A brewing battle over alleged fraudulent activity by a southeast Oklahoma school nutrition nonprofit went public earlier this month after legal disputes in state and federal court have developed all year.
In a May 7 letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General Gentner Drummond and State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindell Fields said information “has come to light” showing “systemic fraudulent and deceptive practices” by McAlester-based Feed the Kids, Inc. Founded in December 2023, the organization receives federal funding via the State Department of Education to provide additional meals to children across southeast Oklahoma
“My concerns regarding Feed the Kids, Inc. are deeply troubling,” Fields wrote in his letter requesting investigation. “Evidence suggests that the company has engaged in fraudulently inflating both operating costs and reported meal numbers in order to secure excessive reimbursement from federal funds.”
Fields’ request for criminal inquiry comes in the midst of two active court cases filed by Feed the Kids against OSDE after a notice of serious deficiency was sent to the organization in January. That notice claimed the nonprofit received $344,939.33 in overpayment.
In its court filings, Feed the Kids claims the department did not follow the proper appeal process despite the organization requesting one after the January notice, but Fields’ May 7 letter suggested the organization has been trying to cover its tracks.
“It appears that misrepresentations were made on their program application, and that false declarations and pleadings were submitted in both federal and state courts,” Fields wrote. “Of particular concern was the movement of millions of dollars from Feed the Kids’ reported projected revenue, which, at the time of its sponsorship renewal application, reflected dollar amounts as being available for the company’s operation. Moving these funds had the effect of changing Feed the Kids’ available funding to zero, ostensibly to support its federal and state court declarations and pleadings.”
According to an October 2025 Facebook post, Feed the Kids had been helping 38 schools with 54 sites feed their students a free third meal daily.
The organization is one of several in Oklahoma that carry out the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Care Food Program, which has drawn scrutiny from federal investigators in recent years. In 2021, then-Superintendent Joy Hofmeister announced that $1.6 million in claims from child care sites had been deemed fraudulent and were “being investigated by federal authorities (…) in the criminal division.”
Formed two years later, Feed the Kids has participated in the part of the USDA program that provides reimbursements for meals served to children and youth participating in after-school care programs. OSDE oversees the distribution of the federal funds in Oklahoma and provides oversight of the child feeding sites.
Requests for comment from Dana Parker, Feed the Kids’ executive director, and from the attorneys representing the organization received no response prior to the publication of this story.
Before becoming executive director for Feed the Kids, Parker was the child nutrition director for McAlester Public Schools, retiring from the position in 2023.
Feed the Kids: OSDE was ‘judge, jury and executioner’ in appeal denial
Court records show Feed the Kids has two active court cases against the Oklahoma State Department of Education — one in Pittsburg County District Court and the other in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
The filing in Pittsburg County District Court argues that OSDE improperly denied a request for a hearing on the notice of serious deficiency and failed to forward the matter to an administrative law judge as required under its own appeal procedures.
Feed the Kids argues the agency effectively acted as “judge, jury and executioner” by refusing to provide a hearing while still seeking repayment of a $344,939.33 over-claim tied to the food program. The organization asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order in the case to prohibit further negative action and asked the judge to order the department to conduct an appeal hearing.
In a motion to dismiss the suit, OSDE’s attorneys argued that the organization’s request for an appeal was received one day later than the 15-day deadline to request one. The motion also argued that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and that the petition failed to present a valid legal claim. The department contended that the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act only applies when there is a final agency order, which did not exist in the case because no individual proceeding was conducted.
Following oral arguments held March 3, Pittsburg County District Judge Mike Hogan ruled in favor of Feed the Kids by granting temporary injunctive relief.
An appeal of the ruling was filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court by OSDE, but it was later dismissed voluntarily by the department.
The state district court case remains active, as Feed the Kids has requested an expedited hearing to “enforce and clarify” the temporary injunction. Meanwhile, OSDE has continued to press its motion to dismiss the filing, with a hearing on the dismissal motion scheduled for May 15.
Using its same arguments in the state case, Feed the Kids filed a similar case filed in the Western District of Oklahoma on April 20 that named Fields and Kassi Reddel, OSDE’s food program manager, in their official capacities.
Because the cases are similar and request the same relief, a federal judge stayed the federal action pending the outcome of state proceedings.
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Fields: ‘Transparency and accountability must remain at the forefront’
According to a 2021 press release from former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister, OSDE implemented “a number of accountability measures” for child nutrition programs, including an “unannounced review process,” in 2016. The release referenced the new safeguards while announcing OSDE’s discovery of more than $1.6 million in fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his May 7 letter, Fields asked Drummond, Byrd and Stitt to “take all appropriate steps to examine these matters and pursue any necessary actions to ensure accountability.”
“It is my firm belief that Feed the Kids’ actions represent not only a misuse of public funds but also a betrayal of the vulnerable populations these programs are designed to serve,” Fields wrote. “The scope and nature of these allegations demand a thorough and immediate investigation.”
Documents from the IRS show that Feed the Kids, Inc. received tax-exempt status Dec. 28, 2023. Its public tax filings for 2023 and 2024 are available online, and they list former Atoka Public Schools Superintendent Jay McAdams as president and former Pontotoc Technology Center Superintendent David Lassiter as vice president.
Both McAdams and Lassiter are listed on the 2024 filing as working 30 hours per week for the nonprofit and receiving $29,170 each in compensation. In March, McAdams recorded a video endorsing former House Speaker Charles McCall, a longtime fellow Atoka community leader, for governor.
In addition to McAdams and Lassiter, board members on the 2024 filing are:
- Keith Cochran;
- Brenda Robertson; and
- Sue Chase (who replaced Deborah Hamilton on the board for 2024).
“The corporation will be devoted to serving as a sponsoring organization under the Child and Adult Care Food Program of the USA as authorized by Congress in 42 U.S.C. 1763 and regulated by the USDA,” the organization’s mission states on the filings.
In 2023, the organization reported $10,000 in contributions, with $7,500 going toward “professional fees and other payments to independent contractors” and another $50 going to other expenses. The net assets of the organization at the end of 2023 were $2,450. None of the five board members received compensation that year, according to the tax document.
For 2024, the organization reported another $10,153 in contributions, with $1.31 million in program service revenue for total revenue of $1.33 million.
A total of $1,092,038 was designated as benefits for members of the nonprofit — that is to say, the children served — and $101,754 in salaries were paid out. Another $21,367 was designated toward “other expenses” with a grand expense total of $1.21 million, leaving the organization with $117,327 in revenue at the end of 2024.
“Transparency and accountability must remain at the forefront of our collective efforts to serve the people of Oklahoma,” Fields said in his letter. “The Department of Education has already taken active steps towards terminating the existing relationship with Feed the Kids, per the guidance and with the support of the United States Department of Agriculture.”
Fields said his department is working with school districts that were served by Feed the Kids so that no services will be interrupted.
“I am committed to full cooperation with any investigation or audit your offices may undertake and stand ready to provide any requested information or assistance,” Fields said.
