried when her macaroni and cheese was replaced with a sandwich. Another girl hid in a restroom to avoid getting one. Many sandwiches end up untouched or in the garbage. Sometimes, children pound them to pieces.
The results according to the article are spectacular.
Districts stress that the alternate meals are a last resort.
They send letters to parents. They hire collection agencies. Some place stickers on children’s hands or put rubber bands on their wrists as reminders, Peterson said.
But alternate meals get the best results.
An effective alternate meal has to do two things: meet federal nutritional standards and flunk child taste tests. The cheese sandwich, typically served on untoasted whole-wheat bread, apparently qualifies as one perfectly healthful stinker of a meal.
Does Opdahl say anything about solving the problem? No, its the same old stick the hand out for more money. Even though Whitson’s the food service company running the kitchen should, as an outsourced service, be the entity worried about showing a profit. Opdahl thinks its all the parents fault, according to the Amanda Pinto Hour report:
The problem — largely seen at elementary schools — is exacerbated when children repeatedly arrive at school without lunch, and without access to the free or reduced lunch plan, Opdahl said.
“I think it’s the same abuse over and over,” he said.
Parent response to unpaid balances has been slow, Opdahl said.
“The only way we can (collect payment) is to consistently send letters out to parents and hope that they either fill out the free or reduced lunch form or come in with some money,” he said. “For some reason, some parents feel like they don’t have to pay. It’s becoming a huge problem for us.”
Not surpisingly parents disagree.
Karen Bartron, PTO President at Silvermine Elementary School, said she does not think a consistent effort has been made to make parents aware of unpaid balances.
In the one such instance she heard about at her school, a mother was surprised in July by a substantial bill for lunches, she said.
“I’m more concerned that the attempt to make the collections and the communication is up to snuff on this,” Bartron said.
And what of Opdahl’s alleged stripper friend who worked as a $60k/yr food tester? Did anyone on the BOE ask about that while Opdahl was blaming parents?
If the mismanagement of the school cafeteria services wasn’t enough, here’s that Chief Operating Officer providing “clarity and understanding” about how the educational bonding hold up by the Governor is affecting Norwalk.
Stuart Opdahl, Norwalk schools chief operating officer said the $39,171 for Brookside Elementary likely represents the state’s final payment for the renovation work that wrapped up there about a year ago.
“The project is closed and the state has closed it out, so there must be a small amount due. It’s probably on the playground,” Opdahl said. Otherwise “I don’t know of any money that’s outstanding that we haven’t gotten. (The state) is always holding a certain amount of bond money when a project ends. Sometimes it takes as much as five or six years before we get the final payment.”
As such, the hold-up of the bond money earmarked for Brookside Elementary does not pose a problem, according to Opdahl.
The smart Hour reporter, Robert Koch, decided to check with Tom Hamilton.
Thomas S. Hamilton, the city’s finance director, said he does not know what amounts will be included for Norwalk in the final state bonding package, but added that the city does “anticipate receiving a considerable sum of money for school construction reimbursement over the course of the next year for ongoing projects at Norwalk High School, Nathan Hale, Ponus Ridge, and Roton Middle schools.”
Hamilton’s response certainly seems a little more concerned than Opdahl’s. Maybe because Hamilton, unlike Opdahl has a professional background in finance. The “what me worry” attitude of Opdahl has already cost Norwalk millions.
Opdahl, should know exactly how much bonding money is tied up, because he is the guy overseeing all these construction projects. But he’s the guy who doesn’t operate construction projects with any project management tools, or financial reporting, because accountability is something that would crimp his style. Will Jefferson school ever see any renovation? The Jefferson school fund has been raided so many times, I’m surprised that the parents haven’t called in the Police to file a robbery report.
source: The Hour, School lunch price hike on the menu By Amanda Pinto, August 23, 2007
source: Los Angeles Times, Alternative school lunches leave a bitter taste, By Richard Marosi, June 18, 2007
source: The Hour, Education construction bond delays create ‘emergency’ By Robert Koch, August 23, 2007
