MENDOTA – At the Dec. 21 board of education meeting, the Mendota elementary school board approved Arbor Management as the lowest qualified responsible bidder for food service for the remainder of this school year and for four renewals for a total annual cost of $258,868.85.

There was one lower bid, however the company did not meet the all of the requirements including disclosure of pending litigations. The bid was $3,000 less than Arbor Management’s bid.

After not being able to replace the district’s retiring cafeteria director, Kristen School, district superintendent, looked at other options to provide meals to the students. The approval to seek a food service vendor was given at the Oct. 19 meeting.

Jeff Krause of Arbor Management spoke to the board at Thursday’s meeting.

Arbor Management services the K-12 market and operates in Wisconsin and Illinois. Krause noted they will work with the district to create a specialized program. They have dieticians and chefs on staff to create meals that students like. “We want to help the students learn and understand nutrition,” said Krause.

They also will offer promotions and signage to engage the students. “We want the students to be excited to come to lunch and have a good meal,” he added.

A food service director will be hired for the district to work with Arbor Management and cafeteria workers will remain employees of the district, as well.

By law under the National School Lunch Program, Arbor Management will utilize at least 85 percent of the district’s commodities and lunch prices will continue to be set by state guidelines.

In other news, School noted that the State still owes the district $34,457 from last year and $340,427 for this year, for a grand total of $374,884.

School noted that under the new funding structure, the district should receive around $110,000.

As the district waits for the reimbursements, School commented, “There are so many loopholes still to address that it is better just to wait for the money instead of getting it and having to send it back.”

The board approved adoption of the tax levy. The tax rate is projected to be $2.63 per $100 of assessed valuation. That is just slightly lower than last year. The current levy is 104.9 percent of last year’s extension and did not require a public hearing.

The board received the results of the lead testing in the water at the three buildings in the district. The testing was required under a new law. Two hundred and four samples were taken from faucets and drinking fountains. There were a couple of “hot spots” in the results, mainly from faucets that did not get much use and that students do not drink from. “We are identifying the areas and taking care of it,” stated School.

Details of the results from Test, Inc. of Peru will be posted on the district website.

The board of education also presented summaries from the Triple I conference held in Chicago in November. Members attended talks on connecting with the community, the superintendent evaluation process, funding, strategic planning, the power of positivity, and the role of the board president.

There was discussion on the approval of destruction of audio recordings of closed session minutes sessions prior to June 2016. By law, recordings are only required to be kept for 18 months. Board member Joel Johnson voiced his opinion that the recordings should be kept in storage, indefinitely.

Larry Sheaves voted in agreement with Johnson. The motion carried with Sean Pappas, Mandy Ossman, Tim Pohl, and Kristen Kain approving the action. Theresa Komitas was absent.

The resolution for issuing General Obligation Refunding Bonds was tabled. This item was tabled due to the fact that First Midstate received three bids for the district’s bonds but none met the threshold to restructure due to the unsteady nature of the tax law changes.

In the board’s new “Pause for Applause” to recognize individuals helping the district, Traci Jones was acknowledged for performing the Heimlich maneuver on a staff member who was choking during a Thanksgiving celebration in the Life Skills classroom. “You never know how you are going to react in a situation like that and Traci jumped in and performed a life-saving Heimlich maneuver,” said School.

School also recognized Vicki Johnson and Lisa Setchell for being nominated for the Mendota Area Chamber of Commerce’s Gold Star Employee Award, last month.

Finally, the board approved employment of Jessica Santiago as a developmental pre-K paraprofessional and Amanda Inmon as an at risk pre-K paraprofessional, effective immediately.

The next regular monthly board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the District 289 Education Center and is open to the public.