Facing sanctions, District 112 drops food-service provider, opens internal investigation

North Shore School District 112 has pivoted away from its recently approved food vendor after activity between the district and vendor drew allegations of bribery.

The school district’s board of education voted unanimously on Tuesday to terminate its contract with Quest Food Management Services following the State Board of Education’s removal of federal funds amid alleged “irregularities” in a D112 request-for-proposals process.  

A lawyer for OrganicLife, a competing food-service vendor, filed a letter on July 25 that contained several accusations of misconduct, including that Quest and a D112 administrator discussed “overt bribes,” such as free Chicago Cubs tickets and free meals to board members during an open request for proposals, as first reported by Patch.  

OrganicLife, a district vendor since 2018, submitted the formal protest after D112 board members voted unanimously on June 10 to approve a $638,681 contract with Quest for the 2025-’26 school year. 

A lawyer for D112 responded to the claims in a July 31 letter that says the district’s request for proposals process for a new food vendor complied with the law. The letter denies OrganicLife’s allegations, describing the claims as “vague and unsubstantiated.”

But in light of ISBE’s Aug. 11 decision to withdraw its approval of D112’s contract with Quest, Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld wrote in an Aug. 14 letter to district families that D112 respects the state board’s authority and will pursue a new food-services contract. 

D112 Board of Education members voted unanimously and with little conversation on Tuesday evening to terminate its contract with Quest and approve an “emergency agreement” with OrganicLife to provide student meals to district schools for one year, starting when classes begin on Thursday, Aug. 21. 

Lubelfeld said he is confident food services will be in place when students returned to school less than 48 hours after the emergency contract’s approval. OrganicLife assured the district its staff are fully prepared to serve meals, and Quest pledged to assist with the transition, a district memo says. 

The superintendent also this week directed an independent legal firm to conduct a review of D112’s entire request-for-proposals process, including its recent request for new food services.

Lubelfeld estimated the investigation will take three months to complete. 

“I understand that they believe there were offers of gratitudes or benefits from a prohibited source,” Lubelfeld said of ISBE’s ruling. “We don’t necessarily share the same beliefs.” 

“Respectfully though, we understand their right and legal authority to rule on this,” Lubelfeld continued. “That’s why we’re handling it two ways: one, immediately complying and moving forward; and two, launching my own independent investigation to best inform moving forward.”

Claims against D112

As D112 sought to expand its participation in the National School Meal Program into Edgewood Middle School and Ravinia Elementary School this year, the move represented a “significant change” in food service operations and required a new request for bids, a district memo from June says. 

D112 released a request for proposals on March 27 and district staff invited three of the five vendors that responded — OrganicLife, Quest and K-12 by Elior — to present products to the district’s Food Service Evaluation Committee for an April 21 taste test.

Based on Quest’s “highest overall score” from the “positive feedback” of its taste test and evaluation of the three proposals conducted by D112’s business office team, the district recommended the board approve Quest as its new food services vendor, the memo says. 

OrganicLife’s protest — sourced in part by 100 pages of district documents the vendor obtained through a public-records request — claims Jeremy Davis, D112’s assistant superintendent for business services, and Fenil Patel, Quest’s senior vice president of client development, exchanged 12 private calls and 70 text messages about the procurement process before the contract was approved.

OrganicLife alleges Davis held a private phone call with Patel in April when Quest was late to sign up for the taste test’s deadline and Patel texted Davis ahead of the presentation stating Quest wanted to know any “pain points” or “hot button issues” to address with district evaluators. 

The two held a private phone conversation the day the proposals were due, multiple others after the negotiation period ended and “coordinated” to deliver D112 board members meals from Quest ahead of the board’s vote on the contract, OrganicLife claims. 

On May 23, while an earlier version of OrganicLife’s protest letter was being considered by the district, Patel messaged Davis: “Hey interested in going to a Cubs rooftop game?”

Davis responded, “No, as I do not take tickets from vendors. But thanks for the offer,” according to a copy of the texts that The Record reviewed.

As they discussed bringing meals to D112 board members, the protest letter says, Davis and Patel texted about whether a representative for OrganicLife will present at the June 10 vote and the two “joked that OrganicLife ‘can have a taco.'”

These communications on Davis’ and Patel’s personal cellphones, including what OrganicLife repeatedly described as offers of a “bribe,” were not reported to competing vendors or to ISBE, as is required by state law and the request for proposals process, the protest letter claims.

OrganicLife also alleged other issues in the bidding process, including that D112’s taste test score for the vendor was a “mathematical impossibility” based on the district’s criteria and the district failed to contact any of OrganicLife’s references ahead of awarding the contract to Quest.

Quest and D112 respond

In an emailed statement to The Record, Quest President Nick Saccaro denied that the company improperly tried to influence the D112 bidding process.

He added that Quest will collaborate with ISBE to ensure it is following all relevant guidelines surrounding school lunch procurement.

“While we recognize that some procedural missteps may have occurred during our interaction with the District’s food service RFP process, we vehemently refute any claims suggesting intentional misconduct or attempts to improperly influence the District’s decision-making,” Saccaro wrote.

Responding to OrganicLife’s protest in a July 31 letter, D112 said there is no requirement in federal law or its request for proposals process that the district must report all of its communications with potential vendors to the ISBE; D112 reportedly did not provide any info to Quest that it did not give to other bidders.

D112’s response letter continues that Quest’s offer of Cubs tickets came after Davis already gave his recommendation to the board, the offer did not impact the scoring committee’s evaluation and Davis is not legally prohibited from accepting gifts worth less than $100.

Furthermore, the response says, board policy allows employees to receive catered food not exceeding $75 per person, there was no official deadline to sign up for the taste test, OrganicLife has a “misunderstanding of the scoring rubric” and it was unnecessary for the district to check with OrganicLife’s references due to its extensive experience with the vendor.

D112’s letter says Davis had no “personal friendship” with Patel, the majority of the two’s phone calls happened after the recommendation for Quest went public, and the district advised OrganicLife to research their allegations as “statements imputing the commission of a crime are defamatory.”  

OrganicLife maintained their protest in an Aug. 6 letter, writing that a “simple Google search” shows Cubs rooftop tickets are on average worth more than $100 and noted D112 did not dispute that the offer came from a prohibited source before the board had awarded the contract. 

The letter says D112’s request for proposals process is governed by state law, communication about bids done outside of email “must be made in writing,” and the district did not confirm whether the board accepted “refreshments” from Quest, so any cost of the reported refreshments is unclear.

State Board of Education decision

The irregularities identified by OrganicLife “in their totality significantly undermine the appearance of impartiality and fairness, indicating that the procurement and/or resulting contract is not compliant” with federal requirements, Mark Haller, ISBE’s director of nutrition, wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to Lubelfeld. 

Ruling in favor of OrganicLife’s protest, ISBE immediately rescinded its prior approval of D112’s contract with Quest and withdrew federal funds pending the district terminating its contract with Quest and entering into an emergency agreement with OrganicLife — the corrective move the board approved.

(D112 Board member Bennett Lasko was absent from the Tuesday meeting and vote.)

The approximately $671,000 emergency contract with OrganicLife means the vendor will now provide breakfast and lunches to students in five total D112 schools this year: Edgewood Middle, Northwood Middle, Oak Terrace Elementary, Ravinia Elementary and Red Oak Elementary School.

Haller added that ISBE reserves its right to take additional action against Quest and D112, including but not limited to forwarding the matter to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office and the USDA Office of the Inspector General for their review. 

Sara Avalos, director of communications with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, informed The Record on Wednesday that the prosecutor’s office has not received any information from the ISBE regarding the matter.

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