001and take time to talk to you guys about um truckwells and um the vision and what we can do for you guys. So, you should all have a vision book in front of you and we will be uh walk you through it's a fairly large comprehensive book, but we will at a high level walk through it and I certainly want to have time for questions and any questions that come up, you know, feel free to talk to me about. So, first off, I wanted to start with so we've been working um just for the last couple weeks gathering some financial information from you guys and where we're at today based off the information we see today. It so I'll let me take a step back. So, when we work with the school district, we're able
002to significantly save the district on food cost and on labor cost. And what we do with those savings is then reapply them to your program to bring this book to life. So for higher quality food items, more options, educational programs in aesthetic improvements, um to update the space a little, which we took a look at your cafeteria today, they look beautiful. So you know, some marketing materials, signage, things like that. And then also to we take those savings to apply them back to the staff so we can pay the staff um higher wages and be sure to do annual raises. We also really invest in um training. So we take those savings we find and pour them back into the program. So, as we've taken a look at the initial um financial information we've received
003so far, we are seeing that it looks like for at least for the immediate future, year one, um this program would probably still run in a deficit with us. Um and it's contributed to a few different things. And so what I would like to say is we're looking for a long-term partnership. We don't want to come in here and just tell you what you want to hear to earn your business to win your business. There's some challenges that are already existing in the food service program today where it's running in a deficit. So our role is not necessarily to come in and just all of a sudden solve that. We could if we did not make improvement. If we were just to come in and take over purchasing um and hire all the people, but
004we didn't invest in more training for the associates, we didn't invest in uh more options and educational programs and some of the things that we're going to talk about tonight, then yeah, we could absolutely solve that financial problem. But again, our model is to take those savings and pour them back into your program. So, I did want to say we are looking for long-term partnerships with anyone that we partner with. And so, with CO, we would like to um just I just want to be completely transparent and put it out there that if we if you do move forward and put out a bid. It looks like at least right now now as we get to going, we might find some additional, you know, financial information that could answer some questions. But based off of
005what we're seeing right now, it looks like we probably would be at a deficit. But what I would tell you is the team that we have in place, we would put a director role here that would work closely with Miss Betty. And then we would also have behind that person that we put into place with that person has Carl who's back here. Um, you also have chef support, marketing support, um, finance support. all areas of business there support people. Our goal is to work our tails off to get in here and to get this program turned around to get it, you know, break even plus making money. That's the goal because our goal is to pour into the program for you to have a healthy program so then year after year you can continue reinvesting
006back into the program. But we also like to be completely upfront and completely transparent. I don't want to just win your bid and say hey you know all's great and then at the end next year at the end of the year go well we didn't hit that number sorry and then have a lot of excuses I want to get it on the table and just say right now the way it looks would be in a deficit but we are going to work very hard and we've got a lot of different ideas already um where we can maximize the revenues and we can maximize um the the the funding coming into the school district. So, we've got a lot of ideas, but I also don't want to put out a proposal that's based on if everything
007goes right, here's where we are. I don't want to paint pie in the sky and not be able to deliver. I'd rather, you know, start here and go, we're going to grow from here. So, I wanted to just get that out there and let you know. But where's where do we want to take the program? So, this vision book has been created based off of, you know, I've had a a pretty long-term relationship with some of you guys and and gotten to learn over the last several years about Mcome School District, about things that are important to your students here, about some of the struggles and the things that you guys are are looking at. Um, and so I have built this book based off of all those com conversations combined. That's exactly what it
008is. It's a vision book. We're dealing with real people, real teams. Our goal and our motto is brilliant at the basics. We know when we come into a program, we're taking team members that um you know, maybe they haven't been exposed to doing a lot of scratch cooking and they've gotten set ways and set menus and stuff. We've got to be brilliant at the basics. We can't just come in here. It's not a flip of the switch. It's not, you know, snapping our fingers. is coming in here working with real people, getting in the trenches and going, "Let's work together. Let's meet the associates where they're at, train, and grow together." Um, so this book is a vision book, and it is we have regular meetings with our partners. So, you may see some things
009in here that you go, "Absolutely, I love this. Definitely want to do it." You may see some things that you go, "Not for us." And that's okay, too. This is a vision book and in a partnership we have regular meetings with you to make sure we're hitting what your vision is. And guess what? Your vision could eb and flow and change as the partnership gets going. So um I will give you a highle ever overview of the sections. If there's anything I'll definitely make time at the end, but if there's any questions you have, uh I'm I'm happy to answer anything you have. So, the first section talks about really kind of what we just went over, like how do we make this work? How do we bring this book to to life? It really
010drills down to our parent company is Compass Group. Compass Group is the largest purchaser of food in the world. We're spending over $40 billion on food a year. So when we work with a partner, we are able to instantly save you on food cost, not just food cost, paper cost, uh chemicals, anything that it takes to run your food service program, even down to equipment or anything you need for the aesthetics of the place. Anything that relates to that, we're able to purchase on your behalf and save you money there. We're also able to significantly save you on your labor cost. In the initial review, it looks like your fringe rates right about 53%. That's pretty high. So, with us, we're gonna be able to cut that in half. So, now we found those two
011buckets. That's what makes up a food service program, food and labor. For the most part, we're going to be able to significantly save. So, these first few pages are talking about how do we make this book come to life? How do we find the money? We're not planning to come in and cost your program any more money than what you're already budgeting. We're coming to find those savings and we take those savings to do these things. So that's what this first section is about. So it's interesting under the compass umbrella. We do Chartwells just does public school K12. We live and breathe USDA, but we've got companies that do sports and entertainment. We just did all the food at the Super Bowl. Um we've got groups that do higher ed, hospitals, senior living. I think
012we were looking the other day just in Mississippi, we've got under the compass umbrella 85 different partnerships that you know within the business and industry and sports world. So we talked about people. So last in the initial reports we have it looks like a lot of your associates have been here uh just for a few years fairly high turnover. Our recommendation would be to move those associates over. We're going to look at giving them an initial pay raise. We also do like I mentioned annual raises but we really invest in the people. So one of our programs is called hypo and that is high potential for hourly associates. So we're a people centered company. We invest in our people. Our people are our best asset. We need to develop and grow from within. So for
013the highost program that is for hourly associates that are looking for a career path. Perhaps they want to move into a salary leadership role. The HIPO program takes those high potential hourly associates. They get to be part of the program. They get hands-on um development. They get mentors. They get to be on finance calls, marketing calls. They get so much development, but we set them up for success. It's not just like a check of the box, throw them into, you know, a leadership role. We set them up when they're ready and then they get to move into leadership roles. And when you're talking about an hourly associate that's making, you know, 13 bucks an hour and now all of a sudden they move into a salary leadership role, those are things that are life-changing. Those
014are things that drive our company. Those are things that are the foundation of who we are. And so those are things that are happening all across the United States every day. So there may be associates that they don't have any ambition or desire to move into another role. That's fine, too. My mom was in that boat when I started school. She came to school to be the teacher a she was fine in that role. Then that was where she stayed. But here's the deal. Those associates, maybe they need to move. Maybe a spouse moves. When you're talking about Compass Group that's already got so much business in the state, not just K12 business, but under the Compass umbrella, there's opportunities for those associates to be able to take roles elsewhere should they need to move
015or something. So the opportunity and growth is there. Uh so that's kind of what this first section is about. We pay uh we pay twice a month and we also pay uh we have what's called same day pay. We have an app for associates that need uh their funds right away. We've got an app for that. Most don't need it right away. They wait for their every two week check. Um and then during breaks from school they will be eligible for unemployment. So um between that and the raise that we give and then they would be uh they're going to be able to financially come out ahead on um their paycheck. We've got our cheers recognition program. That's a program that really it's a hard role. Uh I step into the cafeterias a couple times
016a year and put on the apron, put on the hairet and say, "Let me make sure I never forget what this role is all about." That's a difficult role. Last time I did it, they had me running down ramps with carts of food. So, we've got our Chartwells Cheers program that recognizes those associates. And this isn't like a once a month or once a year award. This is per school where we can it even brings it down to the associate level where they can give high five awards to their associates. And those type of things really help keep the morale up, see that they they're able to see that they're recognized and their work really truly matters. do a lot with um just giving back to with the newsletters and stuff because you've got to
017really market the program not just internally but externally as well. The next section is all about custom menus and I'm realizing Mr. Big told me 20 minutes so I'm going to put a little bit speed up on some of the sections or I'll be here all night. So feel free as we get to the end if there's questions, please let me know. But you guys got to taste some of the great food tonight. I wanted to make sure everything you ate tonight, you would see that on your students menus within the first couple weeks of school. So and we've done tastings before. Everything is off of our um off of our menus. So great food. We want to have more options for the students. We also want to have the students be able to have
018their voice. So, we do lots of surveys, we do lots of taste tests, we do lots of popups where students can sample the food. Um, so those are a lot of fun things. And then the next section is cafe innovation and design. So, as I mentioned, a lot of your schools look really good. So, some things, some simple things, some signage and marketing materials and custom things like that can really help pop. We also because we work with so many different vendors, we get lots of um like coolers and chip racks, some of those things that give that retail look. So those are things that we can do that really don't cost that much money that we can really make a big splash and bring those caferies that already look really good, really to life
019and give that retail look. Our motto is retail ready. When we walk into a school, we're looking for the drinks to all be facing and it to have that retail ready look. Those are things students see when they're out and about and we want to imple implement that here at the school too. Some of the ideas I put in for the uh vision book, you know, carts and stuff. And that's again when I talk about getting in the trenches and you know, just really getting in here working. We're going to just really need to watch and see the student patterns. Are there are there doors a lot of students come through and they're bypassing the cafeteria? Sometimes you see that at the high school level. we're going to need to get in here, observe, talk
020to the team, and just see what's really going on. But carts and things are great ways to meet students where they are, and uh make sure that we are not missing an opportunity to to get a meal out cuz one, you need the funding for it. And two, we need those students eating because we do know that it affects their behavior in the classroom, affects test scores, affects everything. We don't need students hangry. If I miss a meal, it doesn't go well. Then I've also put in here um ideas. These are things that we do at schools that as a program is uh evolving and we're financially in positive we're going to be looking to continue innovating. So these are like coffee shops, alternate serving sites. So in these every site you have you'd be
021able to get a full meal at and sometimes we can do all the cart. We do fro slushies things that students are looking for. Um lots of good examples of that. In Arkansas there was a underutilized closet. It was close to an outdoor area in the library and we noticed that students, some students just didn't want to come to the cafeteria. They'd rather go to the library or outside. So, we used we asked the school, "Hey, can we turn this underutilized large closet into a little onthe-go store?" They said yes. That that uh area is getting so much traction and business picking up those students that they were originally missing. This next section on pages 54 and 55. So, one of the things I've learned is attendance. We want students to come to school and
022that may be a challenge. Some students want to miss school, skip school. So, guess what? We want to give them that that fear of missing out. That's a big trend with school. Kids are always like, I don't want that fear of missing out. So, we've got lots of different ideas to attract students to come to school because we know food brings people together. And if we can have fun events um on a regular basis and work with you guys to go, hey, let's let's figure out how we can tackle this issue. We want students to come to school. We want to have some things that are exciting for them. So, I listed some of our best practices, but again, this is a custom program. Like nothing is nothing can any idea you have, we can
023figure out a way to bring it to life. So, I put some some ideas in there like popup surprises, uh, tiger bucks reward, seasonal attendance anchors, lunch month lunch connection. So, I put some great ideas in there. Um, but we want to get the students involved and we feel like the more the students are involved and part of the program, it makes it exciting. They don't just uh take a meal, but they're part of it and they like it. And so, we would certainly be looking for ways to to work on that. We our our motto is nourish to flourish and we know that food anchors everything. It does in you guys and adults. It does in me and it certainly does in the students too. And when we can dial it back and really
024talk to students about food and what it does and how it affects their mood, those things just can really create lifelong uh grade habits for those students. We've got in here our Neutri Slice app. So everybody, students, teachers, parents would have access to the app. It's going to have all the menu items on there, a picture of the food, all the calorie content. Uh, if students have allergens, parents can check those off so they know. And it also pulls recording so school nurses love it. And get this, it even's got a spot where students can rate the food. So, it's very much like what they would see if they went out to a restaurant. We've got um, again, I just threw in some things that we are doing. um some innovative things that we're doing
