School Nutrition Directors Honored For Extraordinary Contributions

School Lunch Hero Day is celebrated on the first Friday in May to recognize women and men who dedicate their professional lives to the health and well-being of children in school districts across the country.  The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is highlighting the achievements of those named Director of the Year from regions across the country, recognizing their extraordinary contributions to manage effective school meal programs providing healthy, appetizing meals to students. 

Stacey Bettis, Director of Food Services for Minerva, Brown and Tuscarawas Local School Districts, Ohio: Midwest Region Director of the Year    

Stacey Bettis is described as a role model and leader who has made substantial improvements to the three school district meal programs she oversees. Bettis transformed each budget from operating in the red to running in the black. Her implementation of innovative programs including Breakfast in the Classroom, Second Chance Breakfast and fun marketing activities like Lucky Tray Day have resulted in increased student engagement and meal participation. 

Bettis works with local 4-H and fair boards to procure local beef to be prepared at the schools. She developed a countywide training program for school districts on how to implement additional Farm to School activities, and the logistics of working with local farmers and students. She also maintains the ServSafe Manager Food Safety Certification and encourages all staff to be ServSafe Certified and complete continuous education.

Recently, Bettis worked with students assigned to the district’s work program to train them to earn their Department of Health’s “Person in Charge” certificate. She utilizes the district’s social media platforms to share updates about school lunch and breakfast programs including menus, pictures of delicious prepared meals and acknowledgement of food service employees. Bettis also took part in the BackPack and TUFF Bag food programs to ensure that no student goes hungry on the weekends. 

Bettis has served as president of the School Nutrition Association Ohio, as a regional director, and on state conference planning committees. She can often be seen speaking at local chapter meetings, attending state and national conferences, and volunteering her time to mentor directors as they learn about SNA. She also served on the national School Nutrition Foundation scholarship selection committee.

Caitlin Lazarski, MS, RD, SNS, Director of School Nutrition, Pine Bush CSD, New York: Northeast Region Director of the Year 

Caitlin Lazarski is known as a champion of school breakfast in New York State.  Her implementation of several effective after-the-bell strategies increased student breakfast participation by 30 percent in her district, and her efforts were recognized by several entities, including the New York Governor’s office. Lazarski has assisted other directors with developing alternative breakfast models through training and on-site tours.

She procured grant money totaling over $1,250,000 to further the reach and quality of meals served to students. Lazarski has also directed the implementation of the Community Eligibility Provision districtwide in two districts, allowing all students to receive free school meals, and started summer meal and afterschool supper programs. Increased revenues have been used to expand scratch cooking, provide staff training and purchase new equipment. 

Working face-to-face with students is another way Lazarski has positively impacted learning experiences. She often can be seen at student council meetings and conducting cafeteria taste tests, and she utilizes student interns to gather program feedback. Lazarski held a contest for student-directed commercials promoting school breakfast and has mentored student interns interested in marketing and promotion professions to create social media posts and reels highlighting meal programs. She also worked with high school design students on a campaign to create a logo for the food service department for use on staff uniforms, cafeteria signs, menus and trucks. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lazarski led a team of dedicated professionals through a curbside meal program that served more than 3 million meals, creating menus that provided bulk fresh produce, local bread and NY state milk to families.

Lazarski is currently a member of SNA’s Professional Development Committee and she previously served as the state association president and sat on their board of directors. She actively recruits staff and new directors to the association and encourages participation for career growth. 

Lazarski invites neighboring districts to staff training at the beginning of the school year, hosting more than 300 for daylong training to include keynote speaker, networking and professional development opportunities as well as a lunch to show appreciation for frontline staff.  She also supervises dietetic interns completing their school nutrition rotation and ensures they can experience all the benefits of being a registered dietitian in school nutrition. 

