What’s cookin’?

    North Harford High School’s cafeteria staff consists of 14 daily employees who make food for about 500 students who purchase lunch everyday.  

 Cafeteria manager Earliene Klapka began her career 28 years ago at North Harford Elementary School. “I had a friend who kept urging me to come out and work for the school system because she thought it was so much fun.” Finally, Klapka gave in and worked at NHHS for one year before moving to North Harford Elementary School for 17 years, then North Harford Middle School for five years, only to end up back at NHHS for the past five years. “I’ve been doing it for so long and I still love my job.”

    Klapka believes “the students don’t realize how involved it is preparing enough food for all the students in the school.” The cafeteria prepares 520 lunches each day, not including the a la carte menu items such as chips, snacks,  and drinks. In a la carte menus items alone, the cafeteria sells about $1500 in sales each week. From a single vender alone, Klapka orders $6000 in entrees and $500 in bread for a single month’s supply. The money to pay for these expenses does not come from Harford County Public Schools itself, but rather The Food and Nutrition Office. “[The cafeteria food system] is its own entity.

    Klapka begins breakfast prep at six o’clock in the morning. The rest of her staff reports to work at 7:30 am to begin preparation for the lunches and special request salads for staff members. Around this time, Klapka is busy contacting Dublin, Darlington, and North Harford Elementary Schools, taking note of the food or supplies they need for the upcoming day. Her driver then takes the order over to those schools, providing them with the food they need in order to meet their lunch quotas.

    Klapka explained that the way that the menu is chosen is through the Menu Committee that meet once a month in the Food and Nutrition Office. “They all sit down, they discuss what they’re going to have.” The committee takes into consideration what foods each of the schools enjoy over opposing foods in attempts “to give a little, take a little.”

   The manager added,  “honestly the best part [of this job] is looking at the children’s faces as they come in.” She explains that she thoroughly enjoys being a part of the best part of a student’s day. “It’s the one time of the day where [the students] can sit down and talk with their friends and enjoy themselves. That’s what keeps me coming back.”