025uh like popups, carts, datadriven success. We cannot do anything without the data, right? We do not want to come in here. We take working with a partner extremely serious. We want to be good stewards of your finances, good stewards of your program. And so everything has to be tied to the data. The data paints the picture. It tells everything. So, we do not want to get to the end of the quarter or end of the school year and go, "Oh my goodness, we were not trending well with breakfast." We are watching these numbers really very very closely, having regular scheduled meetings with you guys. Um because we want to see, let's say your elementary schools, if you you're serving a certain breakfast item, maybe two of the schools it's going great and one of the
026schools it's not. the data starts opening the window to go, okay, well, why is it not going well at that school? Are those students not like it? Is it a training issue? Maybe the staff's not creating the recipe correctly. What is it? So, the data really opens the door for a lot of uh decisions and gives us the information we need because what our job is as a food service management company to you guys is so you guys don't have to be in the weeds with child nutrition. You don't have to be in the weeds with production records and stuff. That's our job. So, we bring the data. We have it very uh readily available. So, when we have conversations with you, we can talk to you about the data where we're at. So, you
027guys still have ownership of the program. We can make decisions like that without going, well, how do I make this decision? I don't know all what backs it up. So that's our job to make sure we're providing that information in a digestible manner. So you're not having you can stay focused on the education and we can be the experts in food service and we can work together. It's a true partnership. And then I put in here catering. So I've heard some mention before about catering and so you can have all your schoolboard meetings catered, but you can even take it steps further. We can do proms. We can do stuff that's outside of the school district. Rotary Club. Let's say you you schoolboard members have, you know, a a meeting, a conference or something. We
028can cater all that. And here's the thing, when you cater, um all that money keeps it in house in your food service program. So, you're really just paying cost for the food and then anything uh made off of that. Let's say you're doing an external catering to, you know, the public or something, the funding made from that goes back into your food service program. So, it also keeps it and most folks I work with, they're like, "Well, we still want to support small businesses and get food from around here." That's fine. We're not saying we're exclusive and you can only cater with us, but that is there. And then when you do cater, you're not having to pay the prices you would out in a restaurant because you get things at cost. You've already got
029the staff here. And catering can be anything from, you know, a teacher back to school, a small lunch, a breakfast to something extremely high-end like you would get at a fine dining. And the goal is you guys tell us what the what the atmosphere is, what the event is. Let us come, you know, do the planning and then come back to you and say, "Here's what we've got together." You guys get to check off and say, "Yep, that's what I was looking for." Or no, go back to the drawing board. Again, the goal is to be able to take these things off your plate and so we can assist and help with any of those type events that you've got going on. And I put some pictures. Most of these have just been taken on
030my iPhone. I like to do, you know, show you the the real deal. So, some of the quality is not as clear, but these have been taken as I've been out and about in different events. So, I've shown you like some teacher work day. Um I did a teacher send off. uh these this was a superintendent regional lunchon. This was uh lamb shops that was a huge hit. So um and when we do these things we bring in our because again as I started we put a person in here but that person they've got to have the support in all areas of business. So one of the support people is culinary. So you saw chef Jay here tonight chef Danny. We've got support folks. sweet. We've got other chefs in the area that are not
031here. So, any of these like really high-end special events, we bring our chefs in and no additional charge to you guys um to bring them in and make sure that your events come off. Maybe you're doing a summer kickoff. There's a lot of different events, but events are fun and we really shine at events. Then the next section is talking about support at every level. And again, uh nothing it it is a huge thing. You've got to have the support at all all the different layers to really make it work. We do a lot in our programs. Again, I go back. We got to be brilliant at the basics. Can't come in here and just throw it all out at once or it's not going to go well. We've got to um come in with
032a smart approach, but we've got all the support people built in to make sure that it goes well. And then I did a map on page 88. These show our accounts. We just picked up Chicksaw County. So, they're going to be new for us for next school year. And uh I've got on here Beluxy. We have been at Beluxy for 24 years. So, long-term partnership again is from having real conversations, the tough conversations, and being a true partner. Uh we've also been at Pearl and Long Beach for for quite some time. And um so we've got a lot of a lot of our districts here and we're growing. So we expect to grow uh we expect to grow this year as well. The next uh section is facilitating uh community involvement. So we like to
033be an extension and spread the good news. There's a lot of bad news out there. We want to get ahead of the narrative. We you should not even really see Chartwells really very much on much of anything and we want to get ahead for our partners and do local news segments. I think Carl was telling me just this week Pon we're going to this the second time we've done a news segment on them. So when they come out and they're talking and stuff we're representing the school district not ourselves. So we look for opportunities. I happen to snap some pics cuz I went this is a school in Arkansas Hot Springs School District and uh he's on the news literally at least once a month and when he's there he's like hey Chef Andrew Tasto
034here from Hot Springs School District here's what we got going on for our you know breakfast program this week and he's doing a meal just like you would see on the cooking network where he's making up a meal but he's like and then the news people are like this is what the kids are eating and he's like yeah and so it's a really cool thing Because again, schools today, you know, students today are moving to home school, moving to different districts. So, we want to support our partners to get the great news out. And we know that food brings people together. It's a great thing to talk about. So, the more that we can advocate on your behalf and help tell that message, whether it's on the news or maybe a local uh farmers market
035or an event you're having in the community. Um, those are things that we want to be at, we want to show up at, and we want to make you guys look good. It's not about rep representing charts, it's about representing the home school district. So then the next section is the nutritional education. And we've got so many educational programs. I will not go into long detail about all of them, but we have got programs. So, all of our programs are meant to educate students, to talk to them about how that makes them feel, how that affects their test scores, um, how that affects just their emotions and stuff, but also to introduce students to new foods. Food doesn't come from the grocery store. We want students to understand where food comes from. Doesn't just come
036from, you know, Kroger's. So, we want them to understand where food comes from, how it affects them. We also want to introduce them to food that maybe they would never never get to try or haven't tried. I was telling Mr. Vic, you know, I'm a grown adult. I just had Indian food like a year ago. I love it because that was not something that growing up in my home, my mom ever thought to expose me to. So, I went all these years without getting to try it. We've got our global eats program and that's exactly what it does. It introduces food from around the world to students. It does it in a very non pressure way. So, we set up fun popups so they can come in the cafeteria. We can sometimes integrate into the
