Please read this article (http://dcfoodforall.com/2011/10/finally-revealed-processed-food-rebates-dominate-school-cafeterias/) and contact your school board rep to find out what OKCPS (same number of students as DC Public Schools) is doing to make sure we aren't being taken advantage of. We use Chartwells and pay a flat fee for their services. Did you know that the head of OKCPS Child Nutrition Services is an employee of Chartwells, not OKCPS?


Find your school board rep here:  http://okcps.schooldesk.net/BoardofEducation/tabid/1625/Default.aspx

Write them a letter:
Subject: Chartwells in the News
 After reading this article http://dcfoodforall.com/2011/10/finally-revealed-processed-food-rebates-dominate-school-cafeterias/ , and recognizing the inherent conflict of interest in having an employee of a for-profit company head our CNS program, I am concerned that we might be falling prey to a similar numbers game (DC Public Schools has almost the same number of students as OKCPS). How do we make sure the prices we pay for school food consider any and all rebates? Rebates make for slippery accounting, and require strong controls (e.g. an OKCPS employee, not a Chartwells employee, reviewing CNS purchasing) to make sure we are spending the maximum funds on quality food for our students. It is my understanding that we pay Chartwells a flat fee per meal served as opposed to having a 'cost reimbursable' contract. If I am mistaken, please correct me.
 
Another point the article makes is that rebates play into the choice of products our students are served. Food conglomerates make their profit through processing and packaging, not from selling quality food. The highest rebates are therefore offered on the least fresh, least nutritious food. Do we have a firm grasp on how Steve Gallagher is compensated by Chartwells, and what incentives he might have to purchase foods that are high in sugar and low in fiber and nutrients (cookies/danish for breakfast)?
 I trust that each of you has our students' best interests at heart; that is why you do what you do for the district. I would appreciate a reply to satisfy me that OKCPS is not losing this rebate game.

I've recently subscribed to Ed Brunske's blog. I receive an email when he posts to his blog and so far I have not been disappointed.  He's a pretty interesting guy in many ways.  But what I find most interesting, is he is doing the same thing we are in OKC.  

He has an urban garden.  He's concerned about the planet and he visits his daughter's school cafeteria regularly.  During his earlier visits he found they were not doing any real cooking there.  Sound familiar?

Well time has passed and the food looks better now.  Check out Concrete Tomato on You Tube.   

Most important message:  Eat breakfast/lunch with your kids at school.  

Eat Wise OKC has been in discussions with Child Nutrition Services (CNS) a department in the OKC Public School district for almost three years now.   The director of CNS is an employee of Chartwells, a large food service provider, who makes the decisions about what is served at every school.  

Yes, you read that correctly.  The director of Child Nutrition Services of the OKC Public School District is a paid employee of Chartwells.  Let that sink in.  

When our Eat Wise board gets together to discuss the outcome of these meetings we seem to always come back to what we think the real problem is:  Someone must be getting an incentive to serve crap to the kids.  While we have been determined to get healthier and fresher foods on the menu, the endless reasons why they cannot serve better food are irritating at best:  "the kids won't eat it", "it's cost prohibitive", etc.  

Cost prohibitive indeed!  Apparently, only to their bottom line.

Today I read this article by Ed Bruske, a slow food advocate and once a reporter for the Washington Post, who had requested that rebates being received in the D.C. school district be disclosed.  He learned that he was denied on the basis of disclosing that information would infringe on Chartwell's trade secrets.  

Are you kidding me?

The rebates Chartwells (and other food service giants) receive are supposed to send a portion back to the school districts, but may take an excessive amount of time to do so, if it's done at all.

And to top it off: "Chartwells’ parent company, the $22 billion international conglomerate Compass Group, maintains an entirely separate entity called Food Buy solely to write purchase contracts and collect rebates generated by its many subsidiaries.", reports, Ed.

It would seem that we will have to stand together as one voice and insist the right thing be done:  Feed our children well.  We will no longer stand for someone making a buck at the expense of children’s health. 

Many children wonder where there next meal will come from once school ends.  Thanks to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma there is free food for children this summer.  

Even though school is out, Eat Wise doesn't take the entire summer off.  

At a recent meeting with OKCPS in regards to the kitchen renovation at Taft, we learned that the MAPs renovations will primarily cover the areas that are in violation of current code requirements.  We will soon be meeting with OKCPS again to get further information about what architectural changes are being planned and how this will affect our pilot project.

Have you ever wondered where all those wonderful Farmer's Markets are?  This article has a complete list to tempt your taste buds.  http://bringingdesignhome.com/2011/05/27/fresh-local-2011-summer-guide-to-okc-farmers-markets/