Students and parents who are fighting for local, healthy options at two Saint John schools will find that Chartwells can deliver on those demands, the superintendent of Anglophone South School District said on Thursday.

Zoë Watson said many of the concerns raised over the past two weeks have been addressed by the company through its winning service proposal for the Harbour View High School and Seaside Park Elementary cafeteria contracts.

And she said Chartwells intends to sit at the table with school officials and student and parent representatives to ensure a good working relationship.

"We all want healthy food for students, and we want the food to be affordable, and I'm pleased so many are interested in good nutrition," Watson told Information Morning on Thursday.

Matters a lot to 2 schools

"It's clear the two schools have made this a priority."

Students and parents from the two side schools fear the contract is a move away from their desired small-scale model of locally produced food, prepared on site.

"We wanted wholesome food with whole grains and colourful foods, salads, all the things that kids at that age, not only should be eating, but should be taught to eat," Shane Cassidy, a member of Seaside Park's nutrition advisory committee told Information Morning on Wednesday.

"We had decided to go completely away from that large corporate structure."

Local produce required

Watson said Chartwells will have a variety of healthy grab-and-go items, such as sandwiches, fresh fruit, salads and hot items.

The prevalence of school gardens is new territory for the district, she said, but the new contract ensures that Chartwells will use produce grown by the schools, as well as other New Brunswick and Maritime producers.

The Seaside parent school support committee submitted its referral to the selection committee during the tendering process, which it felt carried little weight once Chartwells was named as the new provider.

Both groups are concerned that food won't be fresh, and [Chartwells] was clear that yes, the food will be prepared on site. - Zoë Watson, superintendent of Anglophone South

"It is total disbelief," Lori Anderson, a member of the committee said Wednesday. "We were told to do A, B, C and D, and it was all done, and option F was chosen."

But Watson said most of their 22 requests for the new provider fit the bill.

"One was that the company would set up at parent-teacher day, and that's already in the plans for the end of November," said Watson.

"Both groups are concerned that food won't be fresh, and [Chartwells] was clear that yes, the food will be prepared on site."

Service New Brunswick made the final decision on the contract, Watson said, picked from a list of approved requests by a committee comprised of the two school principals, Seaside Park's community school co-ordinator, someone from the parent school support committee at Harbour View High, and the district's healthy learners nurse, finance director and early childhood director.

"Independently and individually, they all scored those proposals, and their scoring determined the top proposal, and what would go back to Service New Brunswick to be considered," Watson said.

"Then the second step in the process completed by Service New Brunswick, that's the part people are struggling with, some of their criteria had to do with pricing.

'Yes, we should go forward'

The New Brunswick government announced the Chartwells contract amid protests from the two school communities wanting a local caterer instead.

"I did get an e-mail saying, 'Shall we move forward?' And I did say, 'Yes, I feel we should go forward because I knew by then a lot of concerns raised … were addressed in the request for proposasls."

On Tuesday, two students from Harbour View High, and school principal Michael Butler met with a representative from Chartwells and other district officials, Watson said.

"It was a good opportunity to open up the communication lines. … We all left feeling it was a positive communication."

They plan to meet monthly about how well the service lines up with their wishes, she said.

"And when I left they were setting the first meeting for next week because they want to get up and running as soon as possible."