Food-Services Firm Serves Up Deficit to R.I. Districts

By Joanna Richardson

A group of Rhode Island school districts that hired a private contractor to save money on school-lunch programs is having to swallow more than it bargained for.

"Our overall deficit, in the worst-case scenario, is about $160,000," said Superintendent Ralph Malafronte of Barrington, one of the eight districts in the East Bay area. "This was intended to be either a break-even or a profit."

The districts together hired Aramark School Nutrition Services in 1993 to improve their lunch programs and cut expenses,...