Inedible School Lunches & Three Years of Procurement Violations: a Timeline.

Compiled and updated by Kristin Reed

No reopening challenge has taken key RPS stakeholders more by surprise than the inedible, partially-frozen lunches that left students with significant caloric deficits. How did we get here?   

Much like our statewide COVID dashboard tracker, this timeline will be updated as documents are made available, or as things change. 

• June 12, 2018 — RPS awards a contract for vended meals to Preferred Meals. This contract violates procurement guidelines.
• Oct 1, 2018 — Student Health Advisory Board [SHAB] proposal is first presented to the Board. June 13, 2019 — RPS renews the contract with Preferred Meals.
• Aug 25, 2019 — The Virginia Department of Education [VDOE] learns that RPS is using a vended meals contract that is non-compliant with procurement regulations. The VDOE issues a corrective action plan that allows the district to continue food services with the mandate that they resolve compliance issues.
• September 16, 2019 — Student Health Advisory Board members seated.
• 2020–2021—RPS operates a food distribution program during virtual learning under waivers from the USDA.
• April 15, 2021 — The Request for Proposals [RFP] for 2021–2022 Meals is published.
• May 3, 2021 — The RFP Evaluation Committee is established.
• June 2, 2021 — RPS receives a vended meals template as part of technical assistance provided by the state as part of its corrective action plan. The district does not use the template, resulting in omissions and errors in initial contract drafts.
• June 28, 2021 — Contract negotiations began.
• August 2, 2021 — A contract with Preferred Meals is presented to the School Board for a vote, with a cost of $12.9m. The Board is informed that meals would be grab-and-go, citing COVID protocols and limited kitchen space. Board members are told that passing the contract is urgent. The contract itself is dated July 6th, and thus already in effect without Board approval.
• Aug 30-Sept 1, 2021 —The VDOE receives copies RPS’s RFP and vended meals agreement as part of its application package for the National School Lunch Program [NSLP].
• Sept 7, 2021 — VDOE notifies RPS that its meals contract and procurement process does not meet federal guidelines.
• Sept 8, 2021 —The first day of school. An independent vender contacts the Board offering to provide temporary staffing to fill gaps. Kenya Gibson asks Superintendent Kamras if the district is short on staff. Kamras communicates that hiring cafeteria workers has been “deprioritized.”
• Sept 14, 2021 — VDOE meets with the City of Richmond’s attorney, informing her of procurement violations with in the contract. VDOE states that they do not have the authority to grant additional waivers for operation. These would have to be issued by the USDA.
• Sept 15, 2021—VDOE representative provides the city attorney all corrective action letters, summaries of technical assistance made to the district, and procurement review documentation and findings.
• Sept 17, 2021 — VDOE representative meets with RPS administration to discuss issues with compliance. Alana Gonzalez attends this meeting, promises to follow up with VDOE after consulting the superintendent. She does not. VDOE reports receiving multiple complaints from RPS parents regarding food quality. VDOE contacts the UDSA for recommendations on how to move forward.
• Sept 20, 2021 — Parent Betsy Milburn gives public comment to the Board, citing inedible food that fails to meet USDA standards for caloric input. Mariah White motions to terminate the contract following complaints from students and parents about the meals. 
• That motion fails in a 4–5 vote, with Representatives Doerr, Dr. Harris-Muhammed, Burke, Page, and Jones voting against. Kenya Gibson motions to make changes to policy on school means procurement, ensuring a first read of contracts over $250k in advance of a vote and formalizing the SHAB’s role in approving meal contracts. 
• That motion passes in a 5–4 vote, with Reps. Doerr, Burke, Page, and Jones voting against. During that same meeting Superintendent Kamras reports 117 food service vacancies stating that the district has “deprioritized these hires as we are using a pre-packaged kiosk system for our meals (which requires significantly fewer personnel) given COVID-19.”
• Sept 27, 2021 — A School Nutrition Program audit of food in RPS finds excess sugar, safety violations in food temperatures, insufficient servings of vegetables, and unlawful replacement of fruits and vegetables with juice.
• Sept 28, 2021 — The VDOE notifies the Kamras administration that RPS is not approved to operate the NSLP, or other federally-funded nutrition services programs due to RPS’s failure to submit a complete application package and non-compliance with federal child nutrition guidelines. 
• VDOE further notifies the administration that the agency cannot process the district’s reimbursement for meals funding, and that the fiscal year 2021–2022’s application packets are not yet submitted. The district is barred from using federal or nonprofit funds to pay out the contract. That day district administration announces a shift back to hot meals.
• Sept 29, 2021 — Superintendent Kamras sends the Board an email informing them that the RFP for school meals must legally be re-issued due to non-compliance. This is the first notice to the Board of any compliance issues with meals vendors, beginning in 2018.

Homeroom is a project of Richmond For All’s Public Education Campaign Committee.