Company description

Seattle Public Schools, the largest K-12 school system in Washington state, has a deep commitment to every student’s journey—to ensure that each student will graduate ready for college, career and life.

Job description

Overview of Position

The Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Culinary Services Department’s Farm to School Specialist focuses on coordinating sustainable, equitable food sourcing initiatives with local farms, producers, and partners to increase use of locally produced ingredients in district menu planning and food programs. Specialist leads efforts to promote the department’s school meal programs and farm to school initiative to parents, students, and the community to help increase student participation in SPS school meal programs. Specialist works closely with department staff and chefs, farmers, suppliers, and food producers to support and increase local, sustainable, equitable food sourcing, grow supplier partnerships, and coordinate farm to school initiatives. Specialist provides input towards strategic decisions that affect the functional areas of responsibility. Specialist also plans and coordinates communications and engagement for the Culinary Services Department and works to identify marketing opportunities to promote school food programs, engage students in program development, and highlight farm to school initiatives. This is a year-to-year grant funded position.

Essential Functions

60% Farm to School Sourcing & Coordination

• Coordinate efforts to increase sourcing of foods and ingredients for school food programs from local farms and food producers, using local, state, and federal funds and focusing on products that are sustainable, local, seasonal, culturally specific, and sourced from underrepresented businesses and producers (e.g., those owned by Black, Indigenous, and people of color and tribal enterprises).
• Lead outreach and build or maintain relationships with diverse local food and farm businesses to coordinate on product availability, developing sourcing plans, and placing orders based on weekly menus and school food program needs. Plan and facilitate regular and timely communication between department staff, chefs, and current or new food and ingredient suppliers to increase use of locally produced ingredients in weekly district menus and food programs.
• Coordinate and communicate regularly with department staff and chefs to plan and develop future menu items and recipes, to identify opportunities to incorporate and source local ingredients
• Coordinate and communicate with school staff, administrators, and City of Seattle staff to implementation of the City of Seattle funded Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program at participating schools
• Facilitate pre-season planning with local and BIPOC-owned food and farm businesses, and department staff and chefs, to develop multi-month sourcing plans and increase use of local ingredients in future menus and food programs
• Develop and implement marketing and promotion of department’s sustainable, equitable food purchases and farm to school initiatives.

20% Farm to School Promotion & Engagement

• Implement strategies from the Culinary Services Department’s communications toolkit to promote school food offerings to students, parents, and community.
• Cultivate opportunities to establish and grow community partnerships to support department’s farm to school initiative and aligned efforts aimed at increasing students’ access to school meals that are culturally relevant, nutritious, cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients, and developed in response to student feedback.
• Work in collaboration with the district’s Public Affairs team, to prepare news releases or facilitate media inquiries about department’s farm to school and other school meal initiatives.
• Plan and facilitate regular K-12 student engagement and feedback methods to collect ongoing stakeholder input about school meal menus and recipes; provide feedback to Culinary Services staff and support efforts to incorporate student feedback into menus and recipes.
• Develop and implement savvy school-based and in-cafeteria marketing content (posters, Point of Purchase displays, signage, etc.) to promote meal program offerings to students and staff and highlighting the use of local, culturally specific, and fresh ingredients sourced through farm to school initiatives.
• Develop and implement public marketing and promotional content to promote meal program offerings to students, parents, families, and the broader community. Highlight department’s farm to school and other school food initiatives by producing a variety of content for social media, program webpages, district-wide email listservs, and meal program menus.
• Coordinate with internal video productions about school food programs
• At times may be required to work outside normal business hours and work extended hours to accomplish requirements of the position.

10% General operations & program compliance

• Assures compliance with SPS, Child Nutrition program, HACCP, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) procedures, policies, and standards.
• Partner as necessary with SPS leadership to ensure consistent delivery of excellent guest experience and highest levels of food and beverage quality.
• Demonstrates courteous and cooperative behavior when interacting with students, clients, visitors, and SPS staff; acts in a manner that promotes a harmonious and effective workplace environment.

10% Project Management

• Work independently, make appropriate decisions based SPS policies and quality standards.
• Promote superintendent goals and priorities in compliance with all policies and procedures.
• Maintain confidentiality of work-related issues, records and SPS information.
• Collaborate with internal teams and maintain open communication with senior management.
• Communicate effectively with staff, supervisors, parents, and students.
• Operate within annual operating budget, and capital budget to accomplish goals and objectives.

OTHER FUNCTIONS

• Attends meetings and seminars and makes presentations or leads meetings as required.
• Substitutes as a Manager in a school program as required.
• Acts in the place of other management positions in the central Child Nutrition Services unit in their absence.
• May be assigned a special focus area such as dietician, training, food safety, or program-focused support.
• May perform related duties consistent with the scope and intent of the position.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, $75,000 - $100,000

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline