School lunch delays: McAuley High School expresses frustration over late deliveries, poor communication

McAuley High School deputy principal Miles Sengers and principal Jan Waelen have described the lack of communication and clear logistics as "unacceptable". Photo / LDR, Mary Afemata

As students returned to school this week, free lunch programme Ka Ora, Ka Ako faced significant issues, including delivery delays and poor communication from the provider.

McAuley High School in Ōtāhuhu, one of those affected, believes the disruptions are unacceptable.

Principal Jan Waelen expressed frustration over the late delivery of lunches, which arrived just before school ended, and the need to purchase food locally to feed the students.

Deputy principal Miles Senger highlighted continued delays, saying the school was not informed about lunch arrivals.

The all-girls school was scheduled to receive the lunches at 10.45am on the first day (Wednesday), but the meals did not arrive until 2.30pm – just 30 minutes before the school day ended.

While the lunches were delivered on time on Thursday, the school was informed via email at 8am on Friday lunch would again be late.

Waelen says Wednesday’s incident saw “200 girls waiting for meals. The food finally arrived at 2.30pm. School finishes at 3pm”.

“When Miles first contacted them, they didn’t even know. They thought we were starting the following week. Even though all our documentation and the online portal said we were starting on the 29th, they had no idea and had no meals planned for us,” Waelen said of Wednesday’s incident.

Sengers said, “We were promised the truck was leaving the factory. It never arrived. We were promised again, but still nothing. By 1.30pm, we were told a woman was putting the food in her car and driving it over herself.”

He said the school had to purchase bananas and oranges from a local store to feed the girls, as they were unprepared for the delays.

Sengers said he received an email from the School Lunch Collective at 8am on Friday informing him the lunches would be late but which offered no details about the new delivery time.

The school had to purchase 200 pies when they were advised on Friday morning the school lunches would be late. Photo / LDR, Mary Afemata

“We had to buy 200 pies because we had no choice but to feed the girls. Meanwhile, our staff, who should be preparing lessons, [were] in the kitchen cooking,” he said.

The collective, a partnership between Compass Group NZ, Libelle Group and Gilmours, is responsible for providing school lunches. In May 2024, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced a restructure of the school lunch programme. By September 2024, the Government centralised the model, moving from schools selecting their own local suppliers to a Government-chosen consortium. In October 2024, the collective was awarded the $85m annual contract to supply free school lunches.

Local Democracy Reporting was at the school when Sengers found out the lunches would not arrive on time again.

“The time now is 10.41am. Normal delivery time is 10.45. It’ll be here at 1pm.”

Seymour downplayed the concerns as “teething issues”, suggesting schools should be more patient.

The NZ Herald reported on Friday Seymour had rebuked frustrated principals for spending their own money to feed students, suggesting they need to “take a step back”.

Seymour told Newstalk ZB, “We’re doing something new, and today is actually day five, day four in some places. So we’ve got to get a bit of a reality check.”

But Waelen said hungry students deserved better, adding the contractor should fulfil its commitments.

“The reality is we’ve got kids without food. He [Seymour] can say what he wants and call it teething issues, but it’s not okay when I’ve got hungry kids.

“Our students deserve better than this. We will not back off. Actually, I’m not backing off. I’m accepting all media calls because it’s unacceptable.

“These guys took on a contract. They promised they could do it. They should have been better.

“What other company can say, ‘Oh, sorry, we knew we’d have teething problems’?’ That’s just not how life works. You have a contract – you honour it from the beginning.”

David Seymour downplayed principals' concerns this week as "teething issues". Photo / Mark Mitchell

Both Waelen and Sengers said their issue was not the quality of the meals but the logistics of delivery and communication.

They emphasised the importance of honouring contracts and delivering promises made to students.

They reported discrepancies between what was posted on the website and the information they received.

Sengers says, “It’s fair to say that what was on the website, what we could see, was not what they were relaying back to us.”

“So when we were saying, ‘No, it says that we’re starting today’, they said, ‘We have it that you’re starting on Monday’.

“I said, ‘No, and that’s not the case. We’ve sent emails, and I have email returns’ – so there were definitely mix-ups in the background there.

“But we never sent documentation that said February 3,” Sengers said.

The School Lunch Collective confirmed in a statement to Local Democracy Reporting the ovens were not working at their central production kitchen in Auckland in the early hours of Friday.

With a technical oven issue occurring on Friday morning, Waelen says, “A technician was on-site at 7am. Why wasn’t that technician on-site at 4am?”

The School Lunch Collective portal had incorrect information about delivery dates, according to McAuley High School deputy principal Miles Sengers.

She said before the changes, “We had a fantastic system here. The meals were great, the girls were happy. Everything was rolling along fine.”

Segner added, “We had well-organised logistics. Even if you weren’t comparing the food, the logistics were just better. And people could do [the] actual jobs they were employed for.”

“Bottom line, a contract [is] like a treaty, I guess – it’s a promise. And we’re sort of expecting [them to deliver] on their promise.

“Don’t take on a multimillion-dollar contract if you actually can’t get it sorted,” Waelen said.

Sengers continued: “So we’re doing our side, we’re trying to. We said to our students, ‘We’ll provide you [with] the food. This is the promise that has been given to us. But we’re getting let down’.

“So I’m in the middle of writing an email now to the students, and then I’ll follow up [with] something to the parents and say, ‘Look, right now, we don’t have confidence that the food is going to be supplied. We can’t do 800 pies on Monday, so [the] girls are going to have to bring their [own] food until it’s sorted’.”

Waelen adds, “That’s not to say that we don’t want [the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme in place] – we absolutely do. We absolutely want that programme. We absolutely think it is the right thing to be feeding students.

“Our parents have got huge costs at this time of year, setting up uniforms and stationery. Many of them will be depending on us feeding their kids. Last year, so many parents said it made such a difference.”

Students usually pick up their free school lunches from the tuck shop, but an email was sent advising parents youths will need to bring their own lunch in case teething problems affect deliveries again next week. Photo / LDR / Mary Afemata

As Sengers navigates the school lunch situation amid communication and logistical challenges, he says, “We’re always very student-centred and keeping it calm. We try to be factual, we try to be clear.”

“I’m still kind of fuming from what Jan has told me – that we’ve all been told to back off. What we’re trying to do is give the students the respect that they deserve. That’s the bottom line. They deserve to have [the] meal that [has been] promised to them and not be told, ‘Oh, you don’t have your meal, just be quiet and go away, you know, be thankful for not having’. That, to me, is disrespectful – [of] our students and anybody.”

The School Lunch Collective said it experienced a technical problem with its ovens which has now been resolved.

“Unfortunately, this means delays for Auckland schools in the school lunch programme, who are unlikely to receive their lunches on time,” the collective said in a statement.

“Affected schools were contacted directly to apologise and ensure tamariki received their lunches. Compass NZ delivered additional food to some schools, while others will be reimbursed for purchasing meals themselves.

“The School Lunch Collective apologises to schools, students and parents impacted and remains committed to resolving teething issues experienced these first days.

“With over 127,000 meals being delivered around the country every school day, we are committed to supporting students' learning through the Healthy School Lunches Programme.”

This issue does not affect schools outside of Auckland.

Local Democracy Reporting sought to follow up on the logistical processes and communication problems, but Compass NZ declined to comment, providing only the statement released.

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