Board of Health: Hard to Believe This Happened Again (Updated)

UPDATED: 3:15 P.M.

Sudbury Board of Health Director Bob Leupold says Sudbury Public Schools is "ahead of the curve" when it comes to its cafeterias.

An outside consultant makes monthly visits to ensure everything is up to par, something most school districts don't have, he said.

And because of this, Leupold is scratching his head today after a report of undercooked chicken being served at Noyes Elementary School surfaced yesterday.

"It's hard to believe this happened again after last year," he says.

The same incident happened at Noyes and Nixon Elementary School a year ago, and Superintendent Anne Wilson changed the food service provider from Chartwells to Whitsons.

Leupold says he was contacted shortly after the report of the latest incident and was back at Noyes today to meet with the cafeteria supervisor, Chris Purdue, who was working yesterday.

"I did an inspection and made a notation that temperatures for the chicken were not recorded and that’s a mistake there," Leupold says. "I can’t say how it happened. I don’t know what degree the chicken was cooked — 150 degrees, 165, 140 — I just don’t know."

There have been no reports of children getting sick from the undercooked chicken as of Tuesday morning.

Leupold is unsure if the issue is staff related and noted that the staff at Noyes is short one person who recently quit.

"The supervisor has 35 years experience apparently," he says. "He assured me it won't happen again, but it shouldn't have happened the first time. You assume they will do a perfect job but in this case they didn't."

Leupold says no fines have been given and all cafeterias will be reinspected "sooner than later now that this has occurred."

Inspections are required to happen twice a year.

"We will follow all protocols and procedures and take appropriate action," Wilson told Sudbury Patch in an email.

Some parents leaving Noyes with their kids Tuesday afternoon were hestitant to comment, but two did share their views.

When asked if she was concerned for her fourth-grade daughter, mother Kellie Byrne said yes.

"She’s in fourth grade but she was not involved," she said. "I work in a school kitchen in another town so it definitely concerns me."

Byrne added that she hasn't brought her concerns to anyone in the administration.

Parent Rebecca Lewis had a different opinion.

"My son brings lunch most of the time ... he doesn’t like the school lunch," she said. "Those types of things happen. It doesn’t happen that often, accidents happen and I’m not that concerned."