Get to know Whitesboro ISD’s Alicia Tracy

Here's what the future holds for the team at Whitesboro Independent School District, FSD's July Foodservice Operation of the Month, in the words of Child Nutrition Director Alicia Tracy.

Q: What’s the key to your operation’s success?

We are so focused on making it fun, making the kids wanting to come eat with us, because we understand they have a choice. So everything we do, the programs we plan, the choices we make—the kids are what it’s all about. Our focus is always on planning new, exciting things so they never know what to expect. It’s a really fun atmosphere. 

Q: What are your goals for the coming year?

Pretty much to continue our success, especially as it relates to getting all our kids eating with us—so we want to keep that 90% participation up and continue cooking at least 50% scratch.

The fact is, we do a lot and we plan to keep doing a lot, going full force with our tower gardens, catering program and more. The goals always trace back to creating that excitement for our kids.

Q: What has continuing to serve through the COVID crisis taught you?

That we are prepared for anything, and we can overcome anything. We’ve had so many changes this year. So, so many. Yet we missed only one serving day in the entire COVID experience, and that was only because we had to wait for a delayed order.

Alicia Tracy

We know now that we can do anything. We are superwomen and men—we really tried on Superhero Day in the cafeteria to played up the lunch ladies—and everyone was just amazing. We are capable of anything. We are superheroes.

Q: What pandemic-era changes will you continue, if any?

Obviously, it’s been a challenging time for so many, but for us there are definitely some good changes that came out of it that we’ll keep on. The biggest thing is that we had to become really quick and efficient: The kids had to come in to grab their food six feet apart, so instead of having 20 kids line up as usual we could have only three at a time. That really forces you to speed up!

We also had to create more grab-and-go items, and those are always appealing—so these lessons in efficiency will absolutely continue on.