Seattle Public Schools navigates food worker shortage as students return

Seattle Public Schools plans to hire at least 67 people in the culinary services department, but says the food service will be fully operational

SEATTLE – As thousands of students and families prepare to go back to school this week, the largest school district in Washington state is working to fill vacancies.

It is not uncommon for school districts in the US to face staff shortages with bus drivers, teachers, supervisors, and grocery workers. Seattle Public Schools (SPS), a 52,000-student district, is no exception.

“The start of the school year is always a crazy time,” said Aaron Smith, director of SPS Culinary Services.

According to Tim Robinson, spokesman for SPS, the catering department at SPS has to fill 67 positions to reach 240 employees. Open positions include canteen assistants, kitchen managers and central kitchen workers.

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SPS returns to class on Wednesday September 1st. Smith said that despite the vacancies, the meal and meal service will be fully operational and the students will be fed.

“We have a lot of open positions and we do our best to fill and apply for those positions so that we can get back to some sort of normal, but until then we have a pretty good plan because we’ve been in this kind of for a while Environment, “said Smith.

That game plan includes offering a “grab and go” model that serves prepackaged meals rather than serving directly to students – a method that is safer for students and requires fewer staff, Smith said.

“Our central kitchen does most of the cooking and producing, and we do less of that off-school work,” said Smith.

In the central kitchen at SPS headquarters in Seattle’s SoDo district, tens of thousands of meals are produced, packaged and sent to schools across the district.

Smith said more than a year and a half of food operations during the pandemic lockdown and home and hybrid learning prepared him and his staff to return to full-time classroom learning.

“We have a pretty good system that we’ve been running all the time as we move into the school year, so things are going to be a little different,” said Smith.

In addition, SPS is looking to fill 70 positions in the depositary sector.

For more information on how to apply and how to look up salary information, please visit the SPS careers page.