K-12 operators have come up with creative ways to fill in staffing gaps and make sure students keep getting fed. Photo: Shutterstock
As K-12 nutrition teams continue to face labor challenges, operators have come up with ways to keep the meals coming even when short staffed.
Here are four ways K-12 operators are working to combat labor shortages that were shared at the School Nutrition Association’s Legislative Action Conference held in Washington D.C. earlier this week.
Match up employee hours for easy subs
At Bellflower Unified School District in Bellflower, Calif., Nutrition Services Director Candice Crump uses her district’s central kitchen to her advantage.
Crump decided to match up the hours of employees working in the central kitchen with the hours of employees working at the school sites to allow for easy substitutions should the need arise.
“In the event that one of our sites calls out, we can just have our ladies from or central kitchen fill in at the sites,” she says. “I actually put together a little map where it shows who’s working during which time.”
Have a back up plan to the back up plan
The nutrition department at Jefferson County Public Schools located just outside Denver has approximately 450 employees when fully staffed, but it has experienced over 130 vacancies at times.