037classroom, but uh most of the time you'll see it in the class in the cafeteria. Students come in, for instance, on Global Eats. Maybe we have food from India or the Caribbean. One of our chefs, he's from Trinidad, so he helped create some recipes for us. Maybe it's from Italy. They get to try food from around the world. The younger kids, everything's age appropriate. like a high schooler, they're not going to want this little passport book. I might, but they probably won't. So, the little kids, they get uh a passport book. And as they try food from around the world, here's China. They get to stamp their passport. And so, it's done in a non-pressure way when the students can try food, their friends are trying it, too. Everybody really gets into it. And then
038we also that's a great time to talk to the students. Hey, how do you like this? If they don't like the Indian food, we don't want to put it on the line and it go to waste, right? So, it's a good time to check the temperature, see what they like, and then the food that goes well, and usually it goes over really well when they try something new, we put that on the line so they can try it and it'll be on the line the next day. So, it increases participation as well. We've got Mood Boost. And Mood Boost, I've got and I think, yes, we put a bag on everybody's desk. Y'all have some of these items in there, but Mood Boost is all about teaching the students about food and how it makes
039them feel. And so their samples they would get, it's all done fun. Remember I talked about the marketing support. They send the claims, they send all the swag items, all the things to make it good and where all the stuff matches. The students would get their little playing card that it's got the recipe. They can take that home. And then we also have fun little bracelets and uh glasses and stuff. So, lots of fun things for the students. So, we've got student choice. Student choice is really more on the high school, middle school level. And that's really showing students, hey, their voice matters. So, what that would look like, you'd have your your popup. Students would walk in, have two different doodling samples. I think tonight we had like a mac and cheese and then
040we had a Caribbean dish. And the students would try both and then they get to vote in real time either on an iPad or paper ballot and then guess what that winning item we put it on social media. We make a big deal about it. It's also fun for the associates because they we have that camaraderie going I made this vote for this. The other one I vote for this. So then that goes online the next day. So it's showing kids, hey your voice matters. Let's speak up. They even get a I voting sticker just like you would when you go to the polls. So, it's a lot of fun. Discovery Kitchen, that is a whole program that's got all kinds of cool stuff. Every month's got a different theme. That's the program that includes
041like the chef competitions. And I'm not talking like just a culinary program. We believe the kids at all ages from elementary all the way to high school need that exposure. So, we've got chef competitions built into our Discovery Kitchen programs. And then power up. Sports nutrition is so important and I know sports are really big here, but we used to just gear our sports nutrition to athletes, but we've taken a step back and revamped our Power Up program because we realize we're all athletes in different ways. There's a lot of different things. You don't have to be on an actual team to be an athlete. So, our sports nutrition power up is really diving into the athletes and all students across the board um with great sports nutrition programs. And then I threw in here
042just for fun. It's not anything we've talked about yet, but concessions. We can certainly help with concessions and that can look a lot of different ways. Some schools, they've got uh you know already groups that are doing it. If nothing else, we could order the food so you get the discounted price on the food. So somebody doesn't have to make sand runs. We can offer that. It's not something we've talked about yet, but I just want to let you know it's an option. It's not even anything you got to make a hard fast decision on. It could just be as the program develops, you may go, "Hey, could you start ordering food for this?" And then the last section, I just wanted to throw in some of my favorite pictures that I've taken uh as
043I'm go in and and tour schools and stuff. I threw in some just pictures that I think are great and just really um really showcase what we do in our schools every single day. A lot of it is about that career readiness. you know, exposing students from, you know, kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade, exposing them to careers in culinary because not only are we trying to capture your associates, we also want to show students from an early age there there are so many great jobs in hospitality. Um, this company you can be anything from finance to sales to marketing to operations, um, you name it, business. And so may not be anything anybody wants to go into, but we want to expose students and just give them hands-on experience um in in
044career readiness. And sometimes that looks like some of our professional speakers coming and integrating into the classroom to give a talk on something. Um sometimes it can be helping at a career fair. It can look really like whatever our partners are looking for. And then I did put in here because this is uh when I talked about we help improve the aesthetics of the school. We're going to do some u marketing that's included on our dime that we always do marketing and signage and stuff. But if there's ever the need to take it a step further, we can help. This is a school that I worked with the superintendent on. This is what their school looked like before they literally went through this dark uh line. I was like, "That looks like this room." He's
045like, "Nope. kids are getting their food there. So, we were able to do some mockups and order everything, project manage everything, and this is the turnout. Now, of course, they paid for the equipment and all the things because it's theirs, but we were able to buy it at our cost, so they were able to get lots of discounts on that. And then at no additional cost, we did all the um the mockups, we did all the project management, like all of that. There's no additional cost. as part of just us being a partner with with you guys. So, if there's anything like that and then that school also did a coffee shop cuz they had an old concession stand that was like in the middle of the the like hallways and they said we haven't
046used this in years. It's got a bunch of storage in there and I was like we can make the coffee shop. When I say coffee shop, we have to follow the rules. So, it's not the Starbucks high, you know, caffeine. Everything meets the requirements. coffee shops is just the name kids like to say, but at all these stations, they've got, you know, food, they've got fro, slushies, and they've got meals there. So, all of our stations are um for where you get a full meal at. So, what questions I kind of went through that fairly quickly, but what questions do you guys have for me? >> I have one question. I actually had several answer the majority of my questions. One question that I have, you were talking a minute ago about data. Are we
047going to be able to take data from the previous year in terms of attendance and be able to use that to um determine whether or not we've had a successful year with chart wheels? I'm asking that question because I firmly believe that attendance, there's so many things that play into whether or not a student is going to come to school. And and my thing is if they're coming to school to eat, well then perhaps they'll learn something while they're here. And uh that's that's what I look at is um usually I know for our high school in May attendance is not what it needs to be because you know you have your seniors of course and then uh most of them with them being the age that they are they thought the school was over
048for them already. And so, um, when you mentioned a minute ago about the popups and and the various things that are done, is that kind of what we would look forward to in terms of, uh, attendance because we have issues with chronic absentes as well. >> Uh, yes, ma'am. So, as long as we have a good data from this school year, yes, we absolutely. So, we track um participation, we track growth year over year. So we can definitely track from where you're at today, that starting point to when we're in and we watch that really really closely to make sure that it's trending upward and if it's not like okay where where's the issue and as far as it relates to attendance. Um those are some things that we knew were some challenges for you
