Company description

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is the seventh largest school district in California, serving more than 57,000 students who speak more than 44 languages across 132 schools in San Francisco every year. We aim for every student who attends SFUSD schools to discover his or her spark, along with a strong sense of self and purpose, and that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career, and equipped with the skills, capacities and dispositions outlined in SFUSD’s Graduate Profile. Every day in our quest to achieve this mission we provide each and every student the quality instruction and equitable support required to thrive in the 21st century.

What It Means to Work Here

When you join our team at SFUSD you can expect to be part of an inclusive, innovative and equity-focused organization that approaches public education as a social justice movement, requiring broad collaboration across an array of strategic partners. In 2014 SFUSD created an inspiring statement, Vision 2025, which captures our aspirations and vision for the future of public education in San Francisco. Alongside the District’s strategic plan, Transform Learning. Transform Lives. SFUSD is reimagining how public education will change over the next decade to meet the dynamic future of San Francisco. As a CORE district, SFUSD is also a leader in systems change for more comprehensive school accountability and innovations that help strengthen the instructional core, which is the foundation of our strategic plan and Vision 2025. As we work toward changing the system so that it truly is able to serve all students, a strong set of core values and core beliefs guide us through the challenges that come our way.

Student Nutrition Services (SNS) is a large, mission-driven organization, whose work is both far-reaching and impactful. The Executive Director of SNS will have the chance to positively impact the health and wellbeing of more than 57,000 students each year; use school meals as a lever to disrupt systemic inequities; guide our organization through an exciting phase of growth; and model innovative and effective practices for districts across the country.

Job description

The Executive Director leads the largest public food service program in the City of San Francisco, serving over 6 million meals and snacks annually at 114 public schools. Our mission is to nourish students every day with quality food that enables them to live healthy lives and thrive inside and outside the classroom, and to innovate and strengthen SFUSD’s school food ecosystem. SFUSD recognizes the importance of nutritious school meals in supporting student learning, closing the achievement gap, and creating a more equitable food system.

Our next Executive Director will have considerable resources and support in place to grow our department and increase operational efficiencies. For example, last fall San Francisco voters passed a $744 million school facilities bond with $20 million dedicated toward renovating school kitchens and purchasing new cooking equipment. These infrastructure upgrades will lay the groundwork for a from-scratch cooking program that will improve upon existing models and allow SFUSD to better cater to the needs and desires of our students. With the support of our talented and dedicated staff, the Executive Director will lead our department through this exciting phase of growth.

With the help of public private partnerships, we hope to model innovative and effective practices that can be replicated by districts across the country. The Executive Director will not only strive to realize our mission as an organization, but will also recognize that the broader school food community can learn from and share in our successes.

In short, we are looking for an innovative, visionary leader who views school meals as a social justice issue and has the knowledge, skills, and ability to direct a large, complex public food operation.

Key Responsibilities

The Executive Director reports to the Chief of Policy & Operations and manages the day-to-day operations of a large, complex organization with more than 250 school-based and centrally located staff and a $25 million budget

Every day, the Executive Director works to realize SNS’s vision to be a student centered, equitable, and financially stable school food eco-system that provides dignified meal experiences and engages all students in eating fresh, healthy food.

• Build strong relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders.
• Provide leadership that helps build a culture of equity and accountability, optimizes the use of public funds to improve outcomes for students, and interrupts policies and practices that perpetuate inequities.
• Plan, monitor, evaluate, and lead the day to day operations and administration of SFUSD’s Student Nutrition Services; develop and implement long and short-term programs designed to promote good eating habits and provide access to high quality food that appeals to our diverse community of students.
• Oversee the administration of all Child Nutrition Programs within SFUSD.
• Provide the leadership and support needed to implement SFUSD’s Future Dining Experience.
• Lead and coach central and site based staff; provide the guidance and support needed to manage day to day operations and transform school meals; hire, train and evaluate staff; provide opportunities for staff training and professional development.
• Develop, implement and maintain the systems, monitoring practices, and controls needed to support efficient and effective business operations and compliance with local, state, and federal child nutrition programs; coordinate work activities across functional areas within SNS; and support the development of annual goals and objectives for the SNS team.
• Develop annual budgets, including revenue projections; manage and monitor income and expenditures; oversee meal claims and reimbursements; manage the preparation and maintenance of a wide variety of reports and studies; and provide executive management to avoid cost overruns.

The Strongest Candidates Will Have

Knowledge & Skills in:

• Food systems management, including the purchasing, receiving, storage, preparation and service of meals to students
• Federal and state regulations and policies pertaining to the operation of the Child Nutrition Programs and various nutritional, operational and financial procedures
• Federal and state regulations governing the procurement of food, supplies, equipment, technology and services in the Child Nutrition Program
• The principles of optimal nutrition as applied to students
• Facility/equipment maintenance procedures
• Fiscal control and the budget management practices
• Innovative strategic planning
• Community building
• Change management

Ability to:

• Manage, supervise, train, and coordinate food services personnel and operations for a large urban school district
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with departmental staff, other departments, families, community, school administrators, and representatives of local, state, and federal agencies
• Identify innovative solutions to maximize efficiency with limited resources

Additional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, with major coursework in nutrition, hotel and restaurant management, business administration, or related field. Master’s degree a plus.
• Minimum five (5) to seven (7) years of foodservice experience, including at least four years of management or supervisory experience in institutional food systems. Additional experience beyond the minimum preferred.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, more than $100,000

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline