Crook County School District holds job fair, seeks more cafeteria workers, other positions

(Update: Adding video, comment from school officials)

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Crook County School District held its second job fair of the fall Tuesday, but the top need wasn't what you might think.

Out of about 25 openings the district was trying to fill, the largest number were in nutritional services, or cafeteria workers.

Like most bosses, Denny Bauldree, the school district's Nutrition Services director, is feeling the current worker shortage.

“We started the school year down four to five people, with a limited number of subs,” Bauldree said. “I think I’ve had six viable applications since.”

Now they have seven openings, the most of any department at the district’s job fair.

District Communications Director Jason Carr said, “It’s typically not a department that we have trouble filling positions with.”

While other staff haven’t had to hand out meals, they’ve made other changes.

“I’ve had to streamline the menu, to make it more simplistic so a smaller group of people can put out a higher volume of food as needed,” Bauldree said.

Carr said it’s unusual to have held two job fairs at this point in the year, but they saw some success Tuesday.

“At least two people who did job applications at the district office after they were interviewed,” he said. “And that’s the nice things about a job fair is that it allows us to do an interview right there on the spot, without having to schedule it out."

But neither of the applications were for Nutrition Services.

"We're just all trying to deal with it as best we can and draw in people as best we can," Bauldree said.

Still, the job fair was a step in the right direction.

"By letting folks know there are positions available,” Carr said. “That should help to increase some interest in potential job applications."

To learn more about what jobs are available, visit: https://crookcounty.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx