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PSS to pay student meal vendors more
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Posted on Jul 22 2008
[B]By KRISTI EATON[/B]
[I]kristi_eaton@saipantribune.com
Reporter[/I]
Reporter[/I]
The Public School System’s nine vendors will soon be receiving more money from PSS for each student meal prepared.
PSS will now pay the vendors an additional 10 cents per meal. The vendors will receive $1.70 for each breakfast and $2.85 for each lunch, said PSS Acting Commissioner Craig Garrison. Vendors on Rota and Tinian will receive an additional 15 to 20 cents per meal.
“I’m sure the vendors are happy to receive that,” Garrison said.
The cost to students—50 cents for breakfast and 75 cents for lunch will remain the same, Garrison said.
“In this case the children are protected because the cost is borne by the public education system,” he added.
The vendors needed more money to offset rising fuel and energy costs for preparation and transportation.
Garrison said he hopes the additional funds will help the vendors. “Serving 3,000 meals, that’s a chunk of change,” he said.
But Ernel Rubio of Barny’s Pizza, which prepares 1,400 lunches daily, said he thinks the vendors are still being short-changed.
Vendors receive the same amount of money for elementary meals and high school meals, yet the portion sizes in the high schools are larger, he said.
“We want a price difference,” he said.
Rubio also said he thinks the increase was overdue. “It should have been given to us for the last two years,” he added.
But, he said, the increase is better than nothing. “It will help, but not a lot,” he said.
