SPS board extends contract with Aramark

Springfield Public Schools’ lengthy relationship with school meal manager Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) will continue.

Five members of the SPS Board of Education – Judy Brunner, Sarah Hough, Susan Provance, Gail Smart and Shurita Thomas-Tate – voted Feb. 24 to extend the pact, started in 1991, for up to five more years.

Nearly 84% of the $8.4 million contract for the 2026-27 school year, which starts July 1, is for food and supplies. Food expenses include school meals, such as breakfast and lunch, plus juice and milk.

Aramark has an 11-person on-site management team – led by Kim Keller, director of operations – and they oversee the school meal program and the more than 200 nutrition service workers, who are district employees.

Board Vice President Danielle Kincaid was absent and Maryam Mohammadkhani, who participated via Zoom, abstained.

Prior to the vote, Mohammadkhani called Keller to the podium, thanked her for answering “many questions” prior to the meeting and then asked questions related to the dinner program and upcoming committee meetings.

“I don’t want to put you on the spot, and I am not going to, but I wanted to share some information with you, and then I have four questions I want to ask,” she said. “I am going to go over my five minutes (then) we can stop, give everybody an opportunity to chime in, and then I can pick up my second five minutes.”

Board protocol allows each board member up to five minutes on each agenda item and, once others have had a chance to speak, they can have another five minutes.

Mohammadkhani asked questions about beverage options, including the types of milk offered, and started to ask about survey results when her initial time ran out.

At that point, Thomas-Tate called for a vote, cutting off additional comments for any board member, and was supported by Brunner, Hough, Provance and Smart.

The Aramark contract was presented at the Feb. 10 board study session and the topic of school nutrition, including the amount of added sugar, has been discussed in prior meetings.

“We have had this discussion ad nauseam,” Thomas-Tate said.

After the Aramark contract was approved, Mohammadkhani said cutting off discussion was “highly unusual.”

“It would be detrimental to the board relations to cut off debate on something that is normal and routine and not out of order,” she said. “I was not afforded the opportunity to ask my questions.”

Brunner responded: “So noted, Dr. Mohammadkhani.”

At the end of the meeting, in a time set aside for board comments, Mohammadkhani used her allotted time to comment about school nutrition and the results of school meal program surveys. She also spoke again about not getting to talk again prior to the vote.

“Our debate time is not meant to give speeches. It is meant to clarify and ask questions,” Thomas-Tate said, in response. “And…this time our board member was not asking questions, they were just giving a speech and the time is being misused.”