School Cook II - Waiahole Elementary

Hawaii State Department of Education; Kaneohe (HI); On-site; USD 50,000 - 67,000; Full time

Job summary

Hawaii State Department of Education is seeking a School Cook II to plan, prepare and serve meals in alignment with school menus and schedules. You will work closely with food service staff to ensure timely meal delivery and maintain high sanitation standards, while following standardized recipes for large-scale production.

The role involves supervising helpers, training staff, and contributing to monthly inventory and production records, with emphasis on safety and quality in a school setting.

Qualifications

• Graduation from high school or equivalent.
• Experience in quantity cooking in large-scale operations such as schools or institutions.

Responsibilities

• Plans, coordinates and works with food service staff to ensure meals are prepared to meet service times.
• Reviews production records and estimates preparation times; secures ingredients and equipment.
• Weighs ingredients and adjusts recipes to meet daily production needs.
• Prepares and cooks a variety of foods and assists in principal meals.
• Sets up serving counters and serves students and staff; replenishes items as needed.
• Directs and trains cafeteria helpers and may supervise satellite meals.
• Attends staff meetings and completes USDA-required training hours.

Skills

Food preparation

Quantity cooking

Education

High school diploma

Job description

Salary Range:

School Cook II, BC-06: $5,246.00 per month

1. Plans, coordinates and works closely with other food service employees to ensure meals are prepared in a timely manner to meet meal service times and/or satellite delivery schedules.
2. Reviews daily/weekly/monthly food production records and makes cooking/preparation plans accordingly, estimates preparation and cooking time, determines appropriate standardized recipe, and secures necessary ingredients and equipment for preparation and cooking purposes.
3. Accurately weighs and measures ingredients in accordance with approved standardized recipes and daily production needs; performs mathematical calculations to adjust recipe yield to meet daily production records serving portion/size.
4. Prepares, cooks, and heats a variety of foods including sandwiches, breakfast meals, taco shells, French fries, etc.; slices food and assembles salads and sandwiches; cooks simple starches and seasons vegetables; assists in the preparation and cooking of the principal lunch meal, breakfast, and other supplementary meal items; may prepare meal items for students with special dietary needs.
5. Sets-up serving counters for meal service, serves students and staff, and replenishes food and other supplementary items as needed.
6. Portions and/or directs the portioning/packing of menu items for satellite meals.
7. Cleans and maintains work areas, serving counters, and dining areas in a neat, sanitary, and orderly manner; thoroughly cleans and sanitizes pots, pans, utensils, and equipment after use.
8. Properly labels, stores, and/or disposes leftover foods; documents on the production record; and informs School Food Services Manager of the leftovers; and may recommend their utilization.
9. Receives provisions ordered, documents product temperatures if applicable, and reports discrepancies to School Food Services Manager; dates and stores goods in proper manner and place; records supplies and ingredients used; and assists in completing monthly inventory and maintaining routine records as directed.
10. Directs/instructs cafeteria helper(s) and/or other adult/student helper(s) assigned to assist with food preparation, serving, and/or cleanup; assists in training new food service employees; and may supervise serving operations at satellite schools.
11. Attends and participates in staff meetings, workshops, and in-service training; achieves the annual minimum required training hours as outlined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Education Requirement:

Graduation from high school or equivalent.

Experience Requirements

Except for the substitutions provided for in this specification, applicants must have had work experience of the kind, amount and quality described below.

• School Cook II, 1/2, 1, 1-1/2

General Experience

Experience which demonstrated knowledge of preparing and cooking food. Such experience may have been gained as:

1. An apprentice or helper in a kitchen where the applicant has acquired some skill in cooking by performing a variety of the following tasks: preparing vegetables and fruits for cooking or for salads; assisting in cooking vegetables by lightly seasoning, watching and stirring while cooking; preparing salads, sandwiches and other cold food items; making coffee and toast; boiling eggs; and cooking cereal, rice, macaroni, spaghetti and/or other foods which are simple to prepare; or
2. Fry cooks of fast-food operations although experience may have been limited to cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, tacos and similar food items.

Specialized Experience

Quantity cooking work experience in a restaurant, hotel, hospital, school or institution which included actual hand-on experience in the various phases of the preparation of foods in large quantities. Such experience must demonstrate the applicant's proficiency in quantity cooking as evidenced by the possession of knowledge of the types of ingredients from common to cooked foods, their properties, functions, and substitutions; standard procedures for measuring and combining ingredients, the use, care and safe handling of kitchen utensils and equipment; proper methods of handling and storing foods; food kitchen safety and sanitation practices; and the ability to follow standardized recipes, adjust recipes when decreasing or increasing yield, estimate sufficient ingredients/raw foods to meet menu requirements, and estimate preparation cooking times to meet scheduled meal service times. The overall knowledge and experience must conclusively demonstrate the applicant's ability to perform quantity cooking for the school food services program.

Non-Qualifying Experience

Experience which is limited to serving food, cleaning, and washing dishes; one phase of cooking such as fry-cooking; or other kinds of work not affording the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills of quantity cooking will not be accepted as qualifying for the Specialized Experience requirement.

Substitution of Training for Experience

1. Possession of an associate's degree in Food Service from an accredited community college in a food service/culinary arts program which include training in quantity cooking may be substituted for all of the required experience.
2. Successful completion of a substantially full-time curriculum at an accredited technical school, community college or university which included course work which provided the applicant with knowledge of and hand‑on practice in quantity food preparation and cooking comparable to the above required Specialized experience may be substituted for the pertinent experience on a month-for-month basis.
3. Excess Specialized Experience may be substituted for General Experience on a month-for-month basis.

Quality of Experience

Possession of the required number of years of experience will not in itself be accepted as proof of qualification for a position. The applicant's overall experience must have been of such scope and level of responsibility as to conclusively demonstrate that the ability to perform the duties of the position.

Salary

The advertised salary is based on full-time employment and includes shortage and school year differentials, if applicable.

Requirements

Applicants must meet all the requirements for the position they are seeking as of the date of the application, unless otherwise specified. Unless specifically indicated, the required education and experience may not be gained concurrently. Calculation of experience is based on full-time, 40-hour workweeks. Part-time experience is pro-rated. Example: Twelve months of experience at 20 hours/week is equivalent to six months of experience, not one year. Also, hours worked in excess of 40 hours/week will not be credited. Example: Twelve months of experience at 60 hours/week is equivalent to one year of experience, not one and a half years.

Temporary Assignment

Claims of Temporary Assignment (TA) experience to meet the minimum qualification requirements must be verified and attached to the application using one of the options below:

1. A copy of the applicant's TA History Report or equivalent system-generated report;
2. A signed letter from the applicant's supervisor that includes the applicant's name, his/her TA job title, the TA start and end dates (from mm/yy to mm/yy), his/her specific TA duties performed, and either the TA hours worked per week or total TA hours worked;
3. Copies of the applicant's signed SF-10 Forms.

Information about Temporary Positions

Temporary positions may be extended year to year, dependent upon funding and departmental needs. Making yourself available for temporary positions increases your employment possibilities and may lead to permanent opportunities. A person hired for a temporary position may also become a temporary employee upon satisfactory completion of the initial probation period of at least six months. Once a temporary employee, you would be eligible to apply for promotion and transfer opportunities to permanent as well as other temporary positions. You may also enjoy other rights and benefits as afforded to an employee in a permanent position, with the exception of return rights and placement rights associated with a reduction-in-force.