There were no on-site lunch options for Hal High (HHSS) students when they returned to school last week, with the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) confirming there will be no functional cafeteria until further notice.
Carolynne Bull, TLDSB spokesperson, said HHSS is one of five schools in the district without a running cafeteria, alongside Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School, Gravenhurst High School, Huntsville High School, and Lindsay Collegiate and Vocational Institute.
“There are no requirements [to serve food in schools],” Bull said. She noted TLDSB has a contract with food service supplier Aramark to operate the HHSS cafeteria. The company notified TLDSB in August it’s experiencing staff shortages and does not have enough workers to man the cafeteria.
Snack-tacular chef offers cafeteria fix
This isn’t the first time the cafeteria has been closed, Bull confirmed.
“There has been a few times over the last handful of years when the food service was not available, for reasons ranging from staff shortages to COVID-19 restrictions,” she said.
The school board said families were informed about the situation prior to students returning to school, with notices going out Aug. 28. Bull said the cafeteria space remains open for students to use throughout the day.
When asked what options students have for lunch, Bull recommended they bring food from home. She said students get a 55-minute break so they can also leave the school grounds and venture into nearby Haliburton village to get lunch.
The HHSS early morning breakfast program, run by volunteers, is not impacted by the cafeteria closure.
Bull said the cafeteria may reopen if Aramark is able to hire the necessary staff.
Aramark did not respond to questions by press time.
Solution denied
Chef Lisa Rowden said she was very disappointed to find out the cafeteria didn’t reopen when schools did. She said her daughter, who is in Grade 10 at HHSS, had to put up with multiple closures last year too.
Wanting to come up with a solution for the kids, Rowden said she offered to reopen the cafeteria last week but was turned down.
She’s spent the bulk of her career in a kitchen, running the West Guilford Snack Bar for several years, managing a cafeteria at a factory in Penetanguishene, and working as a sous chef at Dimensions Algonquin Highlands until her recent retirement. Rowden confirmed she has all the necessary food safety and sanitation certificates.
“I’m more than qualified to run a school cafeteria,” Rowden said. “I’m not doing this for the money, this is not a lucrative business. I just want the kids to have the option of getting food at school. They’ve lost so much already because of COVID, I think they should get to have a cafeteria.”
Rowden said she could have the cafeteria open within a couple of days, promising fresh baked goods like chocolate chip muffins and cinnamon rolls, homemade soups, salads, wraps, and a fluctuating hot menu.
Teri Guthrie, executive assistant to TLDSB superintendent Tim Ellis, in an email to Rowden indicated the school board could not take on another vendor due to its agreement with Aramark. She said Rowden was welcome to apply for a position working in the cafeteria through Aramark.
The local mom won’t be doing that – though said she won’t give up the fight to reopen the cafeteria.
“Days when the weather is really bad, what are kids’ supposed to do? My daughter called [on Monday] to say she didn’t get to walk to town because it was pouring rain, so she went hungry. That shouldn’t be happening,” Rowden said. “And maybe there are kids out there who aren’t in good situations and can’t take lunches to school. It feels like some kids are falling through the cracks.”
