On February 1, 2023 - the first day of Black History Month - Aramark food service served chicken & waffles with watermelon for dessert for lunch at Nyack Middle School.  Given the historical association of these foods to suggest that Black people are uncultured and poor, Aramark is enforcing racial stereotypes that are harmful and damaging to our children. 

We are calling upon Nyack Public Schools to cut ties with Aramark and source a new food service vendor for our schools and to do so while preserving and maintaining the long-standing relationship of the employees in our food service department.

Aramark has a horrible history of decision and behavior both in schools and prisons and other institutions have terminated their relationship with Aramark as a result.  From a recent NBC news story published on February 5, 2023 - "Aramark has been behind similar menus on past holidays commemorating Black people that sparked controversy at two universities going back more than a decade. In 2011, Aramark served chicken and waffles on Martin Luther King Day at the University of California, Irvine.

Students at New York University demanded the school cut its ties with Aramark after its Black History Month menu in 2018 included barbecue ribs, cornbread, collard greens, Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water, according to The New York Times."

Nyack Public Schools needs to follow suit with these other institutions and terminate our relationship with Aramark food service, while preserving the relationships of our existing food service employees.