EAST PALESTINE ELEMENTARY Cafeteria is hot stuff

The school is the only one in the Valley to receive a new state award.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST PALESTINE -- Elementary pupils file into the cafeteria at East Palestine Elementary School for hamburgers or turkey casserole. Others buy milk or juice to wash down boxed lunches brought from home. For dessert, several pupils buy homemade chocolate-peanut butter no-bake cookie bars that nearly require a warehouse forklift to raise them from plate to mouth.
The pupils take their places in the spacious and brightly lighted cafeteria, where huge windows and overhead skylights let in plenty of the autumn sun.
Behind the food line, the food service staff goes about the routine lunchtime activities, still awed by the newness of their spacious surroundings.
Previous chaos
Finally beginning to feel at home in the new cafeteria that opened at the start of school in September, cafeteria staffers are still amazed at their award-winning performance during two years of food service chaos.
The food service operations were uprooted and moved first to classrooms then to the gymnasium during two years of construction and renovation.
New state award
Still, during the period, the elementary staff was awarded a state Stellar Award for Best Nutrition Practices. The middle school and high school programs received honorable mentions.
East Palestine was the only Mahoning Valley school district in the area to receive the awards, which are sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education, Dairy Council Mid-East and the Ohio Department of Health. The award is new and was presented to 20 Ohio school food service programs. Thirty programs received honorable mentions.
"East Palestine City Schools is committed to helping our children achieve the highest success in the classroom, and good nutrition is one way we can accomplish this goal," said Chris Jarussi, food service director. "We are very proud of being recognized for our school nutrition program, and to be chosen out of 200-plus schools is quite an honor."
Jarussi said the district has been affiliated with Aramark food service company for 19 years.
Food shuttling
She said the food service staffs earned the state honors while shuttling food from the high school to classrooms or the gymnasium for two years.
"Now we have to relearn how to do everything," Jarussi said, laughing.
There are large walk-in coolers and a spacious, generously-shelved storage area. Behind the serving line is a cooler with glass doors, where specialty lunches such as tuna or submarine sandwiches, yogurt and salads in shaker cups are stored.
"It was a real challenge to serve hot lunches in classrooms or the gym," said Missy Adams, who is in charge of the elementary cafeteria operations. "It was hectic. We still aren't sure how we managed, but we did it."
She said not only was it a challenge to keep food hot during transfer from the middle school, the mobile menu was limited for safety reasons.
"It just wasn't practical, nor safe, to transfer gravy or other sauces," she said. "We kept the menus simple, but pleasing."
Busy days
The elementary staff serves breakfast to about 100 pupils in the 20 minutes before classes begin each morning, and lunch to about 600 pupils in a 2 1/2-hour span.
Jarussi said she works with the school nurse and guidance counselors to coordinate food service with the school curriculum. She also gives nutrition presentations in classes when asked.
"We are proud of what we do here, and I think the community should be proud of this facility," Jarussi concluded.
She said one of the unexpected and humorous parts of the two years of construction is that the construction workers are among the food service department's fans.
Workers liked it
Even the crews working at the middle school and high school would come to the elementary school to get the no-bake cookie bars.
"I think they found school lunches are a lot different than they used to be," she said. "They would come to the back door to get lunch, and after we finished one construction project and started another, they were back all excited and asking if they could still get lunch here."
She said one of the workers offered a no-bake cookie bar to a buddy, who waved him off muttering about cafeteria food.
"He said, 'No, come on, you have to try this,'" Jarussi related. "He said, 'The food is really good here. It's not heat-and-serve from a box. It's from scratch!'"