expressed this in the budget committee, as well, we had an increase of 10% in the number of meals served annually, that's mostly in breakfast, where we've expanded our breakfast in the classroom program. we've seen a pretty devastating drop in the number of lunches that are being consumed. and i think that when we brought on revolution foods, the understanding -- 'cause we actually going to pay more than we were prior at the time was that we were going to makeup for that in part by having more students eat lunch, and it actually looks like we have about a 350,000 meals drop in the number of lunches that are being consumed. so my concern is i realize that, you know, they're doing taste tests and this's all these different ways it sounds like they're saying that they're doing a good job, but if we look at the actual out comes and the number of

students that are choosing to eat lunch, we're seeing a pretty consistent drop. if we look at how they performed, there's a concern there. i want to know your thoughts on that. the other concern is i have is, you know, i think most commissioners will echo when we go out and visit schools, we hear concerns about the students that they don't like the food, that it's not enough, that there's certain ones that they like. it doesn't always add up with what we're hearing or seeing about how students informed revolution foods is saying that they are. so i wonder what kind of objective data do they show us? do we get to analyze these taste tests. but it sounds like they're

self-informed. how do we know, if they're policing themselves, what sort of oversight and accountability that we do have if they're self-informed and students do actually like the food. i would like to know what role we're playing and what we get to see what they do. of course they're going to say everything they do as having great results. maybe we wouldn't have as much of a need to have that type of accountability if we were seeing much greater numbers of participation, but those are concerning to me. the last thing is we clearly want to move towards more scratch cooking, more cooking that's actually taking place in our schools, a central kitchen. so you know, what's a commitment to that within this contract? what sort of commitment do we have to move towards that, and you know, how does it -- another three years with revolution foods help us get

there? i realize they're committing to the good food purchasing policy, which is great, but i think that we have a larger goal, as we talked about a lot, to where we want to be, and is this going to help us get there? [applause] >> thank you, commissioner. yes, we're concerned about the drop in lunch participation, as well. and the overall increase is directly connected with supper, so when we first rolled out this contract, we weren't providing supper at all. so now we're providing three meals a day and we're not sure what kind of connection there is between, you know, the proximity of when kids are getting supper in their after school program and lunch and if there is an impact on it. there is multiple dimensions to this. the question about self-regulating, i think we've got a -- we're doing a study at the moment at 24 different

schools, and with a usda grant, and u.c. berkeley is doing the study for us, and they're measuring plate waste and food and vegetable consumption, and we're going to get a report at the end of july, and so i can share it with the board. but preliminary findings suggest that some of the interventions that we're trying to do that go beyond just the meals that are served are having an impact on that, as well. and the move to scratch cooking, yes, we're absolutely committed on that. so with the 2016 bond, we're actually gearing up to open up -- we've actually just hired a culinary manager. we have our first chef that we've had at the -- in the district has just been -- that classification has been created, and that position has been fulled -- filled, so the team that are doing our pre-k meals, they're all prepared by the staff that do that. so that's all cooking from

scratch and procurement from scratch. we're going to be redesigning the culinary center, and that'll be our first upgraded kitchen with the bond. they currently cook about 1,000 meals a day, and they'll have the capacity to go up to 3,000 meals a day. and the other two sites that we're doing regional kitchens at under the 2016 bond are marina and at denman, and they should be open by the end of '21. so they're on deck for that. and the whole intent with the original bond was that we would be able to explore the possibility of moving to a cooking kitchen, and then in future bonds be able to take it wholesale to go to a greater capacity. we've increased the number of s and s prepared meals. i've mentioned that earlier, so that 15% of the meals. our assumptions for next year are that the number of lunches prepared for middle and high school, 'cause they have

kitchens, unlike the elementary schools, will increase. we're also hopeful that with the investment from the sugary distributor and tax, we will be able to change our procurement practices and do a lot more local purchasing and revamp the s and s prepared meals. so there are multiple strategies that i won't take time with the board right now, but we're not -- our prepared meals are just one element of all the work that we're doing to try and transform the school meal experience and they're a key piece of it. we' we're the largest meal provider in the city. 30,000 meals a day is massive, at 117 different sites, so it's a massive operation. and it will, you know, like i said, there are multiple strategies to try and improve. the questions about self-regulating, i can spend more time thinking about what that might look like. we have talked about metrics

