Making a case for a kitchen

Each day, the Mat-Su Borough School District produces around 7,000 meals in a 30-year-old kitchen designed to put out less than half that amount of food. Workers struggle with heavy, almost antique equipment, manually scooping hot barbeque sauce out of stainless steel kettles using an oversized plastic cup.

The small, outdated kitchen isn't just a hardship for employees, district officials say. Students are missing out on federally funded breakfast and snacks, simply because Mat-Su isn't equipped to handle the programs.

Piling up the facts and numbers, central administration is making its case for another new facility in a school district with two new elementary schools, one new middle school and a high school under construction.

A new kitchen, with 40,000 square feet of space and equipped with modern appliances, comes with a nearly $10 million price tag. To come up with the money, district officials know they have some people to convince -- school board members, borough assembly members, state legislators and local taxpayers.

So beginning earlier this month, nutrition services supervisor Linda Stoll began offering tours of the central kitchen at Iditarod Elementary. Walking local politicians among rows of hamburgers and cinnamon rolls, Stoll pointed out the sagging roof, archaic equipment and overcrowded warehouse and freezers.

"Frequently we have to turn down free food simply because we don't have enough room here," Stoll said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers free food to school districts, but there is a minimum amount the district must accept based on the number of students its serves. Often, Stoll said, it is more than Mat-Su can handle. Three years ago, for example, the district had to refuse $60,000 in food.

Instead of accepting cheaper, sometimes free, bulk food, the district often has to purchase smaller quantities at a higher price. Food is stored at various sites around the Valley, and the district must make two trips to Anchorage each week to receive incoming products.

What space and equipment the kitchen does have is not as efficient as it could be, Stoll said. Refrigerators operate with parts that are no longer manufactured.

Employees cope with carpal tunnel syndrome and other injuries because of the weight and awkwardness of equipment that now comes in fully automated models.

Stoll's overriding message, however, was that students are losing out because of the inadequate facilities.

More than half of Mat-Su elementary students who purchase school lunches are eligible for free or reduced prices through federal programs. Those same students could receive free or reduced-priced breakfasts and after-school snacks.

"But we don't have the facilities to provide them," Stoll said. "If we did, the meals would be paid for by the federal government." As it is, she said, the central kitchen may soon have to go to double shifts just to handle the lunch program.

While the group of legislators, school board members and assembly members seemed receptive to the need for a new kitchen, some did have questions. Rep. Scott Ogan, R-Palmer, asked what the cost of adding additional freezers would be. Stoll answered that small freezers range from $12,000 to $15,000 and would not solve the overall space problem.

Caroline McRoberts of Rep. Beverly Masek's office wondered what the benefits of a central kitchen are versus having each school cook its own meals. As it stands, the central kitchen prepackages individual meals for some schools, and for others meals are sent over in bulk and put on individual plates at the smaller kitchens.

Stoll said a central kitchen allows for more quality and safety control. And while a cook at a specific school may like lots of salt and butter on green beans, central kitchen staff knows and follows federally established nutritional guidelines, Stoll said.

As the group prepared to sit down with Iditarod Elementary students to a lunch of hamburgers, tater tots, Jell-O and milk, school board member Dan Contini said, "And now we get to the punch line -- $10 million."

Where would the money come from? The central kitchen could be funded through a state-reimbursed bond, the same way the recently built schools were funded.

In those cases, 70 percent of the construction costs were covered by the state and Mat-Su taxpayers are paying the remaining 30 percent.

Sen. Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, pointed out that schools actually house students and she wondered how often non-school facilities are funded through such bonds. To make the case for a school facility that won't translate directly into classrooms, Green said the district should come up with concrete numbers in cost savings that the kitchen would bring.

While lawmakers had questions, Stoll said that in the end she felt they were supportive of the idea of funding a new central kitchen. Later this month, she will lead additional legislators and school board and assembly members on the same tour in hopes of gaining more support for the project.

The group that toured the kitchen earlier this month also included Superintendent Patricia Chesbro, assembly members Jim Colver and Larry DeVilbiss and school board member Linda Menard.

A central kitchen tops the district's capital improvement project list, and has been on the list since the early 1980s.