Middle school and food vendor pass blame for insensitive meal on first day of Black History Month

Nyack, New York - A middle school and its district's food vendor were forced to apologize after serving a meal on the first day of Black History Month that some found culturally insensitive.

A New York middle school and its food vendor apologized after serving chicken and waffles to students on the first day of Black History Month. (Stock photo)
A New York middle school and its food vendor apologized after serving chicken and waffles to students on the first day of Black History Month. (Stock photo)  © IMAGO / agefotostock

On February 1, students at Nyack Middle School were reportedly served a hot lunch that consisted of chicken and waffles with a watermelon dessert.

Parents were alerted about the meal by their children, setting off backlash and criticism from multiple families.

The school's principal David Johnson sent a letter to parents on Thursday blaming the district's food vendor Aramark.

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"Nyack Public Schools administrators contacted Aramark officials to insist on a mechanism to avoid a repeat of yesterday's mistake," he continued. "The vendor has agreed to plan future menu offerings to align with our values and our longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion."

He explained that the meal choice reinforces "negative stereotypes concerning the African-American community," and "reflected a lack of understanding of our district's vision to address racial bias."

Aramark typically updates the meals planned for the school on the district's website, with very little oversight from school officials. In the future, that may surely change.

This isn't the first racially incentive incident involving Aramark

Aramark, the food vendor for Nyack School District, has been under fire for similar racially insensitive incidents in the past.
Aramark, the food vendor for Nyack School District, has been under fire for similar racially insensitive incidents in the past.  © IMAGO / NurPhoto

Aramark released a statement of their own following the middle school principal's: "While our menu was not intended as a cultural meal, we acknowledge that the timing was inappropriate, and our team should have been more thoughtful in its service.

"This was a mistake and does not represent the values of our company, and we are committed to doing better in the future," the company added.

While Aramark would like the public to believe this was an isolated incident, the company has reportedly been under fire for similar incidents in the past.

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On Martin Luther King Day in 2011, students at the University of California Irvine, where Aramark was a vendor, were served a meal advertised as "MLK Holiday Special: Chicken and Waffles."

In 2018, NYU students were served ribs, collard greens, and Kool-Aid during Black History Month. Aramark was their vendor, too. A year later, the school cut ties with the company.

Aramark said its employees will participate in "training that aligns to the Nyack School District’s vision and commitment to equity-driven work" that they believe "will provide a good learning opportunity to deepen understanding on the impact of systemic biases and negative stereotypes concerning the African-American community."

Cover photo: IMAGO / agefotostock

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