049guys. And so that's why when I talk about we do custom programs, we have specifically put in here attendance, innovators, innovation and um and things that are going to draw students that are going to get them involved because we also know that some students don't want to come to school and sometimes it's they need a job, they need a purpose. And so, um, perhaps that's one of the things that we mentioned or maybe that's more one-on-one mentorship if it's we also work with really well and some of our programs work with um special needs students work in the um the programs with students. We don't want to push stuff under the rug. We want to understand how we can help support in those areas. The alternative learning students, we do a lot of work with
050alternative learning students too and we found um alternative learning students when they have that purpose. And no, we can't have them behind the line and cooking and all that, but guess what we can have them do? We can help them take an inventory. We can help we can have them um uh do some uh development programs where we're looking at spreadsheets and just different things that we can get involved with the students. Um there's nothing that we have to say, hey, this is it's not a cookie cutter. based off what the client is looking for. But those are some things that we do with across the country with like alternative learning, special needs. Um where where are those gaps and where are those areas that we need to really work on? >> I have two
051questions. Um first question is you said the first year. So, how long the program was approved out? >> Yeah. So, that's a difficult question to answer right now. So, what I would say is we're going to need to come in. I know you guys have a dinner program. Um, there are a lot of things that we have identified that could significantly turn the program around pretty quickly. Um, but it's difficult to answer that right now because we've got to come in and make sure that those are things that the district's going to allow us to do. And there's no because we don't just because we have great ideas for it. We don't push and say you have to do this. Like these are ideas that we have to get the program to drive revenue. But
052there's been times that we work with schools and we've got an idea for to do something like that. maybe it's a different breakfast program or something and we get sometimes objections where principal's like, "No, I don't want to do that." So, it's hard to give an exact answer, but what I would say is if we've got a district that's on board that says, "Hey, we're going to dive into those suggestions." I think we get there pretty quickly. >> My second question is kind of kind of personal. What are your ideas? What are some of the ideas that you present to maximize? >> Yeah. So, um, I want to be careful not to give too many away since it's reported and we we have obviously competitors looking at possibly bidding on this. I want to make
053sure that they don't steal all the ideas we have. But what I would say some of the ideas that we've talked about here in the vision book today. Um, but we've got a lot of things in place that we know work. And again, going back to that data and tracking that data. This is not a a just a throw a spitball at it and hope it works. We've got real data behind it to go, hey, we know if we do X, this is the outcome we've seen at, you know, 10 schools. This is the outcome we've seen at Mississippi schools. We've got data to make sure that the things that we're suggesting that we're pretty confident this is going to get us from here to there. My last question um and I think I talked
054to the gentleman that I saw the comments about that is the percentage of like farm to fresh food versus processed food. Do you know what that percentage is? >> Yes. So we do um we do about 70% what we would call like scratch speed scratch. Um the the percentage you don't see like that other 30% is like packaged you know chips or maybe Excuse me. If we need the please step off. So I'd say about 70% is what we've seen on average of scratch and then that other 30% is you know like maybe a packaged breakfast item or an allocart item. But again it goes back to that being brilliant basics at the very beginning. you're going to see more of that um because it takes a while to really get fatigue. Um we're going
055to get in and start training them on recipes and showing them that we don't have to use processing. We don't have to just do frozen food. We can work with them on that. So, >> thank you. >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. >> Yes, sir. >> Um two quick questions. The first question is will the board will there be financial progress reports provided for board be able to monitor the success of the growth? >> Absolutely. Yes. We have a very transparent program and yes you will have regular reports. We meet with our partners on a regular basis um at least a once a month basis. So Carl who's back here that's enrolled is to make sure he's meeting with uh the client and we also do board reports. So yes whatever you meet in that regard we
056meet with you on a regular basis. >> And my last question is if there are say for instance there are popular meals among students that they primarily prefer over others. Will we have the opportunity to switch to those popular meals that encourage them to come to school? Cuz sometimes they may say this is the day they're going to have been there. Make sure they're here for that. >> Yes. So, absolutely. So, um all it's done in two parts. So, first off, if there's some popular meal that's like a hometown favorite here that all your students love, all we have to do is go, "Hey, what is that?" You give us that recipe and we're going to run it through with our chefs and dieticians and make sure it all meets specs and stuff. We want
057everything compliant. But if you've got hometown favorites, we are absolutely going to eat those. But as far as like the popular meals, yes. So we see that and we're going to that's going to be through surveys through example days through questioning the students all that and talking to the students parents staff we do a lot of surveys but we have so when we look at like the secondary level every day they're going to and again this is we don't start out with all these options but every day they're going to have multiple different what I like to call like concepts. So, think of it like a food court. And it doesn't matter if you've got um just the traditional like one line. We make that into different sections. So, every day, and again, this is
058just an example. We're going to see what your students like, but typically most schools have um like an Italian station. We call that tomato. We have a Mexican station, that's our Sono brand. We have a deli station that's called So Deli. Um like a create station. So, we've got about five to six different concepts that we have every single day at the at the secondary level. And then on each of those concepts are student favorites. So, for instance, the Mexican line is usually a big favorite. And so, every day those students would know that they can go in, they can get nachos, a taco. We have like two to three different types of protein, either the chips and the tortillas. So they'd be able to go to that Mexican station and mix and match. They'd
059also have like rice and beans and salsa, cheese dip, all that. So they'd be able to go up there and mix and match. So that's like a student favorite. Our tomato, which is Italian pizza and stuff. Every day they would have like two to three different types of pizza flavors. And then we may also have a pasta. And then for instance, so that's one of my favorite lines. It is literally and again it's after when we start out sometimes we do just your regular bread but once we get going we do fresh baked bread and stuff and it is and different sauces and stuff that go on it. It's like going into like a a Jersey and Mike or Subway is really good and then the students can pick from all the different meats, the
060cheeses, the breads, all the condiments that go on top. So yes, there's going to be standard things that are all the time they have with different since you've got your basics, but then you can add in all the different new things. >> Any more questions, Madam President? And just one last thing, Mr. deal. Um, I just want to make simple for clarity like on top of everything else that you stated, you shop will also be able to support our annual program such as prom, military ball, uh, teach appreciation, etc., etc. Correct. >> Absolutely. AB 100% and we love doing that type of stuff. Um, absolutely. And it should be a white glove experience. You should just be able to tell us the date, the time, what the atmosphere is, and let us do the cleaning.
