Financial consultant Aaron Beaulieu hinted to the Wayne County Board of Education Monday that the school district is not serving enough meals to support its Child Nutrition budget for the 2020-21 school year — and warned that WCPS did not have the fund balance or excess savings to cover what could be a shortfall in reimbursements from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Beaulieu isn’t the first person to point out the dilemma.
In fact, district leaders have repeatedly noted that cafeteria staff, supplies and food cost money, but the federal reimbursement that offsets those costs is based on the number of meals served. COVID-19 — and the impact it has had on on-site attendance — has greatly reduced that number and will, unless things change, mean less money from the federal government.
“No one in this district has any idea where your Child Nutrition budget is going. You’re trying to provide food. You’re trying to provide meals across the district. Those are based upon USDA reimbursements,” Beaulieu said. “You’re keeping the level of staffing, but I can tell you, they don’t match serving X number of kids every day a breakfast and a lunch. You have that as a $10 million budget, but you need to match how your revenues are doing against your monthly expenditures.”
And given the fact that it took millions in cuts to balance the 2020-21 budget — and 2021-22 will require more cuts — there is simply no wiggle room. In other words, any shortfall would again throw the numbers off at a time when WCPS can ill-afford another financial headache.
Less than 72 hours after Beaulieu’s presentation, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Tim Harrell sent this email to every principal in the district:
Several verified school administrators and teachers who spoke to the New Old North on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation said they were taken aback by what they characterized as an “unethical” mandate from Central Office for staff members to sign their own children up for school meals — particularly since many of those students are enrolled either at other WCPS schools or in the district’s Virtual Academy, and the meals would potentially never be taken from the cafeteria, much less consumed.
One administrator said they were conflicted about passing along the instructions to staff.
“I know we need the money, but this feels wrong. I pride myself on leading by example and I wouldn’t do it. But now I’m being told to require them to help the district inflate school lunch numbers because we’re in a budget crisis,” they said. “I’m not sure messing with the federal government is the direction we want to go right now.”
Another characterized it as “unacceptable.”
“The only way to fix nutrition is to bring all the kids back and with the virus, unfortunately that’s just not possible right now. So nobody has a good answer for COVID that we can actually accomplish, but I don’t know how wasting food or making liars out of our team members and fudging numbers is graceful,” they said. “Where’s the logic in signing up for food when your child is at home? In most cases, it’s going to go to waste. And why would you get meals for your children at this school when your children go to that school? The whole thing sounds iffy.”
And a teacher who told their principal that there was no need for school meals at their house because their child was enrolled in Virtual Academy said she was told to add the child’s name to the list anyway.
“(They) said, ‘This is above my head. Just put the name on the list. They don’t care if they have to throw the food away. They just need the numbers so we don’t have to fire cafeteria staff,’” the teacher said. “So, I asked, ‘If I put my child on this list, am I an accessory to fraud?’ (They) threw their hands up and that was the end of it. I never did get an answer.”
Requests for comment from WCPS, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have not yet been fulfilled. In the event they are, we will update this story.
Pick up the food, everyone wants to keep their jobs. Virtual academy kids are still WCPS students. They are eligible for free lunch. Our cafeteria staff needs to work. Next year, we will need the workers and food. I normally agree with NON, however, you are wrong about this. I have known about this the.entire year. I pick up the food, and my kids eat most of it. What is this going to hurt? It definitely can help. WCPS does not make.these rules.
I disagree. It is not looking for the solution that is the problem. This is stacking the numbers and wasting food. The fact that each kid can get free lunch does not matter. They need to partner with the community to deliver meals. That would actually solve two problems. They would get their numbers up and it would feed the at risk students who actually need to eat. Having teachers sign up for meals their kids might not even it is dishonest.
I agree, It’s a shame the NON is trying to make something out of nothing. I mean, it isn’t as if they don’t have enough to go after the sitting school board with. This is just silly. If a family wants to take meals that have already been paid for home for use there, I just don’t see the problem. If they want to get them and throw them away, that seems like their prerogative too. If a kid in school goes through the lunch line and then throws the lunch away, has he/she committed fraud? Of course not. And what happens when this is over and we see all these kids go back to school? Who will feed them if the schools have had to let go of all the cafeteria workers? I’m sorry, but this is a non-issue. Stick to things that matter NON!