and come up with participation goals that over the next four years, we want to see 17% increase in participation, and we can setup mechanisms to track and monitor that. i think -- i hope that answers the question >> it does, but if it's a 17% increase in lunch, it won't even get us back to where we were a couple years ago. we've seen a drop. i don't know if you have a better explanation or some sort of explanation other than the food itself as to why we saw such a drop in lunch participation in the last five years since we've had revolution foods? >> i think it's the -- i mean, i can speculate that a lot of it has to do with the fact that we're offering supper. so a tremendous number of children are now eating three meals a day instead of -- so it used to be just breakfast, lunch, and that was it. well, now, in the after school program, they're offered

supper. i know children really crave their recess period, and the lunch lines are long, so i don't know if there's a correlation that they're skipping lunch periods and an hour later -- i don't know. but there's been a massive consumption of meals across the district, but it's shifted from just looking at lunch to also looking at supper, which is served a couple -- you know, in the early afternoon. so overall, the number of meals has increased, and lunch has gone down, but that is a point of concern. >> there would be a simple way to do that. some schools are serving supper and some that are not, so you can look at the numbers that are going down at the schools that are not serving supper. i hope that revolution foods at least attempted to explain why during the time that they've

been serving lunch here that we've seen a pretty big drop in participation. >> another factor is the amount of time children have to eat, so a lot of schools are moving from two lunch periods to one lunch period. if schools have recess before lunch versus after lunch, so there's all these different elements of the school experience that are factors, as well. >> vice president cooke. >> thank you. thank you for the presentation. just personally, i have a tremendous respect for you professionally, but i must admit, when i visit school sites, and i promptly ask students, i'm on the school board, what is it you want to change about the school, the first thing they always say about the lunch. it's like consistently the biggest complaint i hear on the north side of the city, the west side of the city, the

south side of the city, the east side of the city. so it started to give me great concern. i started to talk to other principals about what's going on with the school lunch. i also just want to appreciate all the public comment. i know it's late, and obviously people feel passionate about this topic if they're here. it's pushing 11:00, and i think we need to notice what's going on this evening. i know you work hard on trying to make this a great lunch experience, and a lot of factors go into play, and it's a big operation, and all those things are true. i also know that before revolution foods, we were having food shipped from the midwest, and it was all frozen. there was a lot of issues with it. you know, when i was going to school. we had, like, the beanery program, and it was all chocolate chip cookies, and

chow mein, and it was all we had. i liked it, but it wasn't healthy. and now we have something that we tried to achieve health through, but people aren't participating. so what i'm concerned about are children having a stigma around health because of the quality of the food that they're eating. you know, healthy doesn't equate to good, and i know that's not the case. so i think it'd be a great opportunity just to explore because this is not really about -- your work is not really about revolution foods, there are other -- a bunch of providers, and i think i would just be interested in seeing who are all the folks that we can consider, and just put revolution foods on notice that, you know, people -- people are upset, and we don't have the commitment to them, we have a commitment to our kids. we want to make sure we're participating in a school lunch. so i think we've achieved great things around the level of

service, but we have a lot further to go around quality and taste. i saw the photos. i saw -- so that's just my overall general comment, and i'm committed to working with you to ensure that that is successful. so, you know, i don't want my comments tonight to be a mark on you necessarily, but i am hearing it from all over the city, so from all the perspectives, there's been a resounding rejection of our school lunches given our socioeconomic statuses from all over the city. [applause] >> commissioner walton and then commissioner merase. >> thank you, and thank you for your presentation, miss o'keefe. i don't have a lot different to say. one, i do want to acknowledge reverend duffy and former supervisor. thank you for being here this evening. i guess just two questions in terms of -- i mean, as i look

at slide nine, and we see the feedback process that revolution foods has -- they conduct with students and parents and principals and school staff. what do we do with the feedback? do they turn it over to us, and are we hearing great things from our principals about food quality? >> so i think there's a collective desire to improve the quality of our food and the taste. i think that's an ongoing process, and we recently had a conversation with a group of principals who asked to talk about the food and wanted to request that we have more diverse -- diverse -- i mean menu items that appeal to a greater diversity of taste, so we're working with revolution foods to respond to that and will continue to work on that

