Anita Suarez, bilingual head secretary, outlines role supporting student meal programs

Anita Suarez, a bilingual head secretary in nutrition services at Walla Walla Public Schools, described her personal background and the work she does to support student meals.

Suarez told the meeting she has worked for the district for 16 years and that much of her job involves payroll, paying vendor invoices and assisting kitchen staff. She said staff also help families complete meal applications and connect students to summer programs such as Sandbox, a summer ABT program.

"Sometimes the meal that the students have at school is the first meal of the day or their only meal of the day," Suarez said, explaining why outreach and program access matter. She said she has recently been working at Prospect Point to support a breakfast-after-the-bell program aimed at increasing morning meal access.

Suarez recounted her upbringing in California's Central Valley and a six-month stay in Michoacán, Mexico, where she became fluent in Spanish while living with her grandfather on a farm. She moved with family to Oregon as a child, attended Davis Elementary and Seager Middle School, and later returned to the Central Valley, where she finished high school and took her first job at Thrifty's/Rite Aid. She moved to Milton Freewater in 2001, citing family reasons, and said she has five children.

In 2010 she worked at Garrison Middle School as a bilingual assistant secretary for five years before transitioning to the district's nutrition services, where she said she has worked for 11 years. Suarez described balancing district work with family life and a seasonal concrete business she and her husband operate.

She closed by identifying herself as an employee of Walla Walla Public Schools.