061and we can really do some um neat things. And that's where I put in that catering section. Some takes some stuff we've done. Um school, I just want to share this because they came before us once before. They also support the program that we have at the school. They call that program 100%. And if the kids that's in that program graduate out, they also hire them first as needed employees within the district. So that was that what y'all told us the last time and you didn't share that today but I just wanted to share that with the new board members that >> that we like at Pearl a lot of the graduates wind up working there and being there with y'all for years. >> Absolutely. that is something um we want to hire from within
062and we want to hire students that student that's gone through been at the district they're first of mind for jobs and here's the thing then once they get in to working with us we're developing them all along the way there are I cannot it it's just been such a blessing since I moved over here to Charles I I wouldn't have realized all the different opportunity until I get in and it still amazes me when I see all the different family of companies we have and all like that's I mean we just did a big contract with the military we did a huge contract with Marriott that's like worth almost $1.2 2 billion a year. So our company's hands and everything. And when we can have talent and we can work with them, whether it's a
063student or associate already here, I mean, the opportunities really are endless. And I I feel very blessed to work here. And I absolutely love this place. And I see it every day in our schools. The the level of food we're doing, how we're taking care of employees, how we're developing from within. And it's just it's a really great thing. But what I will say and I always like to tell leaders like yourself is it doesn't happen overnight and um I wish it did but it doesn't. We're dealing with real people and folks are resistant to change and so our best approach is to come in and let's start, you know, building trust. Let's start giving them the support they need. Let's build this trusted relationship and work with them to develop and train and continue.
064Like the training really never stops. It's it's it's like it's just a natural thing that it's in done in a kind positive way. And so it doesn't all happen overnight and it's going to take some time. But again, we're not looking to race to the bottom just to win your business and tell you what you want to hear. We want a long-term partnership. It does not do me any good if I just tell you what you want to hear and then we're out of here in a year. Um because we've made false promises. And I really like to look at the scope of things and just which is what we've started to do to tell you, hey, here's where we're at. But I what you have our promise is we're gonna work we're gonna work
065extremely hard to get the program going the right direction and then we can't stop. It's just like at a restaurant. You can't let your can't stop innovating. You can't stop creating cool new recipes and and marketing or the restaurant dies off. And we look at it just that same way. We've got to keep making it innovative for the students. And you know, you guys would be our next set of, you know, folks that we would have called so that folks next year I talked to like I need them to be able to call y'all and y'all say, "Yeah, Char has done what they said." >> Well, Miss Le, we appreciate you calling for us. We thank you for the food and um I think Mr. um Superintendent Big has a bid on that. So, if
066that's what we going to, y'all welcome. >> Sounds good. Well, thank you guys for your time tonight and um I really appreciate it. So, thanks a lot. >> Thank you. >> Thank all of y'all. Okay. >> Wa is getting together. If you need to have a conversation, please step out because it's disrupting um the presenters or the people that's talking. Next on the work session is discussion of the April 13 school board meeting agenda. First, we'll have the call to order school board district vision and mission. 30 second of silence adoption of the agenda as written technology update. Mr. big. So, are we doing that today or we going to wait till the meeting? >> What's up, y'all? >> Then we'll have school at risk Higgins and then school at risk demurriculum update, Miss Toby
067Butler. That will be done during the meeting. We have a review of the minutes. Any questions or concerns about the review of the minutes? Then we'll have review and approval of financial statements. Any questions or concerns about financial statements? Then we'll have review and approval of claims docket. Any questions or concerns about claims do? Mr. I have um a question and um I'm I'm going to pull that question because we already discussed it. I just going to share with the rest of the board about our late pay, but you already gave me that answer. Any more questions? Dr. B. >> Yes. Uh same document number 84772 page 4 of 18. Um just for clarification the um network services is this there's no location of this. >> Yes sir. identify those bas here at central office.
068It was a network technician from Howard Technologies actually had the quote for that. They're actually assisting us with a true network map. We've had some issues with our again you mentioned earlier our network is kind of old. There's some parts of it that need to be replaced. This company was literally assisting us in making sure that our network was completely mapped out, that we knew what troubles we had, what we need to replace in the near future and also to make sure that we had the correct implementation for the changes that we need to make regarding board policy. We don't have a network policy for our board. So, this company was assisting us with looking at all those things at one time. That's not all the hours that were currently used. That is a portion
069of them. We uh actually asked for 80 hours. I think they've used 48 so far and this was here at central office for the the district the district itself the district network. This was not bringing the schools. >> Okay. So basically it's what updates on polic you're saying >> not so much updates on parts updates on policy and parks problems as in to identify problem before they become one like we have the Wi-Fi go down this year we're trying to prevent that from happening again those big issues if we know they're coming ahead of time we can address them in advance to make sure we don't have 70% of our Wi-Fi network go down late late September 1st of October that's something that we're trying to prevent. Mr. Vic actually reached out through me. Uh
070we've also looked at some additional services, possibly even changing some of the way that we manage our network. This is also looking at that as well. The set of we're we're locally here on house. Everything that we do, servers, equipment is local. We were looking at seeing if it would be cost effective to shift some of that to managed services offsite, which means that we would no longer be responsible for the equipment, the upkeep of those things. We're trying to figure out whether to balance if it's cost effective to keep it here or possibly to move it off site. That's all part of the same process. And if I may add, Dr. G, also to make sure that we don't rebate this fall again, we have several school year that's completely down. So, we just
071want to just be as proactive as we can identify issues up front before you get there too late. My concern with that is that I look at other things that we're not duplicating services that could have been done. >> Yes, sir. And this and particularly when we're talking about um extended to the funds that we're getting from um the different grants as well as those funds that we are anticipating or that we have in place in regards to >> yes >> what was done with this could not come from could not come from the cyber grant. This literally came from district funds. We were looking for services that weren't covered in any of the current other parts that we have. It was not covered in any of the above. So we we used them over