piece. so when they do the taste tests, i personally haven't seen the feedback forms, but i know that they engage with the leadership team and student nutritious services, and they make decisions about which items to put on the menu, and that's a monthly review process. but i'm going to follow up and make sure that kind of moving forward, there's a -- the focus on the kind of metrics and holding accountable for change is something that, you know, i can dig into and we can work on. >> i think it's just been pretty consistent just in terms of the fact that when revolution foods came into the district, i think that we were headed in the right direction, and people were pleased for the most part. and now, it seems like the quality has gone down since

they've already been a part of the district for a while. so i'm wondering if this is a case of, you know, an entity, of course, wining and dining us, and being shiny and pretty, and then changing how they -- how hard they work and how they focus on making sure we have the right nutritious and that our students continue to receive the quality that they can provide. in the beginning, it was really mostly positive feedback. i have, you know, a child in the district who never eats the lunch, but it could be revolution foods or anybody, and he probably wouldn't, but there is something to be said about how, when they started, they had a different reputation within the district. so i guess my question is, i know this is for a year, and what happens if we say, you know what? this just isn't working for us. what would happen if we made that decision? >> are you asking about

tonight? >> correct. >> we would not be able to fulfill all the summer meals that we've signed up for throughout the city. we're at multiple locations, offering summer meals. so we don't stop in the summer. we go year-round, and we probably would not be able to -- i mean, it would -- it would stop the operation basically because the current contract expires at the end of june, and the process was long and thorough, and there was not a competitor that would have made it possible to provide the services that we're requiring. nobody else came in at the same level with the good food purchasing, which is a school board policy. nobody else came in at the same price point, and there wasn't another vendor that was able to demonstrate that's what they're doing right now. it was a combination of three different organizations, but there's no way to look and see and say where they were

working -- it was -- great proposals were put forward by all but none that would have been able to do the level of operation that we require on a daily basis to provide 30,000 meals and meet all the nutritious requirements that are required and the good food purchasing policy. we have a lot of high standards that the board has set to ensure that we're serving fresh, healthy food. none of our food is ever frozen. it's fresh and served. and i recognize there's different taste profiles, and that sometimes a meal will be more appealing than others, and i also know there's a tremendous amount of work that we need to do and continue, until we're providing meals to all of our students, and the school food program can be transfo transformative, and it's a commitment in what we're trying to do, including changing our

cooking infrastructure and our dining experience, so there's multiple aspects of this that we're working hard to do. but it's not easy to find something who can meet all of our requirements and has the demonstrated capacity to operate by serving 30,000 meals a day. that did not happen when we went out to bid. and when we went out to bid, we didn't just post-it, we reached out to five or six different vendors. they responded. one was nonresponsive because they would not have been able to meet the kind of scale of operation that we're talking about here and immediate or nutritious standards. so i acknowledge there's a lot of room to grow and we need to continue to listen to and be responsive to what we're hearing from the community, and things are certainly not perfect, but i think we're striving to continue to improve. >> and then, with the -- within this mou, this is just for this

year. so -- so what's the line of thinking around only improving this for a year, if we feel that this is a good company to move forward with? >> so the way the -- what we're asking the board is to approve a one-year contract with an opportunity to -- for, i think it's like three or four more extensions. let me be exact. so it's -- the term of the agreement is from july 1, 2018 to june 30, 2019 with possible renewals of four one-year periods by mutual agreement. and the maximum term can't exceed five years, so this time next year, we will be asking the board to renew the contract again. >> thank you. >> thank you. commissioner merase, please. >> thank you. thank you for the presentation,

miss o'keefe. i just want to see if we can do a follow up inform the presentation. spoiled food. i would like to make sure that that's not happening, so if there's a way that staff can verify that we are not serving spoiled food. secondly, on flexibility on whether students can pick and choose a fruit item and not have to take the whole meal, maybe that's something we can work on this year because i think we've heard some feedback. we can solicit additional feedback, but i do think for a kid, choice is really a big consideration. and then, i had a question about food waste. do we do audits of food waste at our lunch rooms, miss o'keefe? are you aware of studies in that area. >> we're studying it at certain

schools to see how much there is, and that's the study that we'll be getting at the end of july. >> great. i think my colleagues and i would be very interested in that result. i'd also like to get a roster of families tonight to keep in our bank for food tasters. we always include students in our food tasting program, and so i think some of the folks who testified tonight would make great candidates for our food tasters. [applause] >> i am a proponent of the good food purchasing policy. that's very, very important to me personally, and i think it's one of the things that recommends revolution foods over competitors, and just so you know and my colleagues know, san francisco general and the sheriff's department are also taking a look at a good food policy to

that. and i'm sorry that josh davidson, who's our newly appointed chef in the district was unable to appoint us. i know he's just getting back from out of town, but i did want to make sure that our vote tonight did not jeopardize what's in place. the final thing i just want to say is my understanding of the contract is that it's one year, renewable after a year, up to five years total, so if, by the end of this year, we find that it's unsatisfactory, we can make a different decision around this, so we're not sort of locked in for a five-year contract.

