School Board to Hold Finance Subcommittee Meeting Tonight

East Haven Board of Education members will have a whole host of issues to discuss at tonight's finance subcommittee meeting, including an update on the district's contract with its new food services provider and various financial reports related to the current and previous school years.

Tonight's meeting will take place in the boardroom beginning at 6 p.m. The agenda is included at the gallery to the right.

School board members into their contract with the district's new food services provider after learning the company recently reached an $1.6 million settlement with the State of New York for reportedly illegally overcharging numerous school districts there.

Whitsons Culinary Group, a Long Island-based food service provider, was hired by the East Haven Board of Education to run it's school lunch program this summer.

The Attorney General of New York announced Oct. 6 that his office had reached the settlement with Whitsons after an investigation revealed the company "received savings from food vendors it worked with, but did not pass on those savings to customer schools, resulting in more than $800,000 in illegal charges."

The agreement requires Whitsons to pay $1.6 million to the state and affected school districts, while also complying with a series of reforms to improve transparency in its contracting and service.

East Haven school board members said they want to know how this information regarding the investigation and the fine will — or could — affect the district's contract with Whitson.

Also during tonight's meeting, the subcommittee will receive a report from the district's business office on the balancing of accounts and the reconciling of financials for 2010-11 school year.

And Finance Subcommittee Chairman Christime Maisano has also requested a cafeteria report for the current school year, as well as other specific financial information from the district's business office.