Here at Timber Creek most students buy their lunch from the cafeteria not knowing all the work that goes into what they are purchasing.
High schools cafeterias function with 19 to 22 employees unlike elementary schools who have a mere five. Each kitchen provides for their own while using the menu’s created by district employees. These employees have a regional menu that Sodexo, the food service provider, created for the customer districts in Texas. Keller ISD then takes this menu and customizes it to fit the schools’ needs.
Supervisors and kitchen managers then make sure the kitchens are meeting the nutrition guidelines and requirements and making sure they are doing what they say they are.
Each kitchen in Keller ISD provides and runs the cafeteria on their own, which means there are many different rules and guidelines to follow.
Keeping Allergic Students Safe
3,200 students attend Timber Creek High School and within this number their are multiple students with life threatening allergies. Students with these life threatening allergies are able to receive accommodations for the allergy or even able to ask for special orders.
In order to receive accommodations, students have to bring an order written by a physician confirming the allergy. The said student would then need to communicate with kitchen managers when asking for accommodations for allergy free or gluten free foods.
“It’s really important to remember to communicate with the kitchen manager and say ‘Hey I need to eat a gluten diet or I’m choosing to. Tomorrow when I come in could you have some brown rice available for me,’ and that’s available on those gluten free grain options. The kitchen managers are aware of this and have a copy of the menu, so it a matter of communicating with the kitchen manager,” said Keller ISD dietitian Mckenzie Montgomery.
Montgomery makes monthly gluten free menus that are based off of the original menu with gluten free grain options listed. Kitchen managers are able to make these foods when recommended by a student on a gluten free diet.
Another service available to students are the free and reduced lunches. Free and reduced lunches are federally funded assisted meal plans. In order to be on this plan, students have to to fill out multiple forms with their families in order to qualify for these meals.