is that correct, miss o'keefe? >> that's correct. that's the maximum amount, but we're asking for approval for one year. >> thank you very much. >> and that could be -- the request is for -- the term of the agreement is july 1, 2018 to june 30, 2019 with possible renewal for four one year periods by maximum agreement, but the total shall not exceed five years. >> yeah. i'm sorry there aren't representatives from revolution foods tonight to respond to these questions. but i hope some of the concerns will be forwarded to them and that we can continue a dialogue. thank you. >> thank you. commissioner sanchez, and then, commissioner haney? >> thank you. so would we -- miss o'keefe, would we then engage in another

r.f.q. this fall to prepare for the eventuality of getting another food service? how would -- if we decided we didn't want to go forward with them at the end of the year if we didn't have a process in place to contract with another organization. i'm feeling if the food doesn't get dramatically better, and kids don't start eating it, then i'm not going to be prepared infoto vote for their contract, and if we don't have that for next year, what do we do if we don't have another organization lined up? >> yes. one of the things that we're focused on is increasing the number of s and s prepared meals, but if the board -- i think what we would have to do is set a time frame that we would come back with an update and determine whether there's a need for us to go out for another proposal again. >> and then, would it be possible -- and i don't know if any other district has done

this, but could we offer contracts -- could we offer the runner up, as well, contract to do some of our schools, and then have a great cookoff throughout the year so that we can determine which one's better to go forward with for the following years? is there anything legally prohibitive about that? >> right. so we would need to do a whole different process for that, so it's not something we could do tonight, but it's something we could look at. do recognize, though, that it may have the opposite of your intended effect, because we do get some limited economy of scale. if we do take that out of the equation, that may affect price, but it may be an option. >> i think that would be something to look into. i think it would increase the competition in a free marketplace to get the food out there, the most edible food out

there to our students. >> mark, you sound like a capitalist. >> commissioner haney? >> so i had a similar question about whether there was some way to have a small set of schools. the -- the question i was going to ask is how would we communicate some of these concerns to revolution foods and setup a process over the next year where they help to address some of these questions -- or not? the question is there are serious concerns here, and we want to see some changes and greater accountability and actually having students and families and teachers say yes, we do approve of the food, and there's some way to actually have accountability of that for us, because it's, like, for them to tell us that is one thing, but i don't know if our families are actually -- would they tell us that themselves. so that's one thing i'd ask,

how we setup a process like that. are there -- in terms of the scratch cooking versus the frozen, it -- were there differences -- differences with that with revolution foods? do they do frozen or scratch or how did that breakdown in emergency room its of what their difference is in cooking? >> so there might actually be somebody from revolution foods in here in the audience today. there was a team that was here earlier tonight, and i know that they're probably listening. you know, the team that weren't able to be here. so i know that they'll be hearing this conversation directly, and then, i'll also be following up with them, and we will definitely provide them with an opportunity to give the board a response to the different things that have been raised tonight. and i apologize, commissioner. i forget the other question. >> oh, just -- it's a lot.

what's a -- just for us to think about what sort of process, assuming we approve this tonight, to communicate that to them and to make sure that they're addressing these issues. and then, the question was about scratch versus frozen. you might not be able to answer that. >> oh, yes. all of the meals, and that was one of the requirements of the bid process, are fresh, never frozen. so they're all prepared and not frozen, yeah, 100%. >> vice president cooke. >> thank you for all the responses, and some of our questions were answered. so i'm having a hard time bringing myself to vote yes for this. and -- and so my concern is that if i vote no, if the board

