Dear Hope Families,

You may have heard that a large amount of meat and poultry was recalled due to possible Listeria Contamination. This product was distributed amongst several schools in the District of Cloumbia in which Hope-Tolson PCS name was on that list. 

Our primary commitment is always to the health and well-being of the children in our school. We prepare and serve an average of 250 meals a day, but we never lose sight of the fact that every single one of those meals is eaten by our children. Food safety and cleanliness are our most important responsibilities.

I want to assure everyoe in our school community that we have always been and will be vigilant, even obsessive, about the safety of the food we serve to our children.  We follow the strictest food safety standards and in the very rare event that we need to address a problem, we do so quickly and expeditiously, as we have done here at Hope-Tolson. We worked closely with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service as well as the health department. After an inspection from the food inspector today, the findings were that none of our meat products were tainted. 

Again, I want to stress that nothing matters more to us than the health and well being of our children. We're here to provide the nutrition children need to learn well, and whenever a question about food safety comes up, we will always act immediately in the best interest of our children. 

Finally, I want to encourage you to contact me directly at (202-832-7370) or email cowens@hopetolson.org with any questions or concerns about this matter or any other child nutrition-related issues.

Respectfully,

Dr. Clifford Owens

Principal, Hope-Tolson PCS