City schools consider joint purchasing group

RUSSELLVILLE — School board officials are expected to vote to join eight other school districts to collectively purchase food, supplies and equipment for the Child Nutrition Program.

Board members discussed the idea during their March 12 work session and were scheduled to vote for the proposal during Monday’s regular meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Tim Guinn said the seven other participating school systems are Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia City, Sheffield City, Colbert County, Lauderdale County, Florence City, Franklin County and Lawrence County.

He said the Colbert CountyBoardof Education would serve as the bidding agent for the partnership.

Guinn said the cooperative bidding process would apply to purchases including groceries, milk, produce, bread, ice cream, chemicals and small wares.

He said the agreement would group Russellville with other systems in the area which have child nutrition programs. Each district would remain financially responsible for its own orders and vendor payments.

Guinn said the collective purchasing arrangement is a routine annual measure that helps participating systems buy child nutrition items more economically.

“It saves the school system money,” Guinn said. “I commend all of our CNP directors in the state. They work hard to deliver meals to our schoolchildren within the federal government’s guidelines of healthy, nutritious meals and to do so as economically efficient as possible without skimping on flavor and quality.”