LANARK (WREX) — High inflation and supply chain issues are hitting school cafeterias. School leaders in our region are fighting to make sure local students are fed.
The kitchen at Eastland Junior Senior High School is prepped and ready to go for the new school year, but supply chain issues are re-shaping their plans for school meals.
“Where we saw a lot of troubles for us was getting products in so the supply chain really impacted us and I think inflation probably had a dramatic impact with that,” Eastland CUSD #8 Superintendent, Dr. Alex Kashner said.
School officials say they are dealing with a worker shortage from manufacturers, and common lunch room items are out of stock.
“Mainly for food items, chicken was one of the prominent ones frozen chicken items was really hard to get in,” Supt. Kashner said. “So we had to adjust as best we can and get whatever food products we can get in stock,”
“It was a struggle you just have to go on the website of the food company and have to keep looking and trying to find one until you get a product that’s in stock,” Eastland Food Service Director, Melissa McLain said.
The timeline of delivery is a big concern right now, with products taking longer to ship.
“Freight industry there’s not truckers to move the product so everything just compiles on each other and then we don’t get the supplies,” McLain said.
Superintendent Kashner said while some items didn’t change too much in price, others saw a drastic increase.
“There were certain items that doubled actually as weird as it sounds, a case of juice went from $10 to $18, other items went up a penny or two so it just kind of depends on the product itself,” Supt. Kashner said.
A common item officials said was a struggle to get across the board was bread.
“Finding a bread company this year no bread companies deliver to schools anymore,” McLain said. “So thankfully we found a bakery in Rock Falls a small hometown bakery that will deliver to us,”
Eastland pays the bread company and the district is later reimbursed through the state and federal government.
As the new school year kicks into high gear, Dr. Kashner said his main goal is making sure no student is ever hungry.
“When we as a school can focus on every kid gets a meal we don’t have to worry about lunch balances, non lunch balances, and they just get fed it’s a tremendous asset for us,” Supt. Kashner said.
The Eastland school district has about 730 students from Pre-K through 12th grade, and with staff included, their serving around 800 meals a day.
