Jun. 28—NORWICH — The school system's free summer meals program will remain in flux next week, as the state continues to review the district's plan to hire a private firm to run school food services starting July 1.

Volunteers led by the Norwich Bully Busters youth advocacy program have stepped in to fill a gap in services, making lunches for children at St. Mark's Lutheran Church this week. They will continue that effort next week, Bully Busters director Debbie Kievits said Wednesday.

But school Business Administrator Robert Sirpenski sent a letter to Norwich families Wednesday afternoon stating that meals provided by outside entities not approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot be served at official summer meals sites.

"We are not permitted to bring in private vendors or accept donations of food," Sirpenski wrote. "We thank you for your thoughtfulness."

The problem occurred after school ended for the summer, and staff at the district-run food services program departed. They would normally run the summer meals program but the district had ended its food services department and Chartwells is not yet on board.

The summer meals at 21 state-approved sites were supposed to start June 20, but Norwich had only three staff members still working at the soon-to-be defunct program.

The contract with Chartwells food services management firm was to start July 1, with that firm providing meals at Norwich Free Academy and 20 other state-approved sites.

But state Department of Education spokesman Eric Scoville said in an email to The Day Wednesday that Norwich did not submit the proposed contract with Chartwells until after hours on Friday, June 9. Four other school districts' proposals, also set to start July 1, were in line for review ahead of Norwich, Scoville wrote.

He said the state Department of Education has identified "significant issues and concerns" with the proposed Norwich contract, potentially delaying action further.

"Due to the complexity of these contracts and the volume of federal funding involved, the review process, if all things are in order, is typically three weeks," Scoville wrote.

Without staff in the interim, Norwich has been providing meals only at NFA and the Bishop Early Learning Center.

Scoville said state officials learned of the summer meals problem during an online meeting between state and local education officials last Thursday to discuss the district's plan to close Bishop Early Learning Center. Scoville said complaints came in that families were going to some of the 21 approved and advertised meal sites to find no meals.