Written by Jan Black, SNS, Food Service Director
DID YOU KNOW?????
The Portage Township Schools Food Service Department serves over 7,500 meals every day school is open, all within 3 hours.
DID YOU KNOW?????
Over 100 people are employed in the Food Service Department.
DID YOU KNOW?????
During our district-wide Thanksgiving Holiday meal we served a total of 6,981 turkey dinners to students & adults, and that figure does not include our breakfast totals for that day.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We are self supporting and do not use general fund tax dollars for our program. We are funded through sales and a tariff that was established by the US Government in 1946, when the National School Lunch program was founded.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We have 12 working kitchens and we do not satellite meals to any of our schools.
DID YOU KNOW?????
Our Mission Statement reads: “At the very least, every child deserves a smile”. Theresa Meier, a retired manager, trained new staff by that statement and it still holds true.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We are always looking to hire good substitute employees. You can apply on-line anytime at www.portage.k12.in.us.
DID YOU KNOW?????
You can pay into your child’s lunch account on-line and check the status and balance.
DID YOU KNOW?????
Upon hiring and for continued employment, food service employees must take and pass a sanitation and food safety course every five years.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We serve fresh fruits and fresh vegetables every day at all 12 kitchens
DID YOU KNOW?????
We have at least 3 entrée choices a day at our elementary schools; 6 at our middle schools and 7 at the high school.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We are inspected by the Porter County Health Department twice a year and by the Indiana Department of Education at least once a year.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We do summer feeding and this past summer we served lunch to children at ten different locations in the Portage Community.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We believe hungry children cannot learn which makes us an important part of the educational process.
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The district average of qualifying Free and Reduced students is 54%.
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We do mini-training sessions with our staff every month.
DID YOU KNOW?????
Our office is located at 6270 US Hwy 6, right next door to the Administration Building
DID YOU KNOW?????
We receive shipments of food each week by the semi-load to produce enough meals for our students.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We use production records and input from student councils and student groups to help determine what food items are on our menus.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We have over 40 free standing refrigerators and freezers district wide, which does not include walk-in freezers and refrigerators.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We handle all free and reduced applications through this office. If you need to turn in an application this is the place to come.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We attend educational meetings and professional development sessions all year to keep up with the changes and improvements in the School Food Service Industry.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We purchase over 1,000,000 cartons of milk each year.
DID YOU KNOW?????
We work hand and hand with all other departments at Portage Schools to ensure we do what’s best for the students at all levels.
DID YOU KNOW?????
This is our bottom line: We serve hungry children each and every school day; what could be better than that?