ARAMARK to Be Dropped by B-W School District

ARAMARK is out as the 's food service provider as of July 1, this year, the B-W School Board decided by an 8-0 vote on Wednesday night.

As part of the same vote, the nine-person board—member Ray Rosing was absent—elected to run its food service department in-house, also starting July 1. Tammy Caponi, the district's assistant for finance and operations, will become B-W's new food service director at that time.

In May 2011, for the 2011-12 school year despite ARAMARK never having produced a profit for the district. In fact, as , the district's food service "has been running at a loss ever since they (ARAMARK) came here."

 that Baldwin-Whitehall had been losing money in food service even prior to contracting with ARAMARK.

The food service decision was the only official action taken by the school board during Wednesday night's agenda meeting. Nevertheless, because action was to be taken, the board opened the topic up for public comment prior to voting on it.

Robin Duff, an ARAMARK employee and B-W's food service director ever since , was the only person who asked to comment on the item, but board President John B. Schmotzer, after conferring with Korchnak and district solicitor Ed Lawrence, denied Duff's request since she is not a district resident.

Duff left the meeting before she could be interviewed.

Numerous board members have expressed dissatisfaction recently over ARAMARK's performance in Baldwin-Whitehall.

that she has heard reports of excessively long lines in district cafeterias, children eating while sitting on floors and some advertised food items not being available.

And , "(Food service has) been a thorn in our side for the last couple of years. We do need to rethink and reconsider that whole process."

Some district students held an informal  to protest B-W's food prices and nutritional offerings.

Results of the district's showed that B-W's food service department turned in a loss of $15,806 for 2010-11. The cumulative negative net assets for the food service fund as of June 30, 2011, was $907,408.

Thoughts on the decision? Share them in the comments section below.

And check back with the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch later on Thursday for more odds and ends from Wednesday night's school board meeting.

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