rejects it, there are kids this summer that won't be able to eat anything. and so if you can play that scenario through, this gets rejected, and how -- how large does the service level drop if there's no contract in place? >> i strongly recommend that the board approve this contract tonight, and i have heard loud and clear that there are concerns about the food, and i make a commitment to following up directly with revolution foods and with the team and with the families that were here tonight at rooftop so we can begin to address the concerns that have been raised and continue to improve our school meals. it will be impossible for us to meet our obligations of providing students with school meals if the board does not take action to approve a contract before the end -- you know, tonight. we've got commitments that have

been made to a lot of c.b.o.'s and to a lot of programs to offer school meals over the summer. 100% of those are brought meals. we don't have any internal capacity to provide those meals, and we don't have the infrastructure to shift to something else, which is why we started the process in the fall so that we could see what opportunities there were out there. and like i said, we -- we advertised for it, we reached out directly to companies. there were only three that responded. one was nonresponsive, the other was an entity that didn't exist prior to submitting their proposal to us. there were three companies that never worked together anywhere else in the states to meet the kind of obligations we were requesting. >> i know a lot of hard work went into this, and i know you work hard on this year-round, so this is just for me to fully under what a no vote would mean.

>> yeah. it's the 30,000 meals that we do a day, we would not be able to do that. >> right. so then, we -- we have -- we're prepared to spend money on 30,000 meals a day that we won't be spending, but the money that we are spending, that money has been committed, correct? >> so the district spends about $4 million a year for the entire district for all those meals that we provide because the vast majority of the meals are funded by the reimbursements, the state and federal reimbursements we get so it doesn't come out of the unrestricted general fund. i'm a little bit unable to think clearly at the thought of the fact that we wouldn't have this contract because the -- an infrastructure of doing 30,000 meals a day is massive, and that's why we went out and got this bid and got the best

value, and what i'm hearing is the best value isn't good enough, and we need to improve with what we provide to kids, and i will absolutely follow up with revolution foods tomorrow, and we will work on the concerns that the board has, and to think about how we might be in a different position this time next year, and if the board wants choice, what might that look like. including which commissioner surfaces the idea of multiple vendors. part of the challenge has to do with the infrastructure. not just the economy of scale, but how do you even manage that, but there are things i can give thought to and come back to the board at a later time, but i strongly recommend that the board approve this contract tonight so that we can continue uninterrupted to provide -- i think it's over 300,000 meals we're scheduled to provide this summer. and so it -- it is -- it would be a very significant if this did not pass.

>> if i could just add, miss o'keefe, and you know your business better than i do. as a legal matter, i think it's highly unlikely that we could get a new contract in place even for the beginning of school. so because we would have to completely go back out for a different r.f.p., we couldn't award it to the next bidder, because staff determined in their qualified grading system this was the best bidder. we would have to go back out which would take several weeks, if not months of time, and then there's logistical ramping up to provide meals. i think we would be looking at kids without meals this summer as well as the first few months of school. >> so i hear loud and clear it would be irresponsible for us not to approve the contract, but it just seems like an irresponsible way to go about such a massive operation when there's such a dissatisfaction

with the option. and so, you know -- and i don't want you to take any of this personally. i'm just thinking about all of the conversation i have with kids across the city, and, you know, parents are spending money on corner stores, and their kids are eating cheetos and red bull in the morning. and i see it when i go to schools, and they're not eating the school lunch. so it just seems like we're in a really tough spot. like, you know, okay. i've been convinced i have to vote yes. it sounds like there's no other choice but to vote yes, but to make votes like this is very difficult to do, seeing everything that i've seen across the city. i don't know. is anybody from revolution foods here? [inaudible] >> hey.

[inaudible] >> i'm not our head chef. >> what do you do for revolution foods? >> i'm the regional manager for revolution foods for sfusd. >> and what's your last name? >> cochia? >> so miss cochia, i see there was a lot of taste testing and engagement done with a certain number of students. i think you heard my remarks tonight about it being the top concern, the schools that i go to, the quality of food that they're getting. i'm prepared to vote yes tonight, but i don't know that i'll be prepared to do that in the future. i don't know if you have any comment about what you're doing to improve the quality of toods at reviolutio review -- foods

