Pioneer Recognition: Cooks feeding the needs of NV students

NOTE: Each month Nooksack Valley Schools is featuring the work of a classified staff department throughout the district. January offers an opportunity to look at cooks throughout the district.

When Susan Philliber starts prepping breakfast at 6:15 a.m. at Nooksack Valley Middle School, the work is about the students. That’s the same dedication and effort that spans five NV Schools buildings where 12 cooks dish out over a thousand meals across the district on a daily basis. It all comes down to a desire to serve students. 

“I enjoy the kids,” Philliber says. “They are fun, and I like this age.”

Philliber, who has served in the district for 27 years, works alongside Deb Visser, who has been in the district for 24. They’ve been together at the middle school for 22 years, joking they’ve lasted longer than quite a few pairings in the world. Visser says the students, though, are a special group. “I like watching them grow from sixth to eighth grade,” she says. “There is a lot of growth.” 

Each school creates their own meals. While they may share menus and some aspects are the same— the vegetable bar looks similar across the three elementary schools — every school has unique needs. 

Melissa Paulus, the district’s food service director, says the role of the cooks is first and foremost customer service. Preparing 80 to 150 breakfasts, depending on the school, and 180 to 250 lunches each day is a massive undertaking and the cooks show up early and get it all going. And they often serve as one of the first points of contact with students in the morning. 

“A lot of kids associate the cooks with something positive,” Paulus says, with food providing comfort and stability, especially at the elementary level. “All the women in the department are rooted in this community. They are all moms and understand and love the community they are serving. They know these kids; they know the families and there is a huge point of pride to feed and have that relationship with these kids. I have been in four different districts and this is by far the best group of engaged, caring food service workers I have ever seen. They care and love their students.” 

That care and love starts with the breakfast preparation. Philliber says getting the hot items for the breakfast ready account for the first stage in her morning process. Then she moves to prepping the up to 10 different options for the breakfast, all while making sure some of the lunch components that need extra time to cook are getting prepared. With breakfast served, both Philliber and Visser turn a full focus to ensuring lunch is well underway, all while cleaning up from breakfast. The simultaneous needs of prepping, washing, chopping, baking and cleaning goes on for hours. There is often a lull mid-morning where they can catch up on some of the little items, everything from cleaning to paperwork to food ordering, before the rush of lunch. 

At the middle school, where three lunches per day feed about 240 students, two students help serve at each lunch. One NV Middle School student, on the Autism spectrum, wasn’t able to help last year. This year is different. “We have a little relationship going and he is helping us serve and living it,” she says. “He is doing so well at it. That is really cool to see, his growth and how far he has come.” 

Those relationships and desire to help students really drive the food service staff. Joel VanderYacht, middle school principal, says many of the cooks in the district have kids or have had kids go through NV Schools and they know how to create positive relationships, build a menu that is not only healthy but meets student preference and even build on the service to include a summer program and after-school snacks. 

“At the middle school our students always have healthy, well-balanced options for lunch,” VanderYacht says. “The salads are very good, the fruit parfaits with granola are a popular item, and many students choose the hot lunch of the day.” Of course, VanderYacht isn’t alone in saying his favorite meal of the year is the turkey dinner served each year the week of Thanksgiving. 

Throughout it all, Paulus says every building follows regulations, federal guidelines and food safety rules. The department, as a whole, also works to keep food costs and food waste in check to help keep the department self-sustaining. 

“Our focus is to provide healthy, nutritious meals, of course,” Paulus says. “We have a lot of regulations we have to follow, but we also want the food to be things the students will eat.” 

With a strong focus on fresh fruits and vegetables, Nooksack Valley gives students ample choice, even if it takes extra time. “Broccoli needs a lot of trimming and cutting four oranges up is different than cutting 200 of them for one meal,” Paulus says. “There is a lot of timing the cooks need to hit every day.” 

The 12 cooks across the district make it happen, from 6:15 a.m. on through lunch. And they do it for the students. 

Head cooks:

NV High School: Joanne Larson

NV Middle School: Susan Philliber

Everson Elementary: Gini Grant

Nooksack Elementary: Keri Salmonson

Sumas Elementary: Laurie Scheffer