Food service director seeks to expand Head Start catering, convert cook role and add driver

Kristen Dely, the district’s food‑service lead, asked the finance committee on March 18 to advance a package that would expand the district’s sponsor‑to‑sponsor catered meal service for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (MCIU) Head Start program and the personnel needed to operate it.

Dely said the district now prepares meals at the high school for one Head Start classroom and has done so since the 1920 school year in various locations. The proposal would extend service to three additional (out‑of‑district) sites, increasing served students from 19 to 141. She said the program operates under an annual sponsor agreement and that the model is self‑supporting: “This opportunity would serve also to safeguard the department with expanding staffing models,” she said.

To make the expansion operational, Dely asked the board to convert an existing second‑cook position at the high school into a 6.5‑hour cook position and to create a part‑time delivery driver who would perform meal pick‑up and on‑site delivery to the classrooms. She said the delivery role was planned as a roughly two‑hour per day assignment and that she had coordinated a route with transportation staff.

On finances, Dely presented conservative estimates that the expansion would generate $40,000–$60,000 in annual profit once staffing, transportation and benefits were accounted for; she also noted a typographical error on the slide and framed the figure as profit rather than gross revenue. Committee members pressed for details about substitution and backup if the driver were absent; Dely said the department would use substitute staff and cross‑training.

Committee chair Andy and others confirmed that the sponsor‑to‑sponsor agreement and personnel actions are effectively a package: the legislative agenda would need to include both the agreement and the personnel approvals. The finance committee signaled support to move the package to the board’s legislative agenda.

The committee did not take a formal documented vote during the meeting; staff indicated the item would be placed on the legislative agenda for Monday’s meeting for formal action.