Schools
Lyons Township High Lunch Vendor In Hot Water In Another District
A top executive offered a school official Cubs tickets. No similar offer was made to Lyons Township High, an official said.
LA GRANGE, IL – The new cafeteria vendor for Lyons Township High School is facing misconduct allegations in another school district.
In May, the Lyons Township High School board chose Lombard-based Quest Food Management Services as the new provider for this school year.
In board meetings, the battle between Quest and Chicago-based OrganicLife became public. OrganicLife won the high school's student taste-testing competition.
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In Highland Park, North Shore School District 112 chose Quest earlier this year, replacing OrganicLife.
But OrganicLife filed a protest with the Illinois State Board of Education about the process.
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This week, the state agency forced North Shore to abruptly change its food vendor a week before the first day of school. Officials alleged misconduct by engaging in improper communications with Quest.
That means OrganicLife will again provide the service, as it has for seven years.
In text messages, a top Quest executive offered Cubs tickets to North Shore's chief finance official, who declined but thanked the executive for the offer.
The executive and school official continued to converse throughout the process of getting a new food contract, with the official providing updates.
In messages, the two men discussed their expectation that OrganicLife would attend a meeting.
The Quest executive replied, "They can have a taco."
The state said it would reserve the right to take the matter to Lake County prosecutors and the inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs school lunch programs.
Quest denied any misconduct.
At Lyons Township High, spokesman Mary Lin Muscolino said in an email Friday, "District 204's relationship with Quest Food Services is based solely on a thorough evaluation of their proposal against the criteria outlined in the 2025 Food Services Request for Proposal (RFP). Quest officials did not make any offers of Cubs tickets or similar benefits to LTHS officials."
Highland Park Patch covered the issue in detail Thursday.
Here is the letter from the Illinois State Board of Education to North Shore School District 112:
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