The national nonprofit School Nutrition Association (SNA) has named Dawn Lewis, M.D., director of school nutrition for the Coffee County School System, as Director of the Year for the Southeast Region. This award recognizes the exceptional contributions of school nutrition officers in managing effective school lunch programs that provide healthy, appetizing meals to students.
Dawn Lewis is credited with revamping the district’s school lunch program. When she began as director, her program was nearing a loss and was hampered by outdated equipment. Now that they are operating on a cash balance, she has developed a replacement plan for equipment and implemented a new software program to increase the efficiency of stocking and weekly ordering of food and supplies. She continues to improve the quality of the food she buys and studies food waste to determine what needs to be improved and what needs to be removed from the menu.
Lewis works with teachers and principals to develop and secure grants. As a result, three schools now have schoolyards, one school has an orchard, and children at nine elementary schools were able to plant fruit trees. She is also working with volunteer organizations to build playgrounds in all of the district’s schools and working with the Career, Technical and Agricultural Education Department to develop hydroponic plans for the county’s high schools. The produce from the garden is prepared by staff and pupils and served at the school.
A champion of local production and farm-to-school initiatives, Mr. Lewis works directly with farmers and manufacturers to ensure items are grown and/or processed within the community. She also partnered with several nonprofit organizations, including local food banks and childhood cancer organizations, to advance her cause as well as important school nutrition issues.
Lewis focuses on creative staffing solutions and builds partnerships to fill talent gaps. As part of this effort, she partnered with a national job training program for people with disabilities called Project Search to develop a work-based program to hire high school students seeking future careers in the food service industry. Developed learning programs and partnerships.
Lewis launched an incentive program for staff and encouraged efforts to increase student participation in meal programs. Meal participation rates have remained high since Lewis started the program, and district superintendents have used the program as an example and shared tools for other superintendents to implement.
“Dawn has been a great ambassador for school nutrition and has worked tirelessly to ensure her team has the resources, training and inspiration to improve school menus and services for students.”School Nutrition Association Chairman Chris D’Errico said.t.
Lewis focuses special creative efforts on staff training, with 80 to 100 employees trained in food safety, basic kitchen skills, new recipe preparation, garnishing, serving line appearance, Participates in annual training topics such as portion control.
Lewis is very active in the Georgia SNA and has served on the Board of Directors for 13 years. She emphasizes the importance of her SNA membership and supports the professional development of employees and managers through participation in state and national events.
The Director of the Year Award was created to recognize school nutrition directors who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to school meal programs. The Director is responsible for maintaining the quality of the program through student interaction, menu planning, and a commitment to providing nutritious, delicious, and balanced school meals. The School Nutrition Director ensures the overall success of the school food program by effectively overseeing all aspects of food service operations, including budgeting, staffing, training, marketing, and community outreach.
Lewis was recognized as the best in the Southeast region during an awards ceremony held online on April 30, in advance of School Lunch Hero Day, which will be celebrated on May 3, 2024, to honor all of America’s dedicated school nutrition professionals. It was announced that he had been selected as an outstanding director. The accomplishments of Lewis and all his SNA award winners will also be highlighted in a special digital publication, his SNA’s annual Hero Day on Facebook.com/TrayTalk and his TrayTalk.org. It will also be promoted in media campaigns.