072here for the uh doc claim docket number 84772 explaining that. Yes. And there's a uh claim docket number 847784 of 18. >> Oh yes sir. the SLCP came from the cyber grant. >> Yes, sir. 847784 were approved equipment as part of the cyber grant. They were the lowest quote for that equipment. We received over I think five quotes for that specific set of equipment. >> Okay. So now do you understand my mode of thinking? This is what I'm saying. You know, we had $48,000 from the South. My reason for questioning this is because I thought just my mind was black not this um network service over here couldn't be a part of it could not be a part of that. >> The cyber grant was super specific. It listed specific equipment and services. It allows
073us to have no change on it at all. So that network service was not included in the way the grant was written. We could not include that with that part. This was literally the session that they won, but they were the lowest quote for were equipment purchases only. Now Howard's one of our local vendors here in Mississippi, and I usually reach out to three to five different vendors when we're going for quotes for different projects. They've been one, not always the lowest, but they've been a part of what we've used in the past. So >> did we write the green? >> It was written by the person previous to me. Uh the department wrote it last year. It was approved through the Department of uh Homeland Security and it was all the portions of the
074grant they wrote did not go into it. So we got let's say 85 to 90% of what was requested. What was approved when the district voted to accept it was like I said super specific. It was only for certain items and services. We couldn't change those ones that was uh accepted from Department of Homeland Security. It was what it was. >> All right. Could have been >> they took out just an example those equipment you mentioned the last one 48,000 that was for specific hardware. Some of the parts needed to run that hardware like power supplies, cables, the grant did not pay for. So that had to come out of district funds. So part of my budget this year was not only to cover cost, but was also to make sure that when we did
075get grant equipment that everything needed to run and put that equipment in place was also purchased cuz there no good having a new switch if you don't have the power supply cables to make it work. So I've had to work with finance to make sure we had all those parts in. So we actually ordered some of those parts that were district funded power supplies, networking equipment, networking cables through a company out of Florida called 9 to5. They were the lowest quote on that specific set of purchases. I've made sure that because of the grant that we've gone beyond and in most cases instead of two quotes, I've actually looked for three to five if not more because I want to make sure the district is spending us money well and getting the best dollar it
076can for what we're purchasing. Any more questions? >> Yes. >> Um, if you don't mind, we need to do the mic here online at 84775 for new. So, we have an amount um for the port and it's 28. So we just received it. It was late. It's received on time. This one we received from the answer. >> That's when we received it from childish. >> They received they have to turn it to us. >> Okay. The second one is um 847781. What page was the other one? >> It was on page 25. >> It's on page five. Thank you. So well the um account number is given. Thank you. >> This is 847781. It is 5060 and it makes blinds um have purchased all the blinds and does this include the um specific custom we
077still have five that are coming in to be put But one four were installed over spring break and that was an additional cost to do that. But this is just >> so we will have an additional installation cost. >> Now I think it's only 50. The reason we outsource that is because we need to help people get all done spring break so our students meet back with the construction that will be going on restoration. >> Thank you. Uh on page 12 the uh fluency plus is there a reason why we have three different purchase orders? Plus is a company um name, but that's actually the school psychologist that uh does the functional behavior assessments, the uh emotional disability evaluations that we have. So that's the the name of this company different. >> Okay. But I
078guess my my people asking because they all come on the same date. It's actually free up comes off page 13. I could have seen it with different dates, but it's all the same. >> Yes, sir. We we have the actual individual cases that he worked on. He has a service log that he keeps. And so when the invoice came in, you got to send it in like that, but you have the separate documentation to show. >> One of them is one P, but it depends on, you know, like you said, the service log and the other two, they're the same PO. It's just two different. So um the um 847 844 845 on the same P number. So it's the same PO just different invoice. So it depends on when they came complete the work
079and got her the invoice. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure because thinking thinking from the audit side auditor make sure that we have it documented the reason why we have those three different next on page 15 of 18. And that's the U claim docket number 847872. And that's for the 76,000 for the summit project. >> Is that a um I know that that's um an installment, but do we know exactly um what the payment is for? It's for the construction at the summit um student. >> I mean with phase >> I'm not sure. >> Okay. So and then do you know um have we got a u concept how many more payments that we have ahead? >> I'm not certain about we can definitely get back with you on that information. We do
080at the anticipated closing date 15. uh meetings together, right? >> We do have another meeting. Um and Mr. Perry did express at the end of last week that needs to be really pushed to get everything done by the 15th. Um but I told myself we have contract. So they understand that they just may need a couple of days to put all the teeth on. U we have to do a punch list. have all through the building pending and identify things that may need to be fixed or um we view not done correctly and then come back in all of that. So we'll uh have him walk through the technology maintenance superintendent will walk through make slow make sure everything is complete before they leave the site once again how many days we have need to
081find stuff together come back we may some people do that walk >> I I don't want to speak to the people without looking but typically on on the hardware and everything there's a year but let me get more clarity on the workmanship before I speak that also I may have been a little off on this but as I can recall the schematic architectural designs that was presented to the board it included a presentation of the appearance of what house looks is a complete another. So my concern is I didn't walk through the squeaking on the outside and I saw where the construction is still, you know, I'm also concerned when they when they say completed that the outside appearance is closely to the presentation that was made to us. Now, I don't know if they're
082going to do anything on the outside, but right now there are some really bad complexes on the outside the building on the outside. So, that's something and I'm saying this ahead. So it's something that we got to come back and review to make sure that we get presentable. >> Yes, sir. >> And we all make a note to cover that in our meeting with Dr. What I would like to add to that is when we had the presentation that we had a few weeks ago, one of the things they talked about was the um topography of the land and how where the new building is is extremely high. and then uh whether or not it's going to be scale to where a student doesn't or me for that matter doesn't uh hurt myself if I'm
083trying to walk up or down the hill there. And I just wonder because they did talk about actually having a um couple of photos or artist renditions of what it would actually look like the entire campus. I'm saying I don't know if that's part of what they're supposed to do or not, but I get what Dr. Burks is saying. If we're if we're talking about April 15th, well, then we need to know that uh when we have a finished product, it's something that we're not going to be left with trying to actually landscape. I think uh part he calls curb hill, right? that we that we're not stuck with having to present our own curve. >> Yes, ma'am. We'll make a note of that at this point and we will report back to the board.
