Policy may prevent Churchill High's restaurant from re-opening

After $250,000 in improvements to get it up to code, a student-run restaurant at Churchill County High School is ready to be back in business.

But it may not re-open because school district officials aren't sure the restaurant can operate within the parameters of the district's federally mandated wellness policy.

The culinary arts class opened a noontime restaurant in October 2006, which was quickly shut down by health inspectors after violations of state health standards were discovered.

Teacher Elsie Capdeville said a separate hand-washing sink, a grease line to the sewer system and a three-tiered sink to sanitize dishes were needed before students could resume serving lunch.

Before being shut down last year, Capdeville submitted 20 menu items to the health department that, she said, fit the wellness program.

Capdeville notified teachers the restaurant would once again be open for business beginning this week. The sinks for washing dishes and hands were added as well as walls, new tile, ceiling, vents above the stove burners and a sandwich bar.

CCSD Finance Director Jim Sustacha said the school board voted to fund the improvements as a capital project in 2006. The goal of the restaurant is for students in Capdeville's food and consumer science class to prepare and serve meals as a way to give advanced students real-life experience working in food preparation and service.

"We have to show them how to be waitresses and line servers, and we need customers they can deal with," Capdeville said.

While the school board supports the restaurant, those who administer the district's wellness policy do not. CCSD Food Service Manager Dawn Baptiste said adults are included in the district's wellness policy and food and beverages sold in administrative and faculty areas must adhere to this policy which also says sales and/or profits cannot be part of a learning experience related to classroom lessons.

Baptiste said it would not be fair to allow Capdeville to circumvent the policy while making her fellow teachers follow it.

She said if the restaurant had not been shut down by the health department last year, it would not have been allowed to open for the same reasons it is currently facing.

When asked if she wished the administration had spoken to her about the policy before spending $250,000 to get the restaurant into code compliance, Baptiste said district officials should have known.

"I did speak to them and explained to them that it was not going to meet the wellness program," she said. When Capdeville sent notice to teachers that the restaurant was re-opening, she was contacted less than 30 minutes later and told the restaurant would have to remain closed because, among other things, competition isn't allowed with a federally mandated program such as student and teacher lunches.

Interim High School Principal Robbin Pedrett said the district is researching the wellness policy to ensure that serving adults would not constitute an infraction. She said Assistant Superintendent Gregg Malkovich is reviewing the four-page policy in search of a solution.

"I am feeling confident that, when we read this, it will not be about adults choosing what they want to (eat)," Pedrett said.

Capdeville said there is no competition with the lunch menu program and was very upset that restaurant could not be opened.

"I have been trying to get this program up to date, and the final phase is to get the restaurant going," she said, adding of her 164 students, nearly 100 of them will one day work in the culinary industry.

She added teachers are supportive of the restaurant and the program.