There’s an argument to be made that school days wouldn’t work without “lunch ladies.” Kids don’t do as well in class on an empty stomach, and a good cafeteria staff keeps food lines moving and makes sure students have a quick but good meal.
The Enterprise-Journal’s online Education Awards this past spring honored two lunch ladies. Darlene Harness of North Pike High School was Best Lunch Lady, while Etta Lenoir of Osyka Elementary School was runner-up.
Both have many years of experience in school cafeterias along with interesting stories about providing hundreds of meals a day.
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Etta Lenoir, the cafeteria manager at Osyka Elementary School, graduated from South Pike High School in 1977 and has spent a good bit of time since then working for the district.
Lenoir worked for 14 years as a South Pike bus driver, then added food service duties in the late 1990s. She previously worked in the Eva Gordon Elementary School cafeteria, and also drove a bus, until 2008, when she took charge of feeding kids from preschool through sixth grade at Osyka Elementary.
“I love the kids,” Lenoir said. “I love to put a smile on their face when they say, ‘Miss Etta, the food tastes good today.’ Most of the time, they say it’s good. The only time I worry is when I might run out of food they like.”
Her students like pizza, spaghetti and newer meals like hot wings, meatballs, baked chicken and beef soup with cheese toast.
“Now we do a walking taco, and they love that,” she said. “It’s like a taco in a bag, with chips, and they get to go through the cafeteria line and decide what they want.
“We did it last year about two times, and we just started again this year. We’ll have it about once a month. We try to get the food that the kids love. If they don’t like it, I tell my supervisor.”
She said managing a cafeteria isn’t that difficult “when you know what you’re doing.” The staff stays busy, arriving at 6:30 a.m. to get breakfast going, and serving lunch in four shifts from 10:50 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Having been at Osyka for 16 years, Lenoir is skilled at estimating how much food will be needed, and said most of the time there is little left over. Once in a while, she said she guesses wrong and needs to get more food made quickly. It’s usually done in 6 to 12 minutes.
Lenoir estimated about 70% of Osyka’s students eat breakfast in the cafeteria, too.
“Back in the day, we had to cook breakfast from scratch,” she recalled. “Now it’s mostly pre-cooked.”
She typically works with three or four other employees, but recalls one morning when it was just her and one other person.
“The principal had to help us out that morning,” she said. “But everything went smoothly.”
Etta Lenoir, standing at left, with a table of kindergarten students during their lunch period at Osyka Elementary. (Photo by Jack Ryan. Copyright 2024, Emmerich Newspapers, Inc.)
Cafeteria work suits Lenoir, who said she has always loved to cook.
“I love for people to enjoy my food,” she said. “My mom, she was an awesome cook. I never thought that I’d be able to cook like her.”
During the 25-minute lunch periods, Lenoir likes to walk around the cafeteria. Like a teacher in a classroom, she wants to keep them on task.
“I don’t want them talking too much. They’ll stop eating food,” she remarked.
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Students at North Pike High School have 23 minutes to finish their lunch, and Darlene Harness helps keep the line moving through four lunch periods per day.
Harness, the cafeteria’s longtime cook and cashier, runs one of the checkout computers. As kids pick out their meals, they give her their name and she quickly enters the information into their account.
Before starting school cafeteria work, Harness was a cashier at Walgreens for six years, and she worked a total of 19 years at McDonald’s as well. But she said that didn’t completely prepare her for everything that needs to be done to feed a school full of kids five days a week.
“I did not know how I was going to be able to prepare meals,” she remarked. “But as I got into it and the manager showed me, I got it done.
Darlene Harness of the North Pike High School cafeteria is pictured in front of a display case that’s being loaded with lunchtime meals. (Photo by Jack Ryan. Copyright 2024, Emmerich Newspapers, Inc.)
Harness has been in the high school cafeteria for eight years and worked four years in North Pike’s elementary school cafeteria before that.
“I love my job,” she said. “Now all the kids know me, and they know what I expect for them to do. Like if they move a chair from one table to another, they don’t put it back. I have to keep on them until they do.”
She said younger students are less certain of what to have for lunch.
“They’re confused at what they want,” she said. “But older students know what they want. They need vegetables, but they don’t want them. I tell them they need to pick up on vegetables. But they look at me like, no.”
Other than questionable dietary habits, Harness said the high school students are a good bunch.
“If I ask them to do something, they’ll do it,” she said. “Just like, don’t reach to the back to get your food. Get the one in front.”
She’s not sure why she won the award. “I guess because I’m friendly and I speak to all the kids,” she said. “They know me. I guess that’s it. But did they vote? I’ll bet it was teachers that voted. I’m always talking and speaking to teachers.”
Harness said all the cafeteria employees work together to get the job done. She said a good workplace atmosphere is essential to keep things running smoothly.
Cheryl Nobles, the cafeteria manager, said Harness is a good worker who gets along with everyone.
“She’s really sweet and does a really good job,” Nobles said. “The minute she gets here, she’s working. “She’s always go-go-going. A very hard worker.”
Nobles believes the teachers went online to support Nobles for the award.
“They all love her,” she said. “She’s always cutting up with them and trying to take care of them.”
She said workers like Harness are gems because they get things done.
“People don’t realize how hard this is,” Nobles said. “We’ve had substitutes come in here when someone is out, and they can’t believe how hard it is. Our main goals are to feed the kids, and make it taste good and look good.”
One of Harness’ most popular assignments is to make tea and strawberry lemonade every morning. She has another job away from school as a fish fryer at the Cypress Landing restaurant on Highway 98 west of Summit.
