MITCHELL — The Mitchell Board of Education will consider approving the use of a dairy supplier for its school lunch program at its next meeting.
The meeting is scheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Room 10 at the Mitchell Career and Technical Education Academy.
According to the meeting agenda, the Mitchell School District solicited proposals from three different dairy vendors – Prairie Farms, Performance Foodservice and Hiland Dairy. Prairie Farms was the only vendor to send a proposal back to the district, which Mitchell School District Superintendent Joe Childs recommended be accepted.
“This proposal meets the district's needs and is competitively priced,” Childs wrote in his agenda notes.
The district planned to rank all three vendors based on the proposals submitted. Ranking categories included price, service and delivery, and overall qualifications. The highest ranking scores for these categories were listed as 51 for price, 29 for service and delivery, and 20 for overall qualifications.
Prairie Farm received scores of 51, 24 and 20 in their respective categories.
On the food service side, the board will also consider meal pricing for the 2024-25 school year. Childs recommended keeping the current breakfast and lunch prices the same as last school year for both children and adults.
So, for reduced-price breakfast, the cost would be 30 cents and for reduced-price lunch, the cost would be 40 cents; for elementary school students, a full-price breakfast would be $1.85 and a full-price lunch would be $2.80; and for middle and high school students, a full-price breakfast would be $2 and a full-price lunch would be $3.
Meals for adults are $3 for breakfast and $5 for lunch. Milk is 50 cents.
“After discussing this matter with Director of Food Services Leanne Carmody, I recommend that meal rates remain unchanged for students and adults for the 2024-25 school year,” Childs wrote in the memo. “Given the numerous efficiencies and participation improvements that have been built into the meal program, we believe that meal rates can be maintained without adversely impacting the program's financial position or account balance.”
At this meeting, the Board will also consider the following personnel changes:
Rachela Dirksen, a teaching assistant at L.B. Williams Elementary School, resigned effective June 15. New Mitchell Tech has hired registered nurse (RN) instructor Breanna Hermanek, effective in the 2024-25 school year, at a salary of $65,000, and nursing instruction technician Emily Treville, effective Aug. 1, at a salary of $58,000.
In addition, at this meeting the Board will:
Consider approval of key bids for Mitchell Tech student-constructed housing units #111 and #112. Hold a public hearing on the 2023-24 K-14 budget for Mitchell School District, which includes Mitchell Tech. The Committee considered both budgets at its last meeting. Consider approval of the above budget and supplements. Hear reports from Committee members. Hear reports from the Superintendent. Go into executive session for purposes of preparing for contract negotiations or negotiating with employees or employee representatives. Consider approval of the MOU regarding salaries for Mitchell School District coaches/advisors. Hear public comment.
The meeting is open to the public, and Mitchell Republic will be livestreaming the meeting on its website.
Eric Kaufman joined The Mitchell Republic in July 2019 as an education and features reporter. He grew up in Freeman, South Dakota, and graduated from Freeman High School. He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in computer science. He can be reached at ekaufman@mitchellrepublic.com.
