Middletown food services: rising meal participation and grants but health‑insurance and snow days strain finances

Randall Mael, Middletown’s Director of Food Services, told the Budget Committee the department has grown meal participation markedly in recent years and runs as a federally regulated, reimbursable operation that depends on meal counts for revenue.

"We are a federally regulated and federally funded enterprise operation," Mael said. He described the district as a Community Eligibility Provision participant, meaning all students receive free breakfast and lunch under the program that uses identified student percentages to calculate reimbursement rates. Mael said about 80% of meals are currently reimbursed at the federal free rate and projected food‑service revenue for the year is roughly $3.48 million; he estimated projected departmental expenditures at about $3.1 million (not including health benefits).

Mael outlined grants that support menu development and programming: the Chefs to Schools grant ($150,000 per year for three years) that funds an executive chef, a $74,000 annual fresh‑fruit‑and‑vegetable grant for four schools, a Connecticut kids grant to bring school gardens and hydroponics systems, and prior after‑school cooking grants. He said the department is in the final stages of an "eat real" certification and is on track to become the first district in the region to receive it.

On costs, Mael said the district has historically subsidized food‑service health insurance (about $900,000 annually) and that staffing or benefit structures negotiated when the staff were city employees still affect the department’s obligations. "To take almost $1,000,000 of health insurance out of my budget for food, my budget for food in itself would not have money for food," he said.

Mael also explained the effect of school closures: a snow day can cost the operation roughly $15,000 in lost potential reimbursement and thousands in salaries because staff are paid under contract for snow days. "Even though we have makeup days," he said, "attendance is nowhere near the same at the end of the school year, so we don't make up that lost revenue." He warned that changes to SNAP eligibility — the main driver of the district’s identified student percentage — could affect community‑eligibility calculations but described current indicators as stable in the district.

Committee members asked practical questions about what makes a reimbursable meal. Mael explained a reimbursable lunch requires at least three of five meal components, including a fruit or a vegetable, and that second meals or a la carte items are charged and may not be allowed on account if a student lacks funds. He confirmed Connecticut law forbids negative meal‑account balances for the first meal and protects students from "lunch shaming."

Board members thanked Mael for the presentation; the committee recognized food‑services work before adjourning.