Fort Plain to share food services with Canajoharie and St. Johnsville

   Beginning in September, Fort Plain Central School District will share food service operations with the Canajoharie and St. Johnsville school districts. The move is expected to save each district money on management, shipping, bulk food ordering, and delivery costs.

Food Services Director Lauri Dahlin, who served as food services manager/chief accounting officer in Fort Plain, assumes the role of food service manager for all three districts. Her responsibilities include hiring staff, planning menus, meeting federal nutrition standards, and ordering government commodities. Fort Plain and Canajoharie will each pay 40 percent of her salary and St. Johnsville will pay 20 percent.

“Sharing services will give us a way to reduce costs and also help out our neighboring districts,” said Fort Plain Superintendent Douglas C. Burton.

“We hope this will also help us receive more state aid. In the budget, Governor Cuomo allocated $250 million for districts who reduce costs and improve efficiencies, and this shared service hopefully puts us in line for that.”

Sharing services will allow each district to share the same menus and purchase food from the same vendors. Ms. Dahlin said ordering in bulk also means better food pricing.

“We are going to try to get the best prices we can. And even though there is a bidding system in place when you buy food, we’ll going try to order as much local food as possible too,” she said.

“The districts are also going to save money on gas and food delivery.”
Some delivery companies charge for each stop they make, and now, there will be one delivery made to Canajoharie High School, where there is an extra freezer. When the food arrives, the custodial staff from Fort Plain and St. Johnsville will pick it up and transport it to the district.

Other benefits of sharing service include the ability to train staff together and utilizing up-to-date menu planning software to maximize nutritional benefits.

Dahlin – who will supervise a total of about 25 employees – said sharing a food services director has already led to a reduction in staff costs in Canajoharie and St. Johnsville. The head cook in St. Johnsville retired (the district only needed to hire a new cook) and Canajoharie eliminated its full-time food services director position.

Lunch Changes

Students should also expect to see changes during the upcoming year.

Because of federal regulations, lunch prices at each of the three district’s high schools will increase by 5 cents. Fort Plain and St. Johnsville will charge $1.80, while Canajoharie will increase lunch prices to $2.05.

Lunch at Harry Hoag Elementary in Fort Plain and D.H. Robbins Elementary School in St. Johnsville will stay at $1.50, while it will increase 5 cents to $1.80 at East Hill Elementary in Canajoharie.

“We will be looking at more equity with meal prices going forward,” Ms. Dahlin said. “We may look to have everyone pay the same price at some point.”

Under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act signed into law in December 2010, school districts must gradually raise the price they charge students so that it is in line with what the federal government pays for meals under the free lunch program. The bill also aims to boost healthy eating.

The districts will implement the three main components of the law:

• Free water will be available to students during lunch period. (fountains are available near or in the cafeteria in all three districts)

• All milk served (plain or flavored) will either be fat-free or 1 percent.

•  School lunch pricing will be adjusted to more accurately reflect actual costs.

Dahlin met with staff members of each district recently – including all six head cooks – to go over the menu for September.

She said her and the staff are looking at many options for the upcoming year.

“We’re looking at ways to generate money in Canajoharie and St. Johnsville by possibly selling water or healthy snacks. Maybe we can sell bags of fresh vegetables as a healthy way to supplement what kids bring from home,” she said.

“I’d also like to see each school’s wellness committees coming together as one large one. Maybe we can all get together and have a health fair in Fort Plain and share information.”