With the first day of school set for Wednesday, Chipman Junior High’s kitchen staff spent Tuesday preparing meals and getting ready to serve students.
The menu includes fried spicy chicken breasts, baked potatoes, ribs and salads.
Lesley Sierra, a nutrition services trainer for the Bakersfield City School District, said she knows Chipman well.
“Well, originally I was a student here for Chipman Junior High when I moved to Bakersfield,” Sierra said. “I started working for the school district 13 years ago when I started as a regular six-hour employee and then I started just moving up and applying for positions and learning.”
Sierra also has a son who attends Chipman Junior High.
Along with food preparation, Sierra highlighted Chipman’s annual junior chef competition, scheduled for Dec. 16.
“Students from all grade groups from K all the way through eighth grade submit the recipes,” she said. “We choose a few recipes and then the student creates the recipes and then the winning recipe gets put on the menu.”
Chipman’s kitchen also plans special meals for holidays, including Thanksgiving. “We do our famous cream turkey with mashed potatoes,” Sierra said. “During the cold time. We usually do pozole.”
Across the Bakersfield City School District, kitchen staffs serve thousands of students at the district’s 44 schools.