The South Whidbey School District was hoping that hiring a professional food-service company — Chartwells — to oversee cafeteria operations would improve both participation and the financial bottom line.

But that hasn’t happened, at least not so far.

Figures released to the school board Wednesday showed the number of students eating lunch in the school facilities is down through November an average of 6.4 percent.

Paid meals are down 27.8 percent but, perhaps reflecting the economy, free meals served increased substantially, by 26 percent.

The only good news is that the rate of decline has dropped slightly since school began Sept. 8, and officials are hoping that trend continues.

For November, there were an average of 433 lunches bought at the elementary, middle and high schools and at Bayview School, for a district average of 26 percent. Participation at Bayview was the highest, at 34 percent.

Factoring in all expenses — including payroll, food costs and administration — the district lost $32,000, a 41-percent drop over the same period last year.