More than six months after a dozen students and two adults drank chemical floor sealant served as milk during a Juneau School District summer program, the district’s board extended a six-month contract with the food vendor responsible for the mishap and discussed whether the district should hire a bid for a third party investigation of the incident during at meeting Tuesday night.
In the weeks following the incident in mid-June, the school district put out a formal request for a third-party investigation that included two scopes — the first asking for an investigation of Work for Food Services and the second an investigation on the district’s emergency notification and public communication.
During the last six months, many investigations have taken place regarding the incident — including investigations from the City and Borough of Juneau, the Juneau Police Department, NANA and Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation — however, since then the district has only received one bid from a third party investigation.
According to previous statements by police, the accidental mix-up showed no obvious signs for criminal charges and described to be caused by improper actions by workers. None of the people who ingested the floor sealant were reported to have suffered lasting harm.
The bid by Workplace Solutions AK only offered to investigate the emergency notification and public communication scope of the RFP, but not the other part of the investigation. If OK’d, the cost of the contract would be $11,500 and run from Jan. 16 through June 30.
Board members discussed whether the third-party investigation should be pursued given the numerous outside investigations and internal review processes that have already occurred following the incident.
“There was a break in trust,” said School Board Vice President Emil Mackey at the meeting, noting the third-party investigation could be an effort to build back trust from the public.
In an interview with the Empire, school board president Deedie Sorensen said she feels the numerous investigations on the incident have been “pretty thorough” and said she feels the district has done a comprehensive evaluation and adopted changes since then in an effort to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.
“I feel like it has been investigated and reports have been made available,” she said.
Sorensen said she is not opposed to the investigation if it would regain public confidence, however, said she is still evaluating whether there is value in pursuing another investigation.
Board members Brian Holst and Martin Stepetin shared similar views.
Holst said if the board does pursue the bid he thinks the money would be well spent, however, he said it was hard for him to imagine what other information would come from the investigation that wasn’t already found in the previous ones.
There was also discussion about whether the board would like to see the second scope of the formal request of the investigation pursued, to which Olin said a separate request is an option.
The district is set to decide at its upcoming meeting in January.
Contract extension
NANA Management Services’ contract, which has existed since 2018, expires on Dec. 31 and was approved for a six-month extension by the board. The decision was met with one opposing vote by Stepetin who cited the rise in cost as the reason for his vote.
According to the contract, the district will pay a 12.5% increase in meal rates compared to the previous contract, an amount negotiated down from the 17% originally proposed by NANA, according to Cassie Olin, director of administrative services for the district. Changes such as switching breakfast to a “grab and go” option along with requesting less complex menus were made to achieve the lower cost to the district.
Olin said NANA was the only service to submit a proposal to the district, and the 12.5% food expenditure increase included in the new contract will absorbed by the district, noting the district does not intend to increase the rates charged to students for the remainder of the school year.
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
