Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Dawn Rye, food service director for Hurley School District, stands by several insulated food bags that are used to deliver hot meals to students in pre-kindergarten through second grade.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Hurley - The food service staff at Hurley K-12 School say the adjustments to serving students in-school during the COVID-19 pandemic are efficient and working.
Dawn Rye, food service director for Hurley School District, credited her previous career in health for coming up with a plan when faced with the challenge of designing a food program routine that protects students and staff from the spread of coronavirus, but also is efficient and affordable for the school.
The district has maintained a reliable meal program through the pandemic, beginning in March 2020, even including weekend meals, said Kevin Genisot, district administrator. Not only have these meals been delicious, but they have also remained free of charge to all families, he said.
"Dawn Rye and her kitchen staff are simply amazing people who care deeply about the students of the district," Genisot said. "The food service team continually looks for ways to make meals exciting, as well as introducing new offerings, like homemade soups."
The school determined that the pre-kindergarten through second-grades would be served lunch in their respective classrooms to minimize the number of students who eat in the commons and allow for social distancing.
Rye selected all disposable trays and utensils. The food is prepared, placed in the trays, vacuum sealed and then stored in warming racks until placed in insulated warming bags when it's time to deliver them to the classrooms.
"We do a 'Meals-on-Wheels' kind of system for the students," Rye said. "We deliver it to the classrooms so that the little kids don't have to come out (to the commons area) to eat. It's been working out pretty good."
With everything disposable, Rye said she wondered if the amount of waste would grow exponentially. However, she said the flat trays stack nicely and overall the trash has increased by just a few bags.
For the students who eat in the commons there are more changes to help with preventing multiple people from having to touch items. A computerized checkout station with a self-scanner eliminates the need for others to handle items. Pre-sealed individual salads and fruits have replaced the salad bar.
The staff is also serving free meals to families from the school using a drive-up system and drop-off points. The U.S. Department of Agriculture extended the free breakfast and free lunch program to all students 18 and younger on weekdays and weekends for the duration of the school year.
"We are continuing to do the weekend meals and that's been very successful," Rye said. "It's been an awesome outreach. The students are still coming to take the meals and they can take them on the buses to go home with them. So, I bumped up my numbers a little bit because it has been so successful."
