By Ray King
The Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday said Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt Jr., was correct when he denied a request from a non-profit organization that participated in the federally funded Child and Adult Care Food program to review the report of an administrative law judge critical of the non-profit organization.
Kosmic Kidz (Kosmic Kidz) Outreach, Inc., and its director Fredrick Jackson had filed suit against the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and its director Cindy Gillespie in 2016 after the administrative law judge determined that Kosmic Kidz failed to comply with DHS regulations and owed DHS $270,623.98.
According to the court ruling, Kosmic Kidz was originally approved to participate in the program in 2013 and Jackson has been the director in 2013. In 2016, DHS conducted a compliance review of Kosmic Kidz and made 15 negative findings, six of which formed the basis for the appeal.
Those findings included Kosmic Kidz failed to comply with meal component requirements by serving a carbonated 8 oz fruit as the only fruit/vegetable component for supper’ failed to serve at-risk supper and snack meals at Quest Charter School at the end of the school day; leased vans and box trucks from Kosmic Kidz Learning Center, owned by Jackson’s wife Donna for $47,000 a month, and others.
At an administrative hearing, Perry Dwayne Hunter, a care service specialist at DHS testified that he conducted the review of Kosmic Kidz and found that in November 2015, the meals were of the wrong portion size. He went on to say that Kosmic Kidz was serving a carbonated fruit drink Switch, rather than the fruit and vegetable component of the meal.
Regarding the allegation that Kosmic Kidz was failing to serve meals at the end of the school day at Quest Charter School, Hunter testified that the school day ended at 3:10 p.m. and children were released from class at 2:45 p.m. in order to receive a snack and meal before going home. He testified that school personnel admitted that students were being released early and it was witnessed by DHS personnel.
As to the allegation that Kosmic Kidz leased vans and trucks from a company owned by the director’s wife, DHS said the transactions were “less than an arms-length” and Hunter testified that Jackson failed to disclose that the transactions were between related parties.
