School kitchen contract awarded

The Libby School Board awarded the contract for the new school kitchen to local contractor Kevin Miller Construction. The kitchen, to be built at Asa Wood Elementary, will provide food for the elementary and middle/high schools beginning with the 2015-2016 school year at a cost of nearly $300,000.

District superintendent Craig Barringer said the kitchen will result in long-term savings for the district, although the exact amount to be saved is unknown at this time.

“We know that there will be a savings,” Barringer said.

The district spent $502,470 on food during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, and $493,703 during the year ending June 30, 2014, according to the 2014 auditor’s report of the district’s finances. Barringer said $318,324 of the 2013 money and $253,489 in 2014 was on catering services to provide food to students.

Libby Elementary School doesn’t have a kitchen, so all food is prepared off-site and delivered. The middle/high school, Barringer said, has a couple of small spaces in which they try to prepare food.

“I wouldn’t call it a kitchen,” he said. “But the staff does a great job with what they have to work with.”