Fayette school cafeterias down 104 positions Thursday; Central Office staff volunteering

The Fayette school cafeteria worker shortage is so significant that central office administrative employees have volunteered to get a food handler’s permit and work as substitutes.

Currently, the district has 57 openings for food service staff, which is compounded by absences due to long-term medical leave, illness and COVID-related issues. On Thursday, for example, the district had 104 vacant food service positions, said spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall. The labor shortage hitting the food-service industry across the nation and state has also impacted school districts.

She said when the child nutrition department is fully staffed, they have 450 employees.

“Our child nutrition team is working diligently to ensure these shortages do not impact service to students, and we are grateful for their relentless dedication,” Deffendall said.

Members of the transportation team — school bus drivers and monitors — are also helping in between their morning and afternoon routes.

Many families are acutely aware of the transportation worker shortage.

At least 20 bus routes were canceled for Friday morning. Several routes have been canceled for the last several days, and multiple afternoon routes have been delayed.

Efforts to recruit and retain child nutrition staff — as well as bus drivers, bus monitors, aides to help students and substitute teachers — have continued with advertising campaigns and job fairs, Deffendall said.

“We are exploring additional incentives and have commissioned a classified salary study to review compensation levels for all hourly positions,” Deffendall said.

This summer, the district hired a full-time recruiter to focus solely on the “essential operations staff” openings, Deffendall said. “He has hit the ground running.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 7:22 AM.