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School staff urge new production kitchen as cafeterias and equipment strain district services
Summary
Staff told the Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District meeting that aging kitchens, cramped cafeterias and failing equipment — including an oven that won’t stay shut and a freezer above a boiler — are constraining service and shortening student lunch time.
A school staff member told the Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District that rising enrollment has exposed widespread, aging school facilities and that several kitchens lack the equipment and space to serve students efficiently.
"Our enrollment is growing, and we just serve a humongous amount of kids going through," the school staff member said, adding that most buildings are outdated except for the middle school.
Another staff member described constrained lunch operations at one building: "Due to the size of the lunchroom, our students are starting to make their way through the lunch line at 10:30 in the morning... they have 20 minutes," the staff member said, noting the short window from entering the line to leaving the cafeteria.
The first staff member highlighted specific equipment problems at the high school and other sites. "Our 2nd oven here, for example, it is so old, we cannot keep the door shut. We have to, like, slam it and then they pop open," the staff member said, describing repeated daily failures over the school year. The speaker also said a freezer sits above the boiler and lacks circulation, which has led to freezers stopping and resulting food loss.
At Gillsville Elementary, the staff member said the kitchen was designed only as a serving kitchen, not a production facility, with a "teeny tiny" serving area, insufficient cafeteria space and little to no storage; the speaker added the kitchen is located in a shower area shared with a bathroom.
Staff framed a larger proposal around building a new production kitchen at the high school to support breakfast, lunch and ancillary services such as Head Start. The staff member said a new kitchen would include updated equipment to produce meals for multiple programs and grade levels.
The transcript does not record a formal motion, vote or timeline for funding; staff characterized the matter as a facilities and equipment need that would require capital investment and upgrades.
