Letter to the Canteen Committee 26 march 2009

Karlsruhe, 26 March 2009

To the Canteen Committee, European School, Karlsruhe

Dear Sir/Madam,

At each of our meetings, the ESK Parents’ Association has encountered various difficulties with regard to the canteen service provided at the European School, Karlsruhe. It is our earnest wish to approach the entire Canteen Committee at today’s event in order to evoke our concerns in a clear and constructive manner.
It should be recognised that the Cafeteria Commission is an independent working group - united with the Parents’ Association in the common goal of providing healthy food to the students at ESKAR. It is therefore absolutely essential that we work together and that our repeated requests for explanations and financial data be satisfied. This request should not to be confused with a complete fiscal breakdown for the timebeing. Nevertheless, due to the constant flow of complaints related to both the quality of the meals and the service provided it is our right, as co-partners of this enterprise, to insist upon clarification in order to determine how to solve these nagging questions relating to the canteen.
To this end, please provide, without further delay, the following:
- an explanation and written data pertaining to all major expenditures (salaries, fixed costs, material costs…)
- an explanation as to how these sums have been estimated and dispensed over the last 3 years
- which improvements, if any, have been tried in the past and are suggested for the future?
- how you foresee responding to the new specifications (an improved price/quality equation) with justifications for each price presented?

Our objective is not to penalise current or future service providers; however, without adequate justification and explanation, it is difficult to find a satisfactory solution to the existing situation.
The Parents’ Association has on numerous occasions clearly specified what we expect from the school’s canteen service: the best quality food at a mutually acceptable price. In the absence of an open, forthcoming dialogue with the Canteen Committee, one can only surmise that such an opaque situation exists for a reason. Is there something to hide? Let us be perfectly clear, why does the Canteen Committee refuse to satisfy its’ customers demands - the parents who wish to have their children properly nourished at lunchtime?
In addition, a number of parents have expressed their wish to withdraw their children from the canteen, not to mention those who already have!, for the following reasons:
- in the absence of a satisfying meal—both in terms of its quality and its quantity-- in the middle of their school work day, some students have adopted bad eating habits. Parents have noted that they have begun to snack permanently or to sway into eating binges.
- in Primary School, the school nurse has accomplished a monumental task of raising awareness among both children and parents, towards adopting sensible eating habits. She instructs children how to select a balanced meal, how to avoid a snack full of empty calories and too high in sweets and how to recognise a diet rich in vitamins and minerals essential for one’s health. It is absolutely irresponsible for the cafeteria to undermine her excellent work. Past menus have offered curious combinations, such as rice as the main dish—and rice pudding for dessert! A qualified dietician would be shocked.
Finally, parents also do not accept that the Canteen Commission shrouds its finances in mystery. Every association has the responsibility to be forthcoming and transparent in its operations vis-à-vis its members and partners. Without this basic element of trust, such an association will cease to exist.
The prospect of withdrawing students from the Canteen would provoke two undesirable effects which we prefer to avoid: both jobs and a market would be lost. It is your responsibility to restore a climate of trust while ensuring that our children have access to nutritious food at a reasonable price. Parents are ready to take action. We request that a meeting between the Parents’ Association and the Cafeteria Commission be held immediately and that the above mentioned data be provided as the basis of discussion.

We hope that our words of warning are taken seriously and that the Canteen Committee embarks on a way forward which will result in solutions before a potentially destructive impasse occurs.
We are open to all serious, constructive propositions which satisfy the nutritional needs of our children in the new Canteen building which we are comemorating today. The students of the European School of Karlsruhe deserve it.

Yours sincerely,

Cindy van Velzen
President, ESK Parents’ Association