The school district is facing staff shortages in their lunchrooms at nearly every school. Photo credit: Becky Bruce KSL NewsRadio.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City School District is so short-staffed for lunchroom help it asked businesses to step up. The district asked for companies to adopt a school.
The district said its child nutrition department is understaffed by 30%. The shortage impacts almost all schools in the district.
Child nutrition department director Kelly Orton said that means sometimes kids just grab candy and soda for lunch.
“What happens is we just have to close down lines, because we don’t have people to serve the meals,” he said.
The district already increased the wage for child nutrition staff to $15 an hour and pulled staff from other departments.
“Our painters and our carpet layers and all that — they’ve been stopping their work, coming over to a school and helping serve meals,” Orton said.
The district is now asking businesses to adopt a school and provide volunteers who can help serve lunch every day.
The district said people wanting to volunteer can contact Jessica Sablan at Jessica.Sablan@slcschools.org or sign up online. Additional questions about volunteering for the school district can be addressed by Liz Young at Liz.Young@slcschools.org or (801)578-8212.
“We really would appreciate the help,” Orton said.