Fort Wayne board approves curriculum purchase and multiple contracts for food, software and supplies

At its meeting the Fort Wayne Community Schools board approved a package of purchases and contract renewals that included a special education curriculum, multi‑year software subscriptions, and district food and supply contracts.

The board approved TeachTown Encore as the district’s elementary applied skills core curriculum at a listed amount of $193,958.49; the director of special education and assistant director said teachers who piloted the program favored TeachTown for its digital components, cross‑curricular design and leveled units that better match students’ needs. Funding for the purchase was identified as the special education grant and Medicaid.

The administration also presented renewals for three software subscriptions: Linewize (web filtering/monitoring), ParentSquare (communications), and PowerSchool/business plus (student information and finance/HR). The staff said the Linewize solution meets Children’s Internet Protection Act requirements and that E‑rate discounts offset much of the internet-service cost; the combined three‑contract annual cost was described to the board as approximately in the low hundreds of thousands.

Nutrition services contracts included a one-year renewal with DFA Dairy Brands for milk and related dairy products (listed at $850,000 for Aug. 1, 2026–July 31, 2027) and awards to multiple food vendors (Ben Eron, Piazza Produce, Peterson Farms, JTM, Pilgrim’s Pride, Tyson, Alpha Baking) for an estimated $9,190,000 to cover the 2026–27 year. Administration said competitive procurement under 2 CFR 200 drove vendor selection and that moving to a local prime vendor promised supply-chain benefits and an estimated savings of roughly $550,000 compared with the current year.

Separate competitive bids for cafeteria paper products (estimated $470,000) and cafeteria disposables (estimated $670,000) were also approved; procurement staff said 30 vendors were solicited and 12 responded across categories. All food and supply purchases will be paid from the district’s nutrition services fund.

Board members asked questions about contract durations, whether federal or state funds offset costs, and how the district would manage summer feeding programs and inventory. Administration replied that E‑rate discounts and procurement strategy helped mitigate costs and that many contracts run through July 31, 2027 to cover the summer program.

The package of recommendations was approved by voice votes.