Food service managers for Poplar Bluff schools fired over mouse droppings in storage

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Two Chartwells managers were fired in the wake of a rodent infestation at a Poplar Bluff School District warehouse that stored food for cafeterias.

Company and school officials plan corrective actions.

About 75 parents attended a Wednesday special meeting to address a Butler County, Missouri, Health Department complaint investigation that uncovered a “severe” rodent infestation at the district warehouse after mouse-dropping-covered goods were delivered to the kindergarten center.

Chartwells and school officials apologized during the meeting, which evolved into an open public forum.

“I want to start out tonight first of all by apologizing,” Chartwells regional vice president Bruce Norman said. “The team members in the schools every day serving the kids ... I know how hard they work, and what’s been reported is not what we are all about. It affected me personally.”

Norman said the company relieved district manager Scott Murphy and food service director Paul Stolle of their duties.

“The one thing I realized is that we needed a change in leadership, and we have made that change,” Norman said.

Norman listed corrective actions and new measures put into place, including additional training, quality checks, a new cooler at a location to be determined and changes in product logistics.

Managers from other districts will be brought in to replace Murphy and Stolle. Health inspections will be posted publicly at schools and online and a complaint system revisited.

“One thing we want to do is open communication. I think that’s important,” Norman said.

“Anyone with eyes and ears, whether they are a teacher, a cafeteria aide or an associate, should feel comfortable reporting any questionable issues they see.”

Some parents felt questions about the extent of the problem remain unanswered, however.

Whether the shipment of tainted goods was an isolated incident was foremost on many parents’ minds.

Shipping and inventory records for the past several months were not available.

“We just have the word of the managers in the individual schools — not the manager over the district who is not with us anymore — but the individual food workers and our own inspections,” Norman said.

That answer did not sit well with many parents in the gallery.

“I feel like this has been ongoing, and they have ignored the conditions of the storage. I also feel like they (the schools) are passing the buck (to Chartwells),” parent April Dare-Dover said.

Parent Darhonda Thompson also said she believes contaminated products may have reached students.

“I believe they (contaminated products) have reached students,” Thompson said. “There have been several kids come home sick. I have seen parents on social media talking about how their kids have been constantly ill, and now we find out about this.”

Parents also asked superintendent Chris Hon how he could not have known about the condition of the facility.

“I have known about the shape of the facility in general for 16 years,” Hon said. “I did not know that we had the level of mice in that facility until after Christmas. It has been passed as a warehouse facility by the Butler County Health Department in the past and passed May 2015.”

Other parents were upset school officials failed to alert them to a problem before reports were published in the Daily American Republic.

“I feel like this was kind of swept under the rug. I feel like Chartwells made an apology, and I do accept that apology because I do feel it was a tragic mistake and they will fix the problem. But I feel like our school system failed to address the questions I had,” parent Ashley House said.

School board member Steve Sells, who owns restaurants, apologized to parents on behalf of the district.

“We take this serious as a board. We will hold Mr. Hon accountable and Chartwells accountable. Things happen, but you have to man up and take responsibility, and I do that as I sit here,” Sells said.

Sells also took district administrators to task for allowing conditions to reach a critical point and proposed construction of a new warehouse.

“This stuff didn’t just happen overnight or over Christmas break. We all have some work to do here. The board needs to get a new facility built, and the food service needs to do what they are going to do. This, to me, could have been prevented,” he said.

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, Mo.