by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — Sandy Clift has run the Wellington food service program in the schools for 31 years. She is retiring at the end of the year after running one of the few school meal programs in the state that operates in the black. School officials were concerned about what they would do after Clift leaves. With her help, they may have found a solution.

Sandy Clift

The answer may be a managed food system. At the last school board meeting Steve Adams told the board how his company, OPAA Food Management, could run the program.

Clift said she is on a group that is looking at different options for the future. At present OPAA is the leader, but they are still considering a couple other providers. OPAA is the biggest one.

These food management companies  basically manage the school food services. Employees would be employed by OPAA, and not by the district. They would still do the same food preparation. The district would still own the equipment but would not be directly involved in the preparation of meals.

Clift said since OPAA is very big, it can buy food cheaper than she could have while running the program herself. They can also offer more choices.

Clift sets up the menu each week, and some of that food is made at the high school and sent out to the other schools. The other schools do some of their own preparation.

Clift said a company like OPAA can also offer more options, so if they do go to a managed system, it will be better for students.

“It will only be better for the kids,” Clift said. “They will have a lot more options when it comes to meals. I am excited about that. I am proud of what I have been able to do here, but I am still excited about next year.”

She believes this is the wave of the future and more districts will be doing this. Winfield and Arkansas City are already using managed systems, though they use a different company. She has been to those schools and seen the programs first hand.

According to OPAA, students will have four choices for breakfast, and four or five for lunch, as opposed to a set menu they have to either accept or reject. Students will have to  make their choices known ahead of time so local people can order the products.

There will be one person from the schools that will keep tabs on the operation and make sure it is running well, but the day to day operations would be run by another company, such as OPAA. They would get a head count of choices students had made from a list of four or five, and order the products they need from OPAA.

There are a lot of state regulations as well, which Clift said she struggled with at times. OPAA would also have to follow the same state guidelines as far as what choices to offer.

She is hopeful that having more choices will mean more students buying lunch or breakfast.

They used to serve 600 at the high school, but now only about 300 students use the service daily. With more choices they might be more interested in eating the school’s food.

Clift said she and a group of people from the school, will visit at least one more company. They are also talking with other schools that have used OPAA and others, to get reports.

Once they make their final recommendation, the district can make a final decision on which company to go with. The district could also decide to keep things as they are and hire a new director after Clift’s tenure ends.

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