Parkside Elementary School will really be cooking after a series of kitchen upgrades totaling $581,547 are completed. The upgrades, which will begin over spring break and Easter break with the …
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Parkside Elementary School will really be cooking after a series of kitchen upgrades totaling $581,547 are completed. The upgrades, which will begin over spring break and Easter break with the majority of work beginning in June, are intended to catch the school up with PCSD1’s other kitchens.
This is the district’s second attempt to revamp Parkside Elementary’s kitchen after receiving zero bids just over a year ago, said Rob McCray, the district’s coordinator of support services. This year four contractors participated in a walkthrough, with Fox General Construction out of Ten Sleep submitting the lone bid on the project.
The majority of funding will come from major maintenance funds which are allocated “for the sole and express purpose of updating and maintaining our facilities,” Superintendent Jay Curtis said.
The funds can be used only for “like for like” meaning they can only replace existing things and cannot be used to replace something with a different system, while 10% of major maintenance funds can be used on enhancements, Curtis noted.
Fox General Construction will oversee the replacement of the kitchen’s standalone cooler and freezer with a walk-in freezer and cooler, and the replacement of the unit’s electrical system. Tolena Wempen, the school’s head cook, will have her office moved, the dish washing sink will be replaced, a grease interceptor will be installed outside the building and a hand washing sink will be added to comply with USDA requirements. A tilt skillet will also be added to the kitchen which will require the addition of a drain that will be cut into the floor. The kitchen’s lighting will also be updated and the room will be put onto the district’s system which allows them to control things like the temperature from the administration building.
Finally, two air conditioning units will be installed in the kitchen which currently has none.
“As you can imagine, running a kitchen in August and September and May, it’s pretty warm in there, actually,” McCray said. “Actually, I was over there today, and [Wempen] had a fan running in there.”
Wempen is the only cook at Parkside Elementary, McCray said, praising her work at the school.
“They run about 200 kids through that school every day … we're trying to get it up to make sure that it's as functional as it can be for [Wempen],” McCray said.