District begins re-investment, expansion of food service program

OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa Community School District's food service program is the envy of many schools in the area.

Now, the district wants to expand on it.

District officials on Monday asked the board of education to consider the purchase of more modern food service equipment, and announced they would be expanding the summer meals program beginning May 30 and running through Aug. 15, which is just ahead of the school year start date.

"You know, as we visit with other school districts in the surrounding area, a lot of time they ask us how we accomplish this," chief operations officer Dave Harper told the board. "And you know, it's a lot of hard work."

The food program's success hinges on the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program allows for free breakfast and lunch to students and districts in low-income areas, but also reimbursable to the districts. Since Ottumwa Schools began offering free meals, participation as increased greatly.

Food service director Yvonne Johnson told the board the district offers about 6,000 reimbursable meals daily through CEP, but that figure doesn't include a la carte items.

"Those are only meals that are fully reimbursable, and that's pretty amazing," she said. "We've had a 25% increase in our lunch participation and a 21% increase in our breakfast participation.

"And we only see that going up."

Also, the program seems to be sustainable, chief financial officer John Berg told the board. The pandemic was a turning point for the food service program, as the USDA began offering free meals to school districts for a year. That allowed the district's food service bottom line to swell because the district didn't have to pay for those meals, and the ending balance in a three-year period went from just over $400,000 to over $2 million.

"When we had a year of free meals for all, that was kind of our introduction to it. We had some CEP schools where kids could eat free, and this allowed us to expand it district-wide," Berg said. "When we got to $2.7 million in fiscal year 2022, that's when we decided that we needed to start re-investing into the program. So we started looking at our equipment, and it was old and outdated and needed to be replaced."

The district got approval from the board for "back of the house" upgrades, including dishwashers, tables, racks and sinks, for just over $262,000. As part of the new funding, a 59-year-old dishwasher at Evans Middle School will be replaced.

"We can't get parts for that anymore," Harper quipped.

Johnson also discussed the summer meal offerings. There will be more sites to pick up seven lunches and seven breakfasts each week, with pickup at 2 p.m. each Thursday starting next week (except for July 4), and though students do not need to be present, a parent or guardian will be asked to verify.

"We're pretty proud of that program because it's a lot of work, and it takes a lot of coordination from my food service staff," she said. "We just really appreciate being able to make sure our kids are fed all summer long because it erases that food insecurity, as well as the burden of parents."

Harper said the addition of pickup points was based on feedback from the community.

"They asked for additional spots across our community, and Ms. Johnson figured it out when we asked if they could expand it," he said. "It's only going to help support our students even better."

The district, starting next year, will add Liberty School to the other secondary schools in which local business partners will be offering a reimbursable meal option. Currently, Evans, Gateway High School and Ottumwa High School receive daily meals from Warehouse BBQ, Subway, Quiznos, Domino's, Morgan's Corner, Annie's Frozen Yogurt and Happy Joe's Pizza.