Dawn Lewis, M.Ed.L, School Nutrition Director, Coffee County School System, Georgia: Southeast Region Director of the Year

Dawn Lewis is credited with revamping her district’s food service program. When she started as director, the program was close to operating in the red and hampered by outdated equipment. They now operate with a fund balance, and she has developed an equipment replacement plan and implemented a new software program to increase efficiencies in food and supply inventory and weekly ordering. She continues to improve the quality of food purchased and studies food waste to determine what needs to be improved or removed from the menu. 

Lewis works with teachers and principals to write and secure grants. As a result, three schools have school gardens, one school has a fruit tree grove, and students were able to plant fruit trees at nine elementary schools. She also works with volunteer organizations to build school gardens at all district schools and with the Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education department to develop a plan for a hydroponic farm at a county high school. Harvest from gardens is prepared by staff and students and served at the schools. 

A champion of locally grown and farm-to-school efforts, Lewis works directly with farmers and manufacturers to secure items grown and/or processed within the community. She also partnered with several nonprofit organizations, including local food banks and childhood cancer organizations, to promote their causes along with important school nutrition issues. 

Lewis focuses on creative staffing solutions and develops partnerships to fill the gaps during staffing shortages. As part of this effort, she partners with a national work training program called “Project Search” for people with disabilities and developed a partnership with a work-based learning program to employ high school students seeking future careers in the food service industry.

She launched an incentive program for staff, encouraging efforts to increase student participation in meal programs. Since Lewis started the program, meal participation has remained high and the district superintendent has used the program as an example, sharing the tools for other superintendents to implement.

Lewis is active in Georgia SNA, serving on the Executive Board for 13 years. She stresses the importance of SNA membership and supports employees’ and managers’ professional development through participation in state and national events.

Sandra Stokes, SNS, School Nutrition Director, Petersburg City Public Schools, Virginia: Mid-Atlantic Region Director of the Year 

Sandra Stokes overhauled school nutrition program operations in the district, improving morale and putting new policies in place to address areas including employee training, equipment replacement and safety/sanitation initiatives. 

She treasures the opportunity to work with students and is described as an effective communicator who connects well with students and all levels of administration. While planning renovations to improve food serving lines, Stokes engaged students and implemented many of their ideas, giving them a sense of pride in the new spaces. She also participates in back-to-school community outreach programs to educate families on various aspects of school nutrition, provide nutritional information and give tips on healthy snacking. Stokes is an advocate of incorporating local fruits and vegetables on district menus and encourages families to increase the amount of scratch cooking at home.

Faced with a lack of usable equipment and poor maintenance of existing equipment at aging schools, Stokes developed a three-year equipment plan. She procured grant funds to replace more than 30 pieces of major equipment and worked closely with the maintenance department to fix long-standing problems at the schools. To help manage staffing shortages, Stokes developed a program to hire bus drivers and cross-train them in the cafeteria. She has also worked closely with the district finance department to create a more transparent program and update the antiquated Point of Service system. Stokes was also responsible for launching a new menu viewer program and nutritional analysis program to modernize the department.

Community involvement is important to Stokes. She participates in various outreach groups and programs to improve the nutrition, physical activity and general wellness of the community’s children and families, including Petersburg Healthy Options Partnerships (PHOPs), Fit 4 Kids and Fuel Up to Play 60. 

Stokes shows leadership by building an empowered team and always encourages employees to share ideas and go outside their comfort zone. She secured funding to pay for nutrition staff to attend the state SNA conference and strongly believes in training and promoting staff from within. 

Stokes held several positions for Virginia SNA, serving on the executive board for more than 10 years and helping to develop key policies and procedures.  Later this year, she will take on a second term as VA-SNA president. Stokes is a strong proponent of the Association and often can be seen approaching others at meetings about the advantages of membership.

Beth Wallace, SNS, Executive Director, Food and Nutrition Services, Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado: Mountain Plains Region Director of the Year  

Beth Wallace is touted for excellent judgment and decision-making skills related to all aspects of school nutrition programs. Her financial acumen and willingness to teach have proven effective for all levels of leadership. 

