Lauren Ellsworth, who will take over as Mansfield City Schools food service manager on Aug. 1, talks with retiring manager Jane Fortman.
A young woman who enjoyed school lunches while growing up in Lexington will be the new food service manager for Mansfield City Schools.
Lauren Ellsworth, 26, will begin her new role Aug. 1, succeeding the retiring Jane Fortman.
“I liked the lunches served when I was in school. I was a buyer not a packer,” said Ellsworth, who graduated from Lexington in 2008 then went on to major in nutrition and dietetics at Kent State University.
She has worked with Fortman as assistant food service manager for three years. Among her varied duties has been planning breakfast and lunch menus.
“Until a few weeks ago, when Jane said she was retiring, this wasn’t a plan for me,” Ellsworth said of her promotion, approved by the board of education on May 17. “I enjoy school food service. It’s not just about feeding the kids; it’s making sure they are eating healthy.”
Fortman’s career in Mansfield City Schools has spanned 25 years, the first as assistant food service manager, the last 24 as manager.
“It’s gone by very quickly and a lot has changed over the years,” she said. “There were 14 schools when I started in 1991. Now we have six on-site kitchens.”
Fortman cited many changes mandated by the United States Department of Agriculture, which reimburses school districts for meals served under the National School Lunch Program. Many of those changes have dictated nutritional values, specific types of meats, vegetables and fruits and portion sizes.
“When I started we served desserts. We can’t do that anymore. We also served whole milk, which we can’t do anymore,” she said. “A big part of the manager’s job is meeting federal and state records requirements so we are reimbursed for our costs.”
The food service department is self-sustaining. It does not receive any district general fund money.
Fortman said the district serves an average of 2,400 lunches daily, compared to 4,600 in 1992. Today, a daily average of 1,600 breakfasts are served.
“Our poverty rate is 84 percent, as measured by the number of free and reduced-price lunches we serve. When I started it was 60 percent. The increase reflects economic conditions in Mansfield today,” Fortman said.
Ellsworth already has shared some of the headaches of the job – snow days that require quick action to preserve food, delivery glitches and equipment issues. But she said the district’s poverty rate bears directly on the importance of her work.
“Breakfast and lunch are important. Some of our kids get only two balanced meals a day,” she said. “It’s not just about serving food. I want to see it go into their stomachs.”
Ellsworth knows what one of her major challenges will be -- the same one that faces virtually all school food-service programs.
“Probably the biggest challenge is to meet nutritional standards and still serve what kids want besides chicken nuggets and pizza,” she said. “Tastes vary by age groups. Some new products work, others don’t. I will ask our cooks for their opinions.”
Ellsworth already has menus planned through September. She will put in food orders about two weeks before the start of school on Aug. 17 and schedule deliveries the day before. Over the summer the district will screen applicants and hire her assistant.
Fortman leaves with gratitude to the food-service staff that has worked with her.
“Such a wide variety of things to do always made the job interesting. No two days were exactly alike,” she said. “I worked with many wonderful, dedicated staff who helped get the job done every day.”
Ellsworth doesn’t underestimate what’s ahead.
“It’s a big job, but I learned from one of the best,” she said of Fortman. “Our entire food-service staff, everyone in central office – I will have lots of help.”