Some CT school districts face mealtime shortages
Limited school menu options. Diminished cafeteria supplies. Shrunken kitchen and cafeteria staffs. And onboarding processes that move at a snail’s pace.
School cafeterias throughout Connecticut are feeling the effect of COVID-era food and labor shortages, as low supply of ingredients and paper goods, and cafeteria and kitchen workers, squeeze mealtime operations. And the impact is multiplied by all students being entitled to receive free school meals during the pandemic.
In response to national mealtime shortages, food-service workers at West Haven Public Schools have had to get creative to meet the nutritional needs of its students.
“Staffing has been very difficult,” said Meg Kingston, the district’s food services director. “We are running on a skeleton crew in most schools, but my staff is truly amazing and we make it work.”
West Haven’s woes extend beyond its staffing: “Our menu has limited selections which saddens me,” said Kingston. “The supply chain has also been an issue with many items not available.”
Alongside West Haven, school foodservice teams in New Haven, Bridgeport, Guilford and other Connecticut towns have had to resolve these issues, while other districts including Norwalk, Stamford and Torrington reported no problems.
Spokespeople for Fairfield and Greenwich said the districts have had to be flexible with their menus, but ramifications have been minimal.
Production and delivery delays, and driver shortages, too, have left some school districts scrambling to put nutritious food on the table for students.
“There’s a huge body of evidence saying when kids are fed, they do better in school,” said Jacqueline Vernarelli, an associate professor of public health at Sacred Heart University.
The United States Department of Agriculture, for its part, recently allocated an additional $1.5 billion to help schools provide lunch and has also issued waivers giving schools flexibility to offer food substitutions outside of nutritional recommendations.
“The waivers allow school nutrition coordinators and food service workers the flexibility to get much-needed food on the table for our state’s children,” said Vernarelli.
“Their goal is to keep our children nourished so that they can grow and learn to the best of their ability.”
But the crunch is serious in New Haven, which reported 27 vacancies in food service on Thursday, according to Justin Harmon, the district spokesperson.
“We are managing by using substitute workers, and by pushing staff from the central kitchen out to the schools to make sure they are as fully staffed as possible,” said Harmon, who added the substitutes are being trained to fill the positions permanently.
The district has struggled to procure chicken and breakfast foods — putting the district’s popular “breakfast for lunch” meal in peril for the time being. But Harmon said the district has a reliable source of vegetables and meats, and is in touch with its distributor about ordering shortage items early.
Meanwhile in Guilford, the dining services department has run into issues with the availability and delivery of some food and related products, which could impact some students with dietary restrictions.
“Manufacturers currently cannot provide items including gluten free products,” district officials wrote in a letter to families, “and Lactaid free milk is only available in limited quantities.”
The district assured parents that they will notify students of any significant changes “as soon as possible.”
“Every effort is being made to offer comparable choices when an item is not available,” they wrote.
Torrington Superintendent Susan Lubomski told Hearst Connecticut Media that mealtimes have run smoothly in her district.
“Fortunately, we have not experienced any issues at Torrington Public Schools,” she said.
Fairfield schools communications director Andrea Clark said the district has changed its menus “based on national food shortages,” while Greenwich spokesperson Jonathan Supranowitz reported the same.
“Our Food Services Department remains flexible on menu planning. We are staying ahead of any issues by requesting that our vendors alert us to any possible shortages with as much advance notice as possible,” he said.