Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Gatesville Independent School District's Board of Trustees approved continuing a food service contract with Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE) during the April 17 school board meeting, and also approved $173,000 to upgrade kitchen equipment on GISD campuses.
The contract has also been submitted to the Texas Education Agency, said Darrell Frazier, chief financial officer for GISD.
"The new contract starts on July 1, 2023 and it is a 12-month contract," Frazier said. "It represents an 8.2% increase, which is in line with the 7.65% increase the board approved for the current fiscal year. We are requesting a contract of about $800,000 for the next fiscal year."
School Board President Charles Ament noted that Frazier has been complimentary of SFE, saying, "You've expressed your high recommendation of this company."
"Yes, they've done a great job," Frazier said. "The manager on site, Megan Hendricks, is doing an excellent job. We have never been in better shape with our food service."
The district's food service is managed so well that GISD has a balance of more than $1 million, Frazier said, adding "we've never seen that before."
Having the surplus in the food service fund is allowing the district to purchase new kitchen equipment to replace some of the older items on campuses, including some that have been in place since the 1980s.
"We are proposing to spend $173,000 out of the balance fund," Frazier said. "Some of the items require TEA (Texas Education Agency) approval.
Items being purchased include air fryers, ovens, a dishwasher and floor cleaner.
"We will replace older equipment and there are also several new items," Frazier said. The large (expense) items will be submitted to TEA — a total of $152,000.
"The kitchen staff have done an excellent job with the equipment they have."
GISD has kitchen at five campuses — the primary school, elementary, intermediate, junior high and high school.
"It's stuff that needed to be replaced," said GISD Superintendent Barrett Pollard.
"Some of the items (in the kitchens) were put in in the 1980s," Hendricks said.