revolution foods. >> i think we have more to do, obviously. we need to diversify which schools we're working with. i've spoken with principals from k, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 throughout the city, but i think there's always more we can do. i think it's really important for all of us to work together to have a comprehensive plan and a timeline for us to share the feedback that we're getting which we do on a monthly basis. for example, today we had our monthly meeting today to plan our august and september menus, so we're sitting with our chefs and culinary teams. we're t we're thinking about what kids want to have. certainly committed to improving quality. i hear all of you, i hear parents and students here, but throughout the year, so yeah, very important to us to improve

lunch participation and certainly looking forward to putting together a concrete plan that would meet your needs. >> just so you know, at your office, do you all eat the food that you serve at lunches? >> yeah. we have over 200 folks that wake up at 4:00 a.m. to cook your foods. so sunday, they'll be up at 4:00 a.m. to cook your foods that kids will be eating on monday. we have a culinary center in san lorenzo, i eat it every day as well. >> the comments that you heard about it being garbage or inedible, is that something that you've heard? >> i have. i do focus on students who have that feedback. i talk to students that have a

favorite entry, maybe pancakes and omlettes, or something else. you're right. i do, and i heard the comments, as well. i see the cheese steak. we cancelled it based on student feedback. so we do listen and we do make changes based on what we hear from you. >> thank you. was there any other comments on that? okay. i have a few questions. so if student nutritious has been something that we've been talking about for a very long time. and you know my days back at p.p.s., there was a lot of conversations just because we were -- you know, the people that we had processing these -- our lunches at that time were kind of making magic food out of a chunk of cheese and some bread and we'd see seven different variations of cheese

and bread to makeup the meals that we put together. i feel like we have come a long way to what was before to where we are now. and i was actually and continue to be a supporter of revolution foods because of what they've done for us over the years in terms of just transforming the way many of our kids eat. and i also recognize that there are multiple regulations, federal regulations that prevent us from doing some things, and i think it would be worth kind of saying some of those out loud, miss o'keefe because what we're hearing around, you can't just take an apple, you have to take the whole meal. we can't save food, even though it's not been eaten and give it to the after school programs, even though i know many of our schools do, and we kind of actually support having them do that. but i -- there's many things

that i think are very challenging for us as a district and districts across the state, across the nation, because of these federal guidelines that prohibit us from doing a lot of things. i want to just have you have an opportunity to say some of those things out loud because those are some of the things that were being said tonight that i think are important to just know. >> yes. thank you. so commissioner, one of the things you were mentioning is the offer of us to serve. so in order to get the meal reimbursement, you have to take so many components, and i think that's what some of the families were talking about. and that's part of what we're measuring to see how much waste there is. there are also very strict nutritious guidelines that the board has set in addition to state and federal regulations in terms of not adding

additives that might be available in some foods in some other areas, the limits to the amount of salt that can be included, and so all of that constrains the opportunity to be creative and come up with appealing meals for students. and i'll let you expand on that a little bit. >> thank you. some of what we're also trying to do is just making sure, you know, all staff are aware and trained of what kids do and don't have to take. for example, if you don't want milk, you don't have to take milk, and i think that's a common misconception. i know a lot of kids here maybe don't want to drink milk, so we're working on also just making sure all of our kids and staff are knowledgeable about those regulations. and i will say we're trying to work around them, too. for example, sodium limits are a big challenge anyone would have to face, right? any vendor looks into that, it's a federal requirement that

we have to limit the amount of salt, and that really drives a lot of the flavor we can do, so we're looking into more creative ways to improve flavor, for example. a lot of new vegetables are umm can -- coming out in the fall, just using spices or maybe lemon juice that can help punch up the flavor without necessarily adding salt. we actually do have a ton of taste tests in june to test all of those things with our kids over the summer at our summer program, so we're very happy to report back on the results there. of course we'll be fixing the august and september menus based on what we learn from students at those tests. >> yes, chef chris was here earlier, could not stay. he had to go home and put his kids to bed, but he's also an award winning chefs. he's worked with internationally recognized organizations. you know, for example, taking things like airline food which

is maybe not the most popular segment of the food industry and making them very exciting. so we're really thrilled to have him on board. he will be looking at all of our banks of student feedback and updating recipes. we do have kids favorites that can be updated. for example i know there are a number of items that were maybe favorites three years ago that need a refresh. we're very mindful of that. and i think he's looking really a lot at engaging students. he himself comes from a background where he ate free and reduced meals as a kid and really untdss the position that a lot of -- understands the position that a lot of families are in, and really looks forward to spending more time in the school system, as well. he joined us just two months ago, as well. >> can you tell us what the current federal reimbursement rate is?

>> it's around $3. i don't have the exact amount. it varies whether it's a free meal or reduced meal or paid, whether the student qualifies for free or reduced or paid, but it's around 2 -- actually, i have it here. let me -- let me look. >> okay. and i'm only -- wanted that as something to be said out loud, as well, because what we're trying to do is prepare a meal for a young person at a rate that still doesn't meet what it is that we're trying to get to them in terms of the value. so the -- what the return is for what we're trying to create for them is really difficult in terms of the amount of money that we can get back for it. >> absolutely. so, for example, for lumpnch, e reimbursement for a student who

qualifies for three is 3.37. if a student qualifies for reduced, it's 2.37, and if it's paid, it's .33. and then, for breakfast, there's also a different range, but i think on the average, it's three -- three or less. >> okay. and then, is our after school food different from our in school food, so the vendors that we have -- i know there was some challenges with folks that -- with our summer programs and dcyf stepped in on that, but the -- so was everybody that's participating in summer getting fresh foods also or is there somebody else that's doing that. >> yeah, 100% for sfusd, and i think you're working with cfbo and dcyf. >> yeah, we're the only vendor for dcyf, as well. >> i think part of what i

wonder about, too is just the ability to ib expect and investigate schools kind of more regularly. to commissioner merase's point, and i think all of us feel the same way, it's unacceptable when students receive meals that are unidentifiable or are -- you know, if fruits are coming bruised or if milk is warm. i don't know where the responsibility lies for warm milk because i imagine it's delivered and then, you know, we store it until lunch, but you know, the quality of fruit should be given to every student no matter where they're located, and i just want to know how -- if you already do regular inspections and drop ins. and then, for the schools that have been mentioned, you know, i do want -- i do want us to investigate further on what we are hearing, and you know, even though they're from -- they're

across the city for a variety of reasons -- not everybody's going to like whatever is served -- i have allergies up the wazoo, and i can only eat probably three of your 20 meals. just wanting to follow up on those and do some investigation around that, and if there is -- if there are things that can be fixed, you know, versus just the -- i mean, the taste of it is -- it preferential to some degree, but if it's -- schools are consistently getting bruised fruit, or you know, getting meals that are damaged or, you know, unacceptable, like, you know, those are all fixable things in my mind. >> absolutely. so in terms of monitoring the quality of food, we have got six area supervisors who spend their entire time doing site reviews, so they're out at schools all the time. and we also have our 200 employees that are at the sites that are constantly giving us feedback, and they call in if

there are any issues with the food, and so, you know, so that it can be remedied straightaway. that's a major part of the operation is the monitoring of the quality and -- of the food. >> so having said that, has there been reports or other complaints from rooftop in particular on -- [inaudible] >> no, no, i understand that. [inaudible] >> okay, folks, i just mentioned one school. calm down. i'm not trying to minimize, anything. this is our portion to ask the questions, okay? [inaudible] >> i understand that. it's -- i'm asking the question now, so if you could please. so in schools like rooftop, where we just heard some comments about that, and many other schools, can you -- have

the complaints been logged in and -- and when those kinds of things happen, how are they -- how quickly are they getting resolved? how how are you dealing with those types of things? >> thanks to sfusd staff, whenever we heard about it, we address it as soon as we can. we have 15 trucks going throughout the schools every single day. we do have to cover 115 schools plus a number of other sites, and typical response time is about 20 to 30 minutes if there is an issue, as long as we have supply on hand. we keep -- just in case, we do have quality assurance measures happening in our kitchen before things go out, if there's an issue on-site, we'll have a response on it or a replacement or a plan b within 20 to 30 minutes, and of course, we --

we know that having food that's under quality means a kid doesn't eat, and all of us jump out of our skin when something like that comes up. >> and are those logged in. >> yeah. >> so can we see what those reports look like? >> yes. we have report logs, we review them on a weekly basis, on a daily basis, if needed if we notice a problem is happening more than once. >> i think it would be good for us to see what other schools -- where across the city there's been complaints or there's been challenges or there's been issues at other schools so that we can get a better understanding of what's happening across the board. and then, the -- so the inspection piece is already happening. i'd like to see those reports. you know, we've -- we've prided ourselves on this idea we don't

serve chips and sodas in our schools and we're trying to more healthy, and so that's the line we want to continue to be on, but we also want to make sure our kids are getting good nutritious, and that they're going to eat it. so we want to figure out ways to manage that piece, also. so that ose are the comments t i have. does anybody else have any other questions or comments? commissioner haney? >> can you explain the timing of this a little bit more because it does seem like there's some concerns and we're being told that basically we have no choice but to approve it. which puts us in a tough position. again, i don't know how we would vote if it was just -- but again, if we're told that this needs to be approved by the board and we're getting a lot of information about the process that actually we don't really have a choice, that puts us in a bad position.

