Streator Elementary School District’s cafeteria staff provides the necessary fuel the students need to succeed.

Kerry Jolly runs the cafeteria at Northlawn Junior High School and oversees all of the meals for students of District 44. Last year, Jolly was serving 1,200 students daily. This year, slightly over 300 meals are served because of blended learning.

Jolly has 17 years of experience in food preparation and heads the district’s food service staff of Jane Moore (20 years), Consuelo Flores (four years), Tina Black (five years), Janice Lewandowski (one year), Claudia Lobato (one year), Carole Hall (cashier, 14 years), Rita Carpenter (cashier, 11 years), and Dave Chiavane (driver, seven years).

A typical day for the cafeteria staff starts at about 5:30 a.m. with deliveries from Kohls or Prairie Farms. By 6:30 a.m., the staff is prepping breakfast and lunch. The majority of the lunch meal, such as spaghetti, tacos, chili, mac and cheese, creamed chicken, rolls, cookies, cakes, and apple crisp are made from scratch. By 9:15 a.m., the food for the day needs to be panned up and put into hot carts to be delivered to Centennial and Kimes elementary schools. The Northlawn cafeteria staff also cooks meals for Headstart, and their cart has to be filled and ready to go by 8:30 a.m. Chiavane loads the hot carts and delivers the food to all three schools each morning.

Once the food carts are loaded, the cafeteria crew cleans dishes and prepares for the next day. Their first break is at 10 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., they start setting up for the first of four lunch shifts that begin at 11 a.m. and run through 1:20 p.m. The down time in between serving different grade level lunches is used for cleaning dishes, pans and utensils. Chiavane usually returns at about 12:30 p.m. and unloads the food carts. Cleanup begins once the last students leave the cafeteria. It is about 2:15 p.m. by the time all of the dishes are cleaned and everything is put away.

About 200 families in Streator use the grab-and-go meal option provided by District 44. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the food service staff work on grab-and-go meals for remote learners. There are two different meal plan options that need to be prepared: five days for the students who are on fully remote learning, or three days for students with the A and B blended learning model. Tuesday night from 4 to 6 p.m. is when parents pick up the pre-made meals for remote or blended learning. The cafeteria staff also delivers the grab-and-go meals to various drop-off points around town on Wednesdays between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. for families who do not have transportation to get to school on Tuesday night.

Jolly likes to have themed meals when possible.

“We do a lot of holiday themed meals, with fun shaped chicken nuggets, fun shaped pretzels and festive flavored slushie cups. We have holiday themed meals for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick's Day.”

• Ted Wargo is an eighth-grade teacher at Northlawn Junior High School in Streator. The Times invites educators to submit articles highlighting programs and activities happening in schools. For more information, email newsroom@mywebtimes.com.