I work in the schools and we were told to add our children to the list even if the food just sat there. That is manipulating numbers. Saying the food has been paid for so this is not a bg deal is not correct. It is lying to the federal government. I agree that there is other things to get the board for but this is not about the board. This is another bad call being made at our central office. And it is probably illegal. I pray for the staff but we should just return to Plan a to fix this but they did not do it when governor cooper said we could. Send the elementary students back to us. We can handle it.
Send the kids back on plan A? You can handle it? Obviously you haven’t been monitoring the number of positive cases coming in from the schools. There are multiple positive tests everyday now with temperature checks and masks and social distancing. What do you think would happen if all the kids were back? You either don’t understand facts or you just don’t care LOL
Brogden Primary showed us what is coming. Do you really think that is an isolated case? Numbers of active cases has almost doubled. There were 155 week before last. There were over 300 this week. I know all school cases are not being reported. There were 21 reported this week. Sure, let’s send everyone back, so we can all get sick.
Maybe the Republicans who run this whole county should ask their buddies in Raleigh to lobby the USDA to fund school meals at pre-COVID levels as part of a stimulus. I forgot, the stimulus is dead because of politics. Wake up and realize that nobody actually cares about working people and hungry kids. They are playing games with our lives. VOTE.
Actually, meals are currently being reimbursed at a higher level than they would be during a regular school year and all students are eating for free. The problem is not the reimbursement, the lack of participation due to lower attendance is the problem.
Additionaly, the current program allows for schools to feed all children under the age of 18 at no cost, regardless of where they are enrolled. Virtual students and charter school students may pick up meals from any school offering mobile meals.
Has anyone followed up to check if ALL the schools are offering curbside meals and take home meals that are supposed to be offered on Tuesdays and Fridays?
All schools offer free pick up. You can pick up the food at the closest school. You do not have to go to the school of enrollment. The issue is everyone is not picking up their food. If parents would drive through and pick up food for their kids a few times a week it would help. Picking up food for your school age kids, when is offered to all, is not cheating. It is a win, win situation. Shame on anyone who tries to stir poop, when there is none.
There is absolutely nothing wrong asking employees to sign their children up to eat school lunches. We do need to boost our numbers— if we don’t, more people are going to be without jobs. We have lost several hundred children whether it’s due to children leaving WCPS or virtual learners staying at home. Shame on you NON for trying to make something out of nothing! It is no secret that WCPS is financially in dire straits and many cuts have already be made. These people are doing everything in their power to save more people from losing their jobs. Normally I agree with everything that you say, but this time I totally disagree.Quit trying to split hairs.
All schools offer free pick up. You can pick up the food at the closest school. You do not have to go to the school of enrollment. The issue is everyone is not picking up their food. If parents would drive through and pick up food for their kids a few times a week it would help. Picking up food for your school age kids, when is offered to all, is not cheating. It is a win, win situation. Shame on anyone who tries to stir poop, when there is none.
After all it’s all free ,,, wonder who actually pays for this waste of dollars ,, if you can cut 100 teachers you can certainly cut some cafeteria staff ! I’ve got a unique idea ,, everyone actually pay for their reduced lunch,, if you can’t pay 10 bucks a week to feed your child ,, just maybe you need a job or stop having kids you can’t support
Hopefully this will be possible after the election, when we’ll get a new President and can repair the economic damage done by this failed administration. Moody’s, Goldman, and leading economists all agree that that would be our best chance for an economic recovery. Let’s hope it happens!
There are several possibilities here. One is teachers can pick up food for their children from their school and take it home to them. This would be no different at all than picking up food from any school. Two is that teachers take the food on behalf of the children, and throw it out. Good, no. Fraud, likely no. Three, teachers sign up but don’t take the food, that would be problematic.