so how -- what's your -- what's your explanation for that and how do we make sure something like this doesn't happen again? >> yes. i apologize for that. we actually did the process in the spring so that we would be able to bring it to the board earlier. however, there were some unforeseen delays with getting the contracts finalized once the bidding process was over. and then, we were scheduled to bring it to the board in may, and i was on vacation for some of that period of time, so the -- the presentation that needs to be submitted ahead of time, we missed that deadline, and so that's why it got moved to this agenda. >> okay. so -- so for -- i mean, for next year, assuming that we are in a position we have -- have to approve this, you know, i -- we obviously want to make sure that we have a process that

starts early, that these concerns are addressed, or they aren't, and we look at other options. so you know, can we have a commitment that, you know, we make should thure that that's , and just in general voting on contracts that come in front of a board and we're told that we have to do this or students won't be able to eat, that's -- you know, there is ae no -- there's no option for us. >> yes, i agree, and we were hoping that the original schedule was to get it to you in february . actually, i can commit to that moving forward. >> okay. so there's -- there's clearly discomfort in going forward with something that is a commitment to something really important to us in the school

district that will ultimately get to our children and families. so it seems that the -- what i can appreciate is that this is a one-year contract, and this is not a five-year contract, and that there is room for improvement and some additional information that can get provided to the board with regards to some of the -- well, many of the things that were brought forward. but you're right. i mean, this is basically -- this is only -- there's only one choice here, and that's that doesn't -- that's just not a comfortable place or a -- a much appreciated place to put board members in. and so i don't know, mr. superintendent, if you have any other recommendations except for us to go forward with this

or what other commitments can be made between now and the next six months in terms of ensuring that there are greater improvements, particularly with this vendor. and i will say you guys have grown significantly since we first started with you. and so the quality of the food that we're hearing over and over is in my mind a direct result of the -- of the significant growth that you've had. and -- and there doesn't seem to be any other way to deal with this right now. >> so i -- a couple of things. we -- the vendor has been here and heard both the comments from the community and more importantly, the comments from the board about concern voiced by the community. so you've heard a commitment from revolution foods as well as a commitment from our staff to engage in the process much

earlier, and it -- what's obvious is that if there aren't improvements, we will be going in a different direction based on just the comments that we heard. so the commitment is to move forward at an earlier stage and involve the board in an earlier manner, but with feedback from the community in terms of how we will move forward. >> okay. all right. roll call vote, please. [roll call] >> clerk: we have six ayes. >> okay.

the second item under section g is a motion and a second on the san francisco unified school district and san francisco department of education to student achievement. superintendent, would you like to introduce your designee? >> yes, our director of state and federal programs roderick castro will read into the record. >> good evening, commissioners. tonight's recommended action is that the board of education approve the san francisco unified school district and san francisco county office of education 1820 preliminary balanced score card single plans for student achievement. >> so moved. >> second. >> okay. i'm sorry, mr. -- mr. castro.

do you -- did you do the intro already? you did? okay. thank you. i have three people talking to me at once. so sorry. i don't have any public speakers signed up on this. any comments or questions from the board? all right. seeing none, roll call vote, please. [roll cal [roll call] >> and you got the motion and second on that one? okay. thank you. item three, i call the public hearing and adoption of the annual budget and annual service plan for special education. i need a motion and a second, please, for the special education budget and service plan. >> so moved. >> second. >> thank you. call on the superintendent or your designee. >> presenting this evening will be our chief special education jane robertson.

>> okay. good evening, everybody. thanks for staying up. my name is jean robertson, and i am chief of special education in san francisco, and this is d.j. irvin, the senior statisticition in our department, and together we are going to share with you a brought overview of our plan, our annual budget and service plan that needs to be submits to the state of california by the end of this month. we have