School food service workers scramble to feed students amid supply chain issues
For the food service staff at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, it's been all hands on deck lately.
As supply and staffing shortages squeeze food service departments in schools statewide, those who remain are scrambling to make sure students are fed. About 85% of the Marlborough school's 1,200 students are served breakfast and lunch.
The school's director of nutritional services, Dina Wiroll, noted during a recent phone interview that it was probably the first time she'd sat at her desk in two months.
"I’m with my staff every day feeding kids," said Wiroll, who added, "They work like crazy people."
The ongoing labor shortage and supply chain issues mean there are not enough workers to harvest food, transport it or distribute it, Wiroll said.
As a result, school nutrition directors throughout Massachusetts are facing a backlog of orders every week. To make it work, they rework lunch menus day to day and hunt for hard-to-find key products, such as chicken or forks.
“It’s kind of a global situation that funnels to a very local level,” Wiroll said.
In Franklin, the food service team is also playing menu roulette.
Tom Houle, food services director for Franklin Public Schools, said orders are usually backlogged and once they do come in, they are typically missing several items.
“We may think we’re getting 15 cases of chicken when in reality we’re not getting any,” he said. “We’re changing menus fairly regularly each week because we don’t know what’s coming in.”
Where once school nutrition directors got all or most of their products from one vendor, they now find themselves using multiple vendors and visiting retail stores to make their operations work. Wiroll said she's been to Restaurant Depot "more times than I care to say."
Compounding the problem is the federal government’s universal free school meal initiative, which started during the pandemic. Schools are now trying to feed more students than before the pandemic started.
At Assabet, for instance, 30% more students are taking meals, Wiroll said. She probably needs a staff of 14, she said, but currently has just nine employees.
“More students are participating, which is great, but with the shortness of staff it’s not always that easy,” Houle said.
Wiroll said the problem began to crop up at the tail end of last school year, but hit hard this August. At present the problem is static, but she believes she can see "a pinpoint light at the end of the tunnel."
Manufacturers appear to be getting back to work and she's noticed a new influx of truck drivers for her vendors.
"It will take a while to get back to whatever normal is, but I am definitely seeing people filling roles that were open," Wiroll said.
Houle said he's proud of how his employees, and the industry at large, have met the challenge.
"No one expected this," he said. "No one has dealt with anything like this and there's no mapped-out instructions."
Zane Razzaq writes about education. Reach her at 508-626-3919 or zrazzaq@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @zanerazz
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: MetroWest food service workers battle labor shortages, supply chain woes
