The Boston Citywide Parent Council, upset that too many students are tossing their lunches into the trash, has launched a letter-writing and phone-call campaign to urge city leaders to dump the school system’s food contractor.
The parent group is taking issue with the lunches provided by Whitsons Culinary Group, which prepares and freezes them at its facility on Long Island, N.Y. The lunches, which feature such dishes as chicken teriyaki and barbecued meatballs, come individually packaged in black containers sealed with clear plastic, resembling frozen dinners sold in supermarkets.
Parents say the lunches are often overcooked and taste terrible.
“My son begs me to make him a lunch so he doesn’t have to eat the school food,” said Beth Rogers, whose son attends the Eliot Innovation K-8 School in the North End. “He doesn’t like the way it looks or the way it tastes.”
Her 9-year-old son, Owen Tenby, said his classmates “tell the lunch lady they hate the food so much they will throw up.”
The parent council is making its pitch as Whitsons’ $36.6 million contract is set to expire in August. Whitsons is competing against two other bidders for the next three-year contract, which would provide prepackaged meals only to schools equipped with warming ovens, representing about two-thirds of the city’s 125 schools.
The other schools have fully equipped kitchens where meals are prepared daily.
Speculation has been swirling that Whitsons is a shoo-in for the next contract, since the company announced in March that it had secured a facility in Dorchester, where it will be able to whip up most lunches locally and serve them fresh, instead of trucking in frozen meals.
As of now, Boston is the only school system in Massachusetts that contracts with Whitsons to provide meals, raising questions about why the company would take a financial gamble on a new facility before knowing if it had the city’s next contract.
Whitsons, which has held two contracts with the school system over the past six years, defended its record, saying it always works on elevating the quality and nutritional value of its meals.
“Our new culinary center is located right in the city of Boston, where meals will be prepared fresh daily by local team members utilizing ingredients from local farms and Boston area suppliers,” said Karen Dittrich, a Whitsons spokeswoman, in a statement. “We have proven resources to provide high quality meals, food and nutrition education, improve meal participation, and reduce waste.”
She added, “We look forward to the opportunity of continuing our partnership with the Boston Public Schools community for many years to come.”
The Boston Public Schools and the mayor’s office said they could not comment on the parents’ concerns because state law forbids public agencies from discussing bids during the deliberation process.
But Rich Weir, a school spokesman, said in a statement, “As a district, we always value the input and opinions of the students and parents we serve.” And Nicole Caravella, a mayoral spokeswoman, echoed that in a similar statement.
Beyond the food contract bid, the school system is experimenting this month with a new model to provide fresh meals to some East Boston schools that historically had not been equipped with kitchens.
Under the “Hub and Spoke Project,” meals cooked in the cafeteria at East Boston High School are delivered to an early childhood center and two elementary schools, which have been outfitted with ovens, freezers, a refrigerator, and three basin sinks. A donation from the Shah Family Foundation is helping to fund the effort.
If successful, the school system intends to bring the model to other neighborhoods that have a school with a full-service kitchen that is near schools lacking cafeterias.
Parents began their letter-writing campaign at the end of April and then stepped up efforts last week with additional letters and phone calls to Superintendent Tommy Chang and Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
The parent group has made clear in the letters that they want Whitsons out.
“Boston parents are up in arms about the idea of business as usual in the food our children are offered at our schools,” the group wrote in a May 16 letter. “It’s time for a change.”
The letter said many students are not eating the meals and would rather go hungry.
Jeff Klug, a parent who used to volunteer in the lunch room at the Hurley K-8 School in the South End when his two children attended school there, said the younger kids struggled to pull off the plastic wrap from the tops of the containers, requiring adult assistance.
“The food itself was brown,” Klug said, an indication it had sat in the warming ovens too long. “So much of it went into the trash. It was mind-boggling. It was just a stunning waste of money, and the kids go hungry.”
James Vaznis can be reached at james.vaznis@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globevaznis.