Paso Robles schools join program bringing more nutritious food to school lunches

This fall, the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District is providing a pre-apprenticeship program through Chef Ann's Foundation at the school's Culinary Academy off Golden Hill Road.

The seven-week program prepares community college students, school food operators, and displaced workers an opportunity to jump into a labor force that is seeing a 12% vacancy rate in the State of California, according to California School Nutrition.

The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District is joining San Miguel, Templeton, and Atascadero school districts in North County.

“Last year, we served 1.2 million meals to all of our school sites throughout the entire school year," PRJUSD Director of Food Service Jessie Wesch said. "And that includes breakfast, lunch and after-school snacks.”

According to food operations specialist Dustin Walker, the highest percentage of scratch-cooked meals within school districts in California is 89%. Paso Robles is sitting just above 40%.

“The goal is to increase probably by about 5% every school year," Walker said. "That's really achievable. Where the Chef Ann Foundation comes in, they can look up the Lunchbox, which is a recipe database that you can quite literally pull from. All the recipes are standardized.”

According to Wesch, local beef, vegetables, and fruit give the school district more room to work with in providing meals made from scratch.

“I am a mom myself and so I don't want to put anything on the menu that I wouldn't feel comfortable with my son eating," Wesch added.

Applications are open now until Monday, August 26. The program begins on October 21 and ends on December 13.

For program questions, contact pathway@chefannfoundation.org.