School District Food Service Off and Running

It's been a hectic first month for Windham's newest food service director as she works to get the district's program launched.

Rhonda Peckham, a Windham resident who comes to the town after serving as Pelham's food service director for two years, has had a laundry list of tasks, the least of which is hiring 21 new employees from a pool of 250.

On Tuesday, Peckham spent over five hours interviewing candidates, vetting prospects for their food service experience, cashier skills and other related qualities.

District Business Administrator Adam Steel sang Peckham's praises as he introduced her to the school board.

"She brings a lot of energy and experience to the table," he said.

That energy has seen Peckham networking around the region. One of the first things she did was gain membership into the N.H. Buying Group, a collaboration of 25 districts that work together to get better pricing for products.

She also made her way to the Salem Farmer's Market.

"I've made some contacts with some local farmers so that we can do the 'Farm to School' program," Peckham said.

Also part of her early accomplishment was selecting a food company from a series of bids.

Her selection – Sysco out of Boston, which had the low bid between four large companies on over 200 of the 332 line items.

"It's a very high quality product," Peckham said.

The district has also had a couple of conference calls with MealsPlus, which is the software company that will be used.

MealsPlus was also used by the Abbey Food Group, the private company that Windham used last year.

The installation will take place on July 10, and parents or students who have balances left in their previous accounts will have those funds transferred to the new accounts for the fall.

A 10 cent increase in food prices will also take place across the board.

Steel said that the district is increasing the prices to conform to federal regulations.

"Regulations require us to close the gap between what the federal government reimburses us for a meal and what we charge our students," he said.

Currently, the district's average is $2.15 per meal. Federal requirements want the district to increase that to $2.46 in the next few years.

"We did this (increase) also in Pelham and found that it didn't affect participation," Peckham said.

Elementary school lunches in the 2012-2013 school year will cost $2.10, middle school lunches will cost $2.20 and high school lunches will cost $2.60.

Should the district not up the prices to meet guidelines, it jeapordizes its participation in both the state's Commodity Food Program as well as the National School Lunch Program.