Bellevue School District Director of Nutrition, Wendy Weyer, RDN, SNS, and the cafeteria staff at the district’s 29 schools have been serving a record number of meals each day in the midst of food shortages from suppliers. Although happy that lunches can be offered to all students for free, Weyer says that the supply shortages have limited the amount of variety the district can offer  with over 11,000 meals served daily. 

Supporting Families Through a Community-Based Program 

Nutrition Services staff have responded by getting creative with menu planning and making sure that food supplies are secured before creating the menus. This sometimes requires the staff to plan menus one week at a time. 

In a video interview, Weyer talks about the reasons for the shortages and the resilience of her staff in meeting the challenges.  

“One of the things of the things that I really wanted to extend is a thank you to our Nutrition Services staff… I think families remember that from March of 2020, to August of 2021, our lunch room staff, both men and women, were outside in the rain, in the snow, in the heat, in the wind, ensuring that families had options — and that they were free options available to any child in our community.” 

 She also shares that staff served over 850,000 free meals to the community from the school closure in March through September. Weyer shared this brief video about school nutrition supply chain shortages nationwide for parents.  

“USDA offering us the ability to continue to offer free meals to all students has really, my hope, provided that additional safety net for families as they’re recovering, to know that when their kids come to school, that the free meal will still be available to them.” 

Join the Team 

Nutrition Services is hiring several positions, including Kitchen Assistants and Substitute Kitchen Assistants to support our schools. Visit our Employment webpage and search “Nutrition Services” to review the postings and apply. 

Check out other job openings across the district here. Open positions include those in transportation, substitute teaching, nursing and a variety of other fields, some of which are experiencing national labor shortages.  


The Bellevue School District acknowledges that we learn, work, live and gather on the Indigenous Land of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the Duwamish and Snoqualmie Tribes. We thank these caretakers of this land, who have lived and continue to live here, since time immemorial.