Northern Lehigh School District named a new food service director last week, but most of the discussion revolved around food choices for students.

The board hired Nichole Fink to the position at a salary of $68,000 (prorated), effective Nov. 1.

Fink will succeed current food service director Sue Bahnick, who will retire Dec. 31. Bahnick has held the position since 2009.

Resident Chad Christman said he was concerned with the type of food the students have been served in recent times.

“Right now, currently we’re serving our children Domino’s and Subway up to three times, four times a week,” Christman said. “Is there a short-term, long-term solution for us to get something a little bit more nutritional in our schools?”

Resident Pauline Grady also voiced concerns in an email read by board Secretary Gale Husack.

“When they aren’t being served Domino’s and Subway, the food served is subpar, barely edible,” Grady said. “Prisoners get fed better than the kids at are school, and that is far from a joke. I would hope that the disaster that currently is our food program will be at the top of the list of things to work on.”

Grady said the board should pay as much attention to food offerings as it did to COVID-19 safety.

“Perhaps we should put together a plan for the food service department and attack the problem with (the same) vigor as we do COVID. Maybe we’ll be able to get some well-rounded healthy meals for the kids.”

Superintendent Matthew J. Link responded to the claims in regard to food services.

“We have served Subway only once since the start of the school year; during that time we’ve been making homemade soups to go with it, but since the initial Subway offering, we have changed it to make our own sandwiches in-house, and we are sourcing those products from local providers to make those sandwiches.”

He said the pizza is from Domino’s because the manufacturers have not had it available.

“The people that provide it to our suppliers have not been able to supply it in the bulk that we need. This is a common barrier for school districts across the country right now,” Link said.

“The reasons for Domino’s and current changes regarding our weekly menu is because the manufacturers are not producing enough for the demand due to staffing issues. The vendors can’t get truck drivers to support to get the product from the supplier to our kitchens.”

There are also staffing issues in the district. Currently six positions are open in food service.

“Our grocery vendor broke the contract for this school year the day after our first delivery was to arrive. The other vendor, U.S. Foods, announced that they would no longer deliver; basically we had to drop back and figure out what we were going to do,” Link said.

The food companies are also short-handed, he said.

“We had to figure out how to get food for our children, and we had to become very creative in doing so.

“As far as the comments about the food is barely edible, that’s very subjective, and I fully disagree with that. “Our food services department does a phenomenal job with the resources and the staffing that they have available and the product that they have available,” Link said.

He said the participation rates are 70 to 80% in all buildings, the highest level in 12 years.

“For lunch, usually we would serve about 30 to 40 breakfasts, we’re now serving nearly 200 at the high school,” Link said. “The feedback from the students is that they appreciate and they like the options that they have available.”

Director Donna Kulp spoke highly of the food services department, and specifically Bahnick for the job she’s done.

“I know she has personally gone and gotten items that we need to serve our students,” Kulp said. “And I think she should be commended for that.”

Board President Gary Fedorcha added, “The vendor thing is an issue not only with schools, with anyone, and the food particularly; we are not getting the food that we had gotten. They are not there anymore, they’re not doing the supplying.

“I compliment our current director for doing all she has done to make sure that we did have enough food to feed our children.

“I also want to remind everyone that this is the same director who also through the entire time of COVID, served meals to all of our students, even those when we were not in school and had to do pickup.

“We tried to make sure that we gave a quality lunch to all kids, all children, and I really need to say that I feel that we are doing that, and I compliment particularly our food staff.”