Fueling Student Success Beyond the Classroom

The smell of freshly baked bread fills the halls of Burke High early each morning as Nutrition Services staff begin preparing meals for the day.

“Every morning at 6 a.m., bread is rising,” said Kurt Sage, Burke High cafeteria manager. “This way, we know what’s in it. We can control the sugar, sodium and the weight.”

Behind the morning routine is careful planning and data review. Sage tracks daily production records, ordering schedules, student participation by menu item and leftover counts to better plan meals and minimize waste.

“Data plays a huge role in knowing how much I need to order,” said Sage. “When we gauge those numbers, we know that on pizza day, we can probably make fewer sandwiches.”

Keith Nocco, Omaha Public Schools executive director of nutrition services, looks at trends across our district to understand what meals students are choosing and how those choices impact their day.

“The data allows us to provide the meals students enjoy,” said Nocco. “The more choices students have, the higher the participation.”

This is one of the ways Omaha Public Schools is focusing on continuous improvement in addition to the work underway in our classrooms. Last school year, we launched our Moonshot – all students reading on grade level by 2030. Every employee across our district plays a part in advancing this goal.

Our Transportation team uses the same approach, collecting data to improve the student experience. They track real-time feedback from a family app, along with call center metrics, on-time performance, safety incidents, maintenance records, gas mileage and more.

“Our drivers do a daily pre-check before they take a vehicle out on the street,” said Trevis Sallis, Omaha Public Schools executive director of student transportation. “It’s important for us to track that information to help with our vehicle depreciation process.”

Sallis says the transportation department is seeing results. Omaha Public Schools drivers earned an increase in customer service through satisfaction surveys. Throughout the year, the department handles hundreds of calls each month and works to improve its response times.

“The data tells a story,” said Sallis. “Every month, we see how we’re supporting the students by getting them to school on time, making sure they're there for breakfast or zero hour. All these things help support our Moonshot and our district overall.”