Paula Montgomery, child nutrition supervisor for Fairborn City Schools in Ohio, started her school foodservice career serving milk in fifth grade. That event was the beginning of a journey in child nutrition services that she says has been a series of happy coincidences, including adopting a child from one of the districts she worked at.
Paula Montgomery, child nutrition supervisor for 4,300-student Fairborn City Schools in Ohio, got her first taste of foodservice in the fifth grade when she helped distribute milk for two weeks. That two-week stint sparked a desire for school foodservice, which eventually helped forge a journey that would change Montgomery’s life.
“I’ve had a lot of perks on my journey in school foodservice and I’ve met a lot of different people. I went to school in a little rural school district, and in fifth grade we each had a two-week turn putting milk on the lunch trays. I remember how excited I was just to be able to do that.
I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and I thought, what better job would there be than to work in the school system? I worked as a sub. After the foodservice director, retired, I applied for the child nutrition job and was hired.
One of the biggest highlights of my career was that I was able to be the supervisor in the same district I graduated from and worked with the same sweet little ladies who helped me put that milk on the line as a fifth grader. I quickly saw how all of that came together. Their mentorship helped me.
Shortly after we moved a few years ago, we got a knock on the door and it was the retired director from the local school district. She was my biggest mentor during my first foodservice job and she lived right next door. In the circle of life, it’s amazing who you will end up meeting again.
I then moved on to Fairborn City Schools. The biggest perk I’ve had because of being in school foodservice is that I adopted a child that I met from the lunch line. She was a behavior problem and very unfortunate financially. She was six years old. She was always coming through the line crying. Her mother worked for me at the district in my first foodservice job. She was in a student learning class where they worked in the cafeteria. I met her daughter when I moved to Fairborn. Once the mother saw that it was me who wanted to adopt her daughter she was ready to give her up to me and that’s what happened. It’s funny how it’s all worked out.”