San Luis Coastal Unified School District

Making School Cafeteria Lunches Healthier Starts With Who’s in the Kitchen | Eater

"The district’s food program, led by its food and nutrition services director, has committed to preparing roughly half of meals from scratch but is stretched thin—operating about 13 staff short on a team that typically numbers 40. During busy service, administrators will even don aprons to help slice beef brisket. Two short-term trainees left after a pre-apprenticeship, forcing some menu changes (for example, switching from in-house hummus to a local vendor) despite a roughly 52 percent increase in meal participation. Leadership is eager to host more trainees from the Healthy School Food Pathway to build a skilled pipeline, but persistent understaffing and the prospect of higher fast-food wages (potentially up to $22 an hour) make recruitment and retention difficult given current district pay ranges." - Anne Marshall-Chalmers