Short on help: District needs 95 food service workers

Terry Webster

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

While stockpiling its wares and cleaning equipment for the upcoming school year, the Clark County School District food service department realized it is lacking a key ingredient.

The department is short of food service workers.

Although district officials recently announced that a teacher shortage will be averted this year, concerns are being aired about a shortage of support staff positions, including food service workers.

About 95 additional part-timers are needed to help run the district's food program this year. One of the largest meal providers in the state, the district last year dished out about 70,000 lunches and 21,000 breakfasts per day.

The demand is only expected to grow, as the district adds another 16 schools to its existing 250 during the coming school year.

"We just hired 32 substitute workers into regular positions," Sue Hoggan, a food services supervisor, said. "But we still are working with the same number of people we already had."

It's hard to fill the positions, Hoggan said, because they are part-time -- about four hours a day. But they do provide benefits. Mostly, the district tries to recruit retirees into the jobs.

In all, food services employs about 614 regular employees and 454 temporary employees, or a total of 1,068.

"No matter what, we will be ready for students on the first day," Hoggan said. "When we fall short, though, it does affect how quickly we can serve everyone."

That becomes a concern particularly in overcrowded schools, where every minute counts at lunch time.

Still, staffers are gearing up for the new school year. At the central kitchen, stacks of frozen food already are piled on large freezer racks for the first day of school Aug. 30.

The district's massive food service operation includes a central kitchen and main warehouse on Arville Street, the hub of the food supply to the district's schools.

Food is prepared in the central kitchen, then packaged and shipped by refrigerated trucks to about 99 elementary schools. The food is stored overnight in refrigerators, then heated and served for breakfast or lunch.

For other elementary schools, food is prepared at nearby high schools or middle schools, then shipped to the elementary school. High schools and middle schools are all able to prepare food on site.

Food services isn't the only area falling short on staff, Bobby Mancuso, president of the Education Support Employees Association, said. Teacher aides, custodians, bus drivers and secretarial staff also are feeling the pinch.

"All everyone hears about is being short on teachers," he said.

But new hires also are down for support staff.

Mancuso noted that at this time last year, at weekly meetings where the union gets to meet new hires, he saw 50 to 60 each week.

"Now it has been down to 10 to 15 a week," he said.

During a recent School Board meeting, George Ann Rice, assistant superintendent for human resources, mentioned that businesses and municipalities are luring away district staffers by offering them higher pay.

Depending on the position, pay for support workers ranges from around $10 an hour to $30 an hour.

"What is happening is that staff is being spread thin and people are doing double the work," Mancuso said. "It's affecting all support staff. There are situations where two custodians are doing the work of three."

Additionally, some positions are being left vacant.

"I'd call it a serious problem," Mancuso said.