I would love to hear from District 5 parents who are involved in booster clubs and PTAs about whether you felt pressured to purchase products from Zo's pizza. When Cassandra Anderson-Littlejohn's business sold athletic wear to a middle school, I believe that the parents and sponsor felt pressured to purchase from her. Whether that was real or perceived because of Ms. Anderson-Littlejohn's role, I can't say. Her child was a student at the school and may have been involved in the activity.
I would also like to know if the booster clubs and PTAs comparison shop and if Cunningham's restaurant offers the best prices. Our school uses a local Italian restaurant to cater events occasionally. The PTA chair is expected to shop around and get the best price. Flat Rock Elementary is huge, nearly 1000 students, so the total bill doesn’t surprise me. I share Tom Bowen's concerns about the increase in sales from pre-board to now.
Table appears set for conflict
AJC investigation: Board member's business caters to county schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
7:59 a.m. Sunday, June 27, 2010 By Tim Eberly teberly@ajc.com
Before Jay Cunningham won election to the DeKalb school board, his restaurants catered the occasional school pizza party.
But in the three years since taking office in January 2007, his food sales to DeKalb schools have increased substantially, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an Open Records Act request.
Cunningham owns Zo’s Pizza, formerly named daVido’s Pizza, on Panola Road in Lithonia. Zo’s was previously on Mall Parkway, also in Lithonia. At one time, he operated restaurants at both locations.
Documents show that Cunningham’s restaurants collected $3,077 from schools in the five years before he joined the school board, compared to at least $22,655 in the three and a half years after. The purchases mostly came in the form of large orders of pizza, chicken wings or both for teacher gatherings, yearbook parties and other events.
The rest of the article can be found here:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/table-appears-set-for-558491.html