Recognizing the positive impact of updated kitchen equipment and appealing aesthetics for students and staff, Wallace took time to focus on organization, innovation and renovation. She was instrumental in the completion of kitchen remodeling projects at four district elementary schools, and schools in her district added 50 walk-in freezers, nine walk-in coolers and 20 water-cooled coolers during her tenure. 

An effective mentor, Wallace has coached and trained six employees into new roles as directors for school nutrition programs in Colorado. She also engaged staff at every level to encourage them to understand their strengths and how those strengths can be harnessed to empower them as leaders through the StrengthsFinder program. Her leadership skills were on full display when the district announced a two-phase project to close 18 schools in two years. Wallace has led efforts to successfully close those kitchens, offering support for displaced kitchen staff and community members by attending community meetings and ensuring the transfer of every food service professional to other kitchens in the district. 

Wallace recognizes the importance of community outreach and creates monthly and bi-monthly events to inform and educate families and staff members on nutrition and healthy eating. She also serves on the core leadership team for a pilot program for district schools offering culturally relevant family recipes submitted by community members.

Wallace is recognized as a champion for healthy school meals for all students on a local and national level. Her advocacy efforts helped pass legislation making Colorado the third state in the country to guarantee healthy school meals for free for all public school children.

Wallace served as SNA President, and president of Colorado SNA and sat on the Nutrition and Research Committee and the Leadership Development Committee. She has also taught financial profit-and-loss classes at national conferences, provided budget guidance to several directors in the state, and conducted profit-and-loss training for her staff members.

Amy Woolsey, SNS, Child Nutrition Supervisor, Ogden School District, Utah: Southwest Region Director of the Year  

Amy Woolsey has significantly enhanced the child nutrition program in her district,

emphasizing customer service with students and colleagues to create positive cafeteria and work environments. Those efforts resulted in increased student meal program participation and higher retention rates for cooks and other staff.  

Woolsey was instrumental in correcting financial reports, saving the district tens of thousands of dollars, and she played a key role in helping two districts plan and build central warehouses to be more self-sufficient and better meet critical needs efficiently.

Attuned to helping those in the community, Woolsey helped develop a food rescue program where schools saved some food that normally would be thrown away to distribute to families and individuals in need. In conjunction with Utah’s Department of Agriculture, she recently helped coordinate a Farm-to-Fork workshop to unite a diverse group of stakeholders in child nutrition, including parents, teachers, staff and local producers. 

In addition to supporting robust employee training programs, Woolsey is updating the new employee orientation and onboarding process to help team members be more confident and successful when they start working in school kitchens. Woolsey can often be seen filling in for others during staff shortages and her positive attitude and work ethic on the serving line uplifts those around her. She leads by example and no job is too small for her. 

Woolsey served as president of Utah SNA during the challenging time of the pandemic. She helped connect members with training when they couldn’t meet in person and was instrumental in helping to get the state conference and other meetings back on track in person. She chose to stay involved after her term expired by volunteering to be a School Nutrition Foundation ambassador and working on creative ways to help raise funds to support the foundation’s mission. 

The Director of the Year Award was created to recognize school nutrition directors who exhibit an extraordinary commitment to their school meal programs. The directors are responsible for maintaining the quality of the program through student interaction, menu planning and a commitment to serving nutritious, tasty and well-balanced school meals. Through effective oversight of all aspects of food service operations, including budgeting, staffing, training, marketing and community outreach, school nutrition directors ensure the overall success of school meal programs. 

The winners were announced as the Regional Directors of the Year during an online awards ceremony on April 30 in advance of School Lunch Hero Day, celebrated on May 3, 2024, to honor all of America’s dedicated school nutrition professionals. The accomplishments of all SNA award winners will also be highlighted in a special digital publication and promoted in SNA’s annual Hero Day social media campaign on Facebook.com/TrayTalk and TrayTalk.org.

About School Nutrition Association:
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, non-profit professional organization representing 50,000 school nutrition professionals across the country. Founded in 1946, SNA and its members are dedicated to making healthy school meals and nutrition education available to all students. For more information on school meals, visit www.SchoolNutrition.org/SchoolMeals.