School Foods Coordinator

Position: School Foods Coordinator Location: Board Office ( Cranbrook ) with travel to the Elk Valley Posting Number: E24/25-006 Date of Notice: 13-Jun-2024Closing Date: 28-Jun-2024 Position Hours/FTE : 1.0 FTE Start Date: 01-Aug-2024 Salary Range: $68,919 - $86,149 School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) has a School Food Coordinator opportunity serving the five communities (Elkford, Sparwood, Fernie, Jaffray, and Cranbrook) within the District. The District is contained fully within the Ktunaxa Nation, including the communities of ?aq'am and Yaqit ?a-knuqli'it. The communities within the district are filled with beautiful scenery and endless outdoor opportunities, including the renowned Kimberley Alpine and Fernie Alpine Ski Resort. In addition, the area offers a range of resort/tourism- focused municipalities, forestry and mining operations. The School Food Coordinator is an enthusiastic, self-driven and collaborative individual who is passionate about local food systems, skilled in program development, delivery, and monitoring, and has the ability to navigate both individual school and district-wide environments. This is a highly dynamic role that has the potential for significant impacts on student health and learning. This role is rooted in building relationships, collaborating with many stakeholders and bringing student-centered, locally adapted and health-promoting school food programs tofruition. This position will provide a single point of contact for food service staff, administrators and partners through which to coordinate any food-related initiatives. Reporting to the Principal (Food Security), the School Food Coordinator will: Supervise all Chef's Assistants hired in the District to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements and to ensure quality controls are in place. Review and assess the current assets and operations of school food programs across the District including, but not limited to, existing programs, staffing, infrastructureand equipment; Chair the District Feeding Futures Advisory Group; Identify opportunities and conditions required to maintain and expand existing programs, or develop new school food programs, and work to create or enhance these conditions; Bring a District-wide, collaborative approach to the planning and delivery of school meal and food programs; Manage the contracts and relationships related to procurement for food service programs in the District; Oversee the logistics of food deliveries to school and ensure a coordinated approach to improving food service considering appropriate value-for-money; Oversee food safety training and practices; Build and maintain community partnerships with food producers, Parent Advisory Committees (PACs), non- profits, local businesses, Indigenous nations and communities, and other rightsholders who can support the aggregation, processing and distribution of local food and nourishing meals to students and families; Build capacity within school communities to deliver food programs, including providing resources and knowledge- building opportunities and support to local leadership through training part-time school food program leads at each school or cluster of schools to deliver programs in partnership with community partners; Support new and existing school food programs to incorporate principles of Indigenous worldviews, inclusion, equity and diversity into their design and implementation to ensure that programs are universally accessible and stigma-free; Support new and existing school food programs to incorporate principles of nourishment promotion, community connectedness, sustainability and Indigenous reconciliation; Support the connection and collaboration of food programs with school gardens and other food literacy programming; Research models of promising or best practices for school food programs; Connect and liaise with public health dietitians, healthy school coordinators, and relevant regional and/or provincial networks (e.g. Farm to School BC, Coalition for Healthy School Food), to support professional development and stay up to date on school food resources and opportunities; Conduct research to identify potential grant opportunities aligned with the vision of the Feeding Futures Advisory Group; Write compelling and well-articulated grant proposals, applications, letters of inquiry, and customize proposals to meet the specific requirements and priorities of different funding sources; Ensure compliance with all rules and regulations governing Ministry reporting and other reporting requirements as identified; Maintain confidentiality in all aspects of their employment with School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay); and Always act honestly, with integrity, and in the best interests of School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) and the Board of Education. The ideal candidate will: Be familiar with existing school food networks, food procurement, other relevant policies, and school food programming within the district, schools, and the surrounding community; Have experience advancing sustainable regional food systems, e.g. healthy local food procurement, local food policy, preparation, and delivery of food services; Have experience and/or be familiar with the BC education sector, including K-12 schools, BC curriculum, and education stakeholders, e.g. administrators, school district trustees, union members, educators, parents/guardians, and students; Have an applied understanding of healthy school food environments, food literacy, and food systems education; Have excellent networking, engagement, facilitation, and negotiation skills; Have experience in project management/coordination that required systems-based thinking; Have a background in asset mapping, needs assessment, operational planning, as well asbudgeting, managing, and evaluating programming of similar nature and scope; Have demonstrated understanding of cultural context and perspectives and/or have completed cultural competency training that centers on Indigenous, equity, diversity, inclusion perspectives; Have strong verbal and written communications skills; Have a proven track record of innovative program implementation; Be highly resourceful, creative and self-directed; Have a high level of demonstrated personal and professional integrity with the ability to work with and maintain confidential or sensitive information; Be able to visit schools, community partners and food preparation sites across the district; and 3 - 5 years of relevant supervisory experience in a foods-related industry. Please apply for this job only in the manner specified by the employer, otherwise, your application will not be considered for the position. INTERNAL APPLICANTS All internal applicants must complete a profile and apply for this position using the Job Posting Web found on your PowerSchool web portal. EXTERNAL APPLICANTS All external applicants are invited to visit our website at www.sd5.bc.ca to create a profile and apply for postings. Applications should include a cover letter, resume, certificates and at least three (3) professional references, preferably from current supervisors. Note: WHEN APPLYING FOR POSITIONS IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE APPLICANT TO PROVIDE DETAILS OF THEIR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE POSITION. The successful applicant will be subject to the terms of the Criminal Records Review Act. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.