Job Summary

The School Cook is responsible for preparing nutritious and appealing meals for students and staff, adhering to school guidelines for safety, cleanliness, and food quality. The cook will maintain a clean and organized kitchen environment while ensuring that all food preparation meets the school's dietary and nutritional standards. This position requires attention to detail, a passion for food, and a commitment to supporting the health and well-being of the school community.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Prepare and cook meals according to daily menus, ensuring adherence to dietary guidelines and nutritional standards.
• Plan, prepare, and serve a variety of meals and snacks, ensuring that all food items are safe, clean, and well-presented.
• Follow all safety and sanitation procedures while handling food, equipment, and utensils.
• Maintain inventory of food supplies and ingredients, ensuring all stock is properly stored and rotated.
• Clean and sanitize cooking equipment, kitchen surfaces, and dining areas before, during, and after meal preparation.
• Monitor food temperatures during preparation and storage, ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations.
• Assist in the ordering of food supplies and make recommendations for inventory needs and menu planning.
• Assist in the setup and tear-down of food service areas during school events, including setting up meal stations and cleaning up afterward.
• Work with food services team members to ensure smooth operations during meal services and to address any issues that may arise.
• Report any food quality or safety concerns to the supervisor promptly.
• Maintain an active Food Handler's Card and ensure compliance with all local health and safety regulations.
• Work collaboratively with the office staff to create and update monthly lunch menus, ensuring they meet nutritional guidelines and accommodate dietary restrictions or preferences.
• Assist with billing processes related to school meals, including tracking meal counts and working with the office to ensure accurate invoicing and payment records.

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of food safety and sanitation practices.
• Ability to prepare large quantities of food efficiently while maintaining high quality.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to maintaining a clean, safe, and orderly kitchen environment.
• Good organizational and time-management skills to complete tasks efficiently, especially during busy periods.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while maintaining consistent quality and safety standards.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to report concerns and suggestions clearly to supervisors.
• Ability to work cooperatively with colleagues and maintain a positive and professional demeanor.
• Demonstrate professionalism at all times, serving as a positive representative of the school by upholding its values, maintaining a respectful and courteous demeanor, and contributing to a welcoming and supportive environment for students, staff, and visitors.

Other Duties:

• The employee may perform other duties as assigned by supervisor and/or the Head of School.
• Work to resolve challenges within the school community and support the creation of a positive, high-morale environment.
• All employees are expected to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and confidentiality in all aspects of their work.
• The job description is not exhaustive and may change over time. New duties may be added, or existing duties may be modified, with or without notice.

Education and Experience:

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Previous experience in food preparation or cooking, preferably in a school or institutional setting.
• Food safety and certification training are preferred.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment while maintaining attention to food safety and quality.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to lift and carry items up to 50 pounds.
• Frequent bending, lifting, and standing for extended periods.
• Ability to perform physical tasks such as moving kitchen supplies, lifting large pots, and assisting with meal service setup.
• Ability to work in a hot kitchen environment, including exposure to steam and hot surfaces.

About Wheeling Country Day School

Wheeling Country Day School is the only independent elementary and middle school in the state of West Virginia. We have intentionally designed a culture to multiply innovation. We support teachers to create innovative programs that engage students in topics that matter and impact their lives beyond classroom walls. Students develop the intrinsic motivation to value learning and honor their passions more than grades. Such a purposeful school culture allows students and teachers to experiment and explore in an effort to fail forward, where mistakes and missteps are inevitable but reflection and upcycling of an idea is expected. A teacher evolves into a mentor, facilitator and fellow learner with the autonomy to create engaging and resonant learning experiences. Where our success has completely changed the game, is the work we are doing with struggling learners. In our culture of possibility, we refused to see learners as lazy or blanket them with a message to "try harder." We opened the Center for Multisensory Learning within our school to better understand and nurture the potential within those students who learn differently. Employing Orton-Gillingham and multi-sensory me...thodologies, we met students where they were and abandoned one-size-fits-all learning in favor of differentiation. Still, a diagnosis of autism or dyslexia makes the total school experience a frightening and confusing place with social and emotional landmines that are difficult to navigate and tolerate. As we know to do, we changed the environment. Learning does not happen in a vacuum, absent of the relationships a child has at school or the beliefs that a child holds about him or herself, so the total environment needs to be modified - the people, the materials, the physical surroundings, and the expectations. From the school's leader to the youngest child each person pushes out of a comfort zone where one must humble oneself to truly learn. That's the lightning in a bottle - every individual as a learner, as a risk taker with a mission to leave something better than we found it and with the scaffolding to support possibility for all kinds of minds. We are doing this in a safe city of 26,000 people with the demographics being such that a progressive independent school should not exist. We are in a state that ranks 47th in education in some polls, yet it is possible here because of our culture.

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Connections working at Wheeling Country Day School