Code of the District of Columbia

§ 38–822.03a. Self-operated school food service pilot program.

(a) During the 2020-2021 and the 2021-2022 school years, the Mayor shall operate a self-operated school food service pilot program ("pilot") in 10 public schools or the maximum number of schools that the funding appropriated will support.

(1) By July 30, 2020, the Mayor shall:

(A) Retrofit the selected school kitchens to accommodate self-operated school food service.

(B) Prepare for in-house food operations, including hiring and training staff, marketing the food services program, and stocking initial supplies in advance of the 2020-2021 school year.

(2) At least twice during the 2020-2021 school year and twice during the 2021-2022 school year, the Mayor shall administer a student satisfaction survey regarding meals provided through the pilot.

(b) Within 3 months after the last day of the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, the Mayor shall provide to the Council a report on food services at all public schools, which shall include:

(1) Results from student satisfaction surveys conducted at pilot and non-pilot schools, including a comparison of the level of student satisfaction with meals provided under the pilot and meals not provided under the pilot;

(2) A description of the costs of the pilot, including a comparison of the costs of food services provided under the pilot and the costs of the food services provided at non-pilot public schools;

(3) The cost savings created by the pilot due to changes to existing food service contracts entered into by the District;

(4) An estimate of any federal reimbursements or other federal funding made available to the District through the implementation of a self-operated school food service model at participating schools;

(5) A breakdown by each school of:

(A) Meal type name;

(B) Quantity of each meal type;

(C) Unit cost of each meal type;

(D) Total cost of each meal type;

(E) Number of each meal type served at free, reduced, or paid; and

(F) Total revenues, by revenue type, applied to each meal type;

(6) An analysis of whether meals served through the pilot and meals served by non-pilot public schools complied with federal and local school meals nutrition standards and requirements; and

(7) An analysis of what infrastructure and operating enhancements would be necessary for the District of Columbia Public School system to successfully administer self-operated school food services in all public schools, including whether the District should fund a central kitchen if recommended in the report required by § 38-822.04a.

(c)(1) The Mayor shall assist all eligible local educational agencies in deciding whether to elect the community eligibility provision described in 7 C.F.R. § 245.9(f) for the local educational agency or for a school or group of schools within the local educational agency.

(2) For the purposes of this subsection, the terms "local educational agency" and "school" shall have the same meaning as provided in 7 C.F.R. § 245.2.