Centre drops Opaa food service
Staff writer
Centre’s school board unanimously voted Monday to cancel its contract with Opaa Food Service, effective at the end of the semester.
Superintendent Larry Geist projected that the district could run its own food service for the same cost as Opaa — $60,000 a year for labor, $55,000 for food, and $5,000 for supplies.
The district’s $119,696 cost would be comparable to Opaa’s $120,049 cost for the 2021-’22 school year.
Opaa will be able sell its remaining food to the district, Geist said, but the the district will have to purchase salad bars.
The board hired Mindy Ruck and Samantha Turk as cooks starting Dec. 27.
In other business Monday, the board voted to cover expenses for robotics students Anna Godinez-Vinduska and Julia Brunner to attend a national competition March 23 to 25 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
They won a design award in competition against 22 teams in November at Basore-Linn High School. They submitted a notebook detailing their work and sat for an interview before being invited to the national contest. Just two other teams from Kansas will be among the 200 to participate. Wayne Rziha is their instructor.
Geist announced that FEMA will cover the cost of a generator for the district.
The board also accepted a donation of $500 from OK Bread Co. in celebration of its fifth anniversary. The money will go to the district’s community outreach fund for counselors to use for students in need.
Twenty-five sets of high school football uniforms were approved for purchase at a cost of $12,050.
The maximum the superintendent can spend without getting board approval was raised from $2,500 to $10,000.
The board also approved an advertising budget of $160,000 beginning in January for Centre’s Online Learning Program.