084Okay. So, do we have any more questions about Dr. Next we have presentation of >> Madam President we have a report and presentation of the B of the superintendent number 12. We have a four 16th session number one. >> Any questions or concern about 16 session? >> One question. I need to uh clarify it. It's indicated that there is a um an action that needs to be taken by the board on the um the lease outstanding and what in particular the only thing that we're waiting on was signatures which we got signatures from board president and from Mr. We got the signature of at le administrator and she gets it on for the county supervisor. So where we're at now is we've got everything signed on our part and we take it down to the
085county supervisors tomorrow. She get on their board meeting and they'll approve it. Then we go back to uh Ch Street and we get it uh we get it work. We get it basically turned in and they listed for us and then we put it on the website. I believe that lease was approved. >> It was approved on Yeah. last month. So it's just been approved. Okay. I'm just saying those question because he said new item board. >> Any more questions about 16? >> Madam President, number two, we have teachers of attendance report. >> Any questions or concerns? Madam President, number three, we have a uh breakdown. >> Any questions or concerns? >> Madam President, number four, we have discipline report. >> Any questions or concerns? >> Madam President, number five, we have teacher student report.
086>> Yes, ma'am. Madam President, we have the uh consent agenda out of one, two, three. Any questions or concern about uh one and two cuz we going we need to discuss the donation of the apostles and of course I'm concerned about one or two first. The third one is the um approval of the land that um was trying to that um someone wanted to donate to McCome School District. I'm going let Mr. Bid explanation about that. >> Uh yes, ma'am. Madam President, we did reach out uh to agency to do an inspection of the house just to make certain we kind of knew what we were getting into. Uh and it was discovered during that investigation uh that the house uh does contain a mess which will require uh the district to take some uh
087required steps by law in order to safely remove that material from the house. Uh Mr. Brown, you want to elaborate on what you what we found when you call the company in? >> Yes, sir. We called two contractors in to look at the house because I wanted to get an estimate on disposing of the house before so the board would know what was taken on if we had to if we accepted that as a donation and then we had to tear it down and remove it. uh during those inspections we found that there is um a good amount of estice there. So from there I went into the city and talked with Mr. and he said he's over uh demolition of the houses and he said yes and he was aware that section 22 did
088did contain asbestous and so I said what is y'all's process through the city because the quotes we were going to get were pretty high and he said well the reason for that is because you have to go through the basement get all this out and then the contractor will come in and you dispose of it. So it was after talking it was my suggestion that since it was already on the list to be demolished let the city and land owner handle that and then look at it after that because for us to take on the abatement and movement of everything I think it's going to cost us a lot more from that standpoint but the city has process in place and after talking with green he said it cost him between 10 and $18,000, which
089much lower than what we were going to be to do that. Um, so that that's my suggestion is is to let the city and the land owner handle that and then if then wants us to purchase it for whatever it cost to tear it down. I think that's still a wonderful idea. We are landlocked there. It's ironic. I talked to Mr. Vick early the year about not see purchase that property because it is right across for us. >> Thank you, Miss Brown. With that being said, I think that needs to be moved to the regular agenda for next week so that way we can vote on whether or not um we need to accept or deny the offer. So, it need to be moved to the regular agenda. >> Yes, ma'am. we would uh make
0907 to the region. >> All right. Next, Madam President, we have uh C regular agenda approval of the 26 27 school board meeting date. >> Any questions or concerns? I just want to note that um for March 2027, the first meeting will be that Wednesday because um in March the 1st and the second um Monday and Tuesday, they normally have training here at Southwest. Most noble school districts go to Southwest Community College training that day. And the following um week is um spring break. So with discussion with the superintendent, the best date for that is March 3rd. We also have one more date on here and right now I'm not sure what date it is. We will be meeting on a Tuesday because that Monday is also a holiday but other than that all the
091meetings will be on Monday. Any questions or concerns? Madam President, number two, we have approval of paid school holidays. >> Any questions or concerns? >> Number three, we have approval of the positive bids. >> Any questions or concerns? Number three, we have approval of of pay scale discussion. >> Any questions or concerns? Number five, we have approval of policy revision. >> Any questions or concerns? >> Mr. Big, I have a question. >> When we get these policy in or we customize it to what we're doing here locally? >> Yes. We often deal with making certain that we stay in comp with with Mississippi State with state laws. uh madam president and anything that we ask from you that uh pertain to school district >> yes they are they are just want to make sure I
092tag What's the correct? >> Yes, sir. >> I I'll make a note of that. I'll contact Austin with make sure he has all the right. >> Yes, sir. Madam President, number six, approval of personnel renewal classified. >> Any questions or concerns? >> Madam President, Madam President, number seven, approve a person with new or certified. >> Any questions or concerns, >> Madam President? Any questions on the I have a question. So we would have to move that entire executive session. >> Okay. >> Mother number eight, approval of McCome school district school district plan third review. Uh MSBA should be getting us our plan back to us at some point this week and we add the attachment on the agenda. >> Okay, Mr. When y'all at can you send the board member an email so that we
093can look at or you can send it to us directly where we can review it. >> Yes ma'am. >> Madam President number eight approval of request to advertise for bid for food service RLP. Um Miss ED that's number nine. Okay. Any questions or concerns, >> Madam President? Number 10, approval of committee form for the purpose of renaming McCome High School deal. >> I think that's that's name wrong because we had approved for the committee at last meeting and the committee already met. So this should say approval um of the recommendation of the renaming of the bill. >> Okay. >> Or not recommendations. >> Yes. Yes ma'am. >> M president number 11 approval of the organization chart. Any questions or concerns? >> Dr. Yes, sir. Madam President, number 12, approval of budget in question of concerns.
094M president, we have miscellaneous billis approve of resolution honoring the house of Robert Vick Jr. and Miss Pearl V. >> Any questions of concern? >> Number two, we have approval and non approval of state district transfer. >> Any questions or concern? Now, President number 13, we have a recommendation. >> Any questions or concerns? >> Madam President, we have number 14, volunteer recommendation. >> Any questions or concerns? At this time, I need a motion that we go into whether or not to go into determination. I have a motion in a second whether or not we go into session termination on the reason for executive session. All in favor I oppose. >> Yes ma'am. Give me one second. Almost there. You ready? Thank you for joining us. We was in executive session. We had some legal matters
095and two personnel issues. At this time, can I have a motion to adjourn the work session? >> So move. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> Oppos? >> Thank y'all. >> Thank you. >> Everybody have a good one. >> Mr. Brown. I like to go some gold, but I did a great stuff. >> Appreciate it. Appreciate >> it. They say y heard that. Thank you.