New dining-services director puts focus on healthy options
New dining-services director puts focus on healthy options
Tiffany Selvey spends a good majority of her time walking around school cafeterias to investigate what students are bringing in their lunch boxes.
“I want to see what their parents are packing that I can’t do,” Selvey said. “I want to see why they aren’t eating here, so we have created a few menu items and have fun lunches that are really popular.
“Basically, [the staff] is mimicking what the parents are packing and have healthy options that are fun. We are competing a little bit with what the parents are packing.”
Selvey, the director of dining services for the Sheridan School District, said one way she is drawing in students is by offering chicken tenders, but with whole-grain breading. She said “the students are excited that they are getting tenders, but we are excited because they are still getting a super nutritious meal.”
Selvey is in charge of all the cafeterias in the district. She designs the menus and oversees the overall cafeteria operation. Prior to starting her position in Sheridan, Selvey spent the past year as general manager for On The Border in Hot Springs.
“We are pleased to have Tiffany Selvey on our team,” Sheridan Superintendent Jerrod Williams said. “Coming from a well-known restaurant in the private food industry, she brings a new perspective to our foodservices department.
“We are excited about the growth in student participation we’ve seen this year in our food-services program.”
Selvey said the fun lunches served in the district mimic Lunchables and “are extremely popular.” She said the lunches usually come with yogurt, string cheese and maybe a ham and cheese sandwich.
“The goal is to give them the most nutritious options possible,” she said.
Selvey, who replaces former director Jason Godwin, said the menus are available online through the Sheridan School District website. She said it gives kids and their parents the chance to spend time looking at the menus and seeing what the school will offer each day.
“I was looking for a better work-life balance,” Selvey said. “Restaurant hours can be pretty crazy, and this just seemed like a really good fit.
“[Having also worked for Playtime Pizza for five years], I really enjoy children and working closely with them,” she said. “It just seemed like a perfect fit.”
Selvey’s official start date was at the beginning of the school year, and she said interacting with the kids is the best part of her job. She said the entire district has been really welcoming.
“It has been a really nice transition,” she said. “The ladies in the cafeteria are amazing. Those ladies work so hard and enjoy their jobs.
“They do such a good job every day, and they make it enjoyable.”
Chartwells, a food-service management company, and the Sheridan School District have a partnership for the dining operation. Selvey, who was placed at the district through Chartwells, oversees 50 employees, including Chartwells employees and district employees. She said it is definitely smaller numbers than what she saw in her previous positions.
“The combination of her education, passion and personality makes her a great fit to take the program to the next level,” Chartwells K12 Regional Director Jason King said of Selvey. “As a mom to a school-age son, she understands what both parents and students are looking for in their in-school dining experience.
“Beyond that, her energy is contagious, and her approach to teamwork and excellence helps staff members achieve above the level they thought they could perform.”
Selvey said Chartwells handles all the dining services but also caters outside the district, and that has been a big focus this year. She said the company has the ability to serve small or large events.
Since taking over as diningservices director for the school district, Selvey said, there has been a participation increase in the food-services program of nearly 11 percent. She said the increase is a result of creating menus that are more focused on what students want and giving them some new options this year.
“We want to make sure they get balanced meals, but at the end of the day, we want to give them some things that they want,” Selves said. “We want to make sure they are getting healthy options.
“In the past, cafeteria food has had a kind of stigma of not being good. So that has been a real focus for us — to change the perception of cafeteria food.
“We want to make sure it tastes really great and is healthy for them as well.”
Selvey currently lives in Bryant with her 7-year-old son, Liam. She is originally from Dumas but graduated from Ozark High School in Missouri in 2001. She graduated from St. Petersburg College in Tampa, Florida, earning a bachelor’s degree in business management in 2011. She said that as a mom, she knows it is really important that kids have good options when it comes to food.
“If we left it up to them, they probably wouldn’t make the best choices,” Selvey said. “We want to teach them healthy eating habits to carry with them for the rest of their lives, and that’s why what the district is doing here is so awesome. …
“… With their meal line, students have several options to choose from each day, which is so different from when we went to school. They can choose from several fruits and vegetables each day and get a nice balanced meal.”
For example, Selvey said that when a student comes through, they may have a choice of mashed potatoes and gravy or black-eyed peas, cold pears or sliced peaches. They can also choose from items such as sliced carrots or a side salad. She said there are several options for students.
“We give them their main entree, but they can choose up to four items to build a healthy tray …,” she said. “We will give them all four [at no extra charge]. They can choose whatever they want.”
One of the biggest additions this year is the second-chance breakfast.
“We applied and won a grant to launch a new program at the high school, called secondchance breakfast,” Selvey said. “Basically, what it does is give students an opportunity to pick up breakfast in the hallways after first period.
“So students that come to the school later or don’t have time to eat in the morning have a chance to grab a healthy breakfast so they can focus a little more on learning during the day.”
Lauren Goins, director of communications and recruitment for the Sheridan School District, said it helps all students to have breakfast before school. She said the students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals through the regular program get the same discounts on the second-chance breakfast; otherwise, students can pay $1.35 for items such as a sausage biscuit or a fruit parfait.
“We are excited to give our high school students another opportunity to get a nutritious breakfast,” Goins said. “We anticipate that this program will be beneficial for all of our students — no matter their family’s income level — but it will be especially beneficial for our students who don’t have access to healthy food at home.”
Goins said students who start the day with a healthy breakfast are more likely to retain what they learn in class, demonstrate better behavior and experience better health outcomes. Selvey said the breakfast numbers are up about 5 percent since the introduction of the second-chance breakfast.
“It is really good and makes sure they get a nutritious option to start their day,” Selvey said. “It has been really popular and has more than doubled our breakfast numbers, and we are not even a month in yet.”
Selvey has been in the food industry since she was old enough to have her first job, at 15 years old.
“Food and customer service are what I know,” she said, “focusing on quality food and making sure the kids are getting a really good experience.
“Quality control and things like that make a big impact on [students’] willingness to eat in the cafeteria.” Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.
“We applied and won a grant to launch a new program at the high school, called secondchance breakfast. Basically, what it does is give students an opportunity to pick up breakfast in the hallways after first period.” Tiffany Selvey NEW DIRECTOR OF DINING SERVICES FOR THE SHERIDAN SCHOOL DISTRICT