New kitchen makes hot food easy at Central Elementary

Fourth graders Dylan Harvie and behind him, Hanna Messersmith, get their lunch at the new kitchen area at Central Elementary. Also shown is Sodexo employee, Lorraine Real. (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- No more cold food for fourth and fifth graders at Central Elementary.

The $180,380 kitchen upgrade at Central allows food to be prepared on site, instead of being trucked over from McCook Elementary.

"Cooking it here, they don't run out so often, when that happened last year, we'd have to wait a little bit," said one fifth grade girl waiting in line for lunch. Another fifth grader noted the increased size of the kitchen and how quickly lunch was served.

Prior to the upgrade, there was a small kitchen prep area and one window used, where students disposed of their food into a trash can. Now, about 18 feet by 29 feet is being used for food prep, incorporating the former kitchen prep area and a small room used as a Special Education classroom. The larger space includes new sinks, freezers, storage, ovens and a new serving counter, where students can slide their trays as they fill their plates.

EAD Constructors of Omaha, Nebraska was the contractor, with W Designs in McCook as the architect. Funds from the school lunch account paid for the project, according to McCook Public Schools business manager Rick Haney at the April 2013 school board meeting. Haney said this account is funded by payments from Sodexo, the food service company used by McCook Public Schools.

McCook School board members expressed their hope that the kitchen would increase the number of students who get hot lunches at Central, a number that has historically decreased when kids transferred to the school from the elementary school.

Kate Repass, Central Elementary principal, estimated about 150 students out of 205 are getting the hot lunches, about the same as last year. It's still early in the year so those numbers could increase, she added.

After traffic flow kinks were worked out the first week of school, everything is running smoothly, she said.

"It's awesome, kids are happy and excited about it," Repass said. "We are very excited to have the kitchen. The kitchen staff are wonderful to work with."

Everything that is made at the junior high and elementary schools can now be prepared at the Central kitchen, including chicken nuggets, french toast and sausage for breakfast and a kid-favorite, "chili Fritos."

Kids appeared happy - and hungry - as they loaded containers of fruit and cartons of milk onto their trays, although several did request an improvement.

"We want the old ranch dressing back," they said.