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Kitchen Repairs at McNair Elementary Complete
Students to soon be served meals prepared in their cafeteria’s kitchen for the first time in two years

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer

COMPTON – Con-struc-tion is complete on a local elementary school’s kitchen, which sat in a state of disrepair and was unusable for more than a year, forcing the district to feed students from a butane-powered portable kitchen.

The Bulletin Jan. 30 toured the renovated facility at McNair Elementary School, which now boasts new stainless steel countertops, prep and serving tables and sinks as well as state-of-the-art non-stick flooring throughout.

The biggest change is the addition of a roughly 189-square-foot restaurant-grade walk-in refrigerator and freezer, which required an add-on to the exterior of the building.

A small room where the old, much smaller refrigerator was once kept has been transformed into an office space equipped with lockers for the school’s kitchen and cafeteria workers.

The only thing missing last week was the new oven and range, which Tommie Callegari, director of Compton Unified’s Student Nutrition Services, said she expected to be delivered sometime this week.

But before the kitchen can be used for food preparation, it must first pass a state health inspection, said the district’s facilities director, Alvin “A.J.” Jenkins. As of last Wednesday, the architect had not yet called to set up an inspection, he said.

Neither Callegari nor Jenkins could give a definite date the kitchen will be ready for use, but Callegari said her “dream date” is the end of February.

The district discontinued use of and returned the portable, butane-powered kitchen in September. Callegari said student meals have since been prepared at Enterprise Middle School and transported to McNair on a daily basis.

Although McNair is situated between Centennial High and Willowbrook Middle schools, Callegari said Enterprise, which is located on Compton Boulevard, was chosen because it was the most able to handle the additional volume.

She said the extra distance that must be traveled to transport the meals is not an issue because thermal units are used.

McNair serves roughly 200 breakfasts and 475 lunches daily.

The Bulletin reported in December 2006 that McNair students were being fed daily – and had been for at least a year – from a narrow, portable kitchen that cost the district roughly $10,000 a month to rent.

Powered by a butane tank bolted to the blacktop and fenced off from students, some parents and a school board member then expressed concern for student, faculty and staff safety in the event of an earthquake.

The kitchen was shut down in early 2006 after parents rallied together and protested, saying the kitchen was too run down to safely prepare meals in.

Contractor USS Cal Builders began remodeling work shortly thereafter, but pricey change orders soon put the project on hold in spring 2006, where it stayed for months. Work had not yet resumed in December 2006.

Facilities Director Jenkins said last week the change orders pertained to the installation of the walk-in refrigerator and freezer and the requisite add-on to the cafeteria/kitchen structure.

Then in January 2007, former Superintendent Jesse Gonzales Ph.D. halted the district’s facilities modernization program – and work on the kitchen – after independent audits revealed a major funding shortfall and highlighted possible mismanagement of bond monies.

One of those audits was completed by Del Terra, the company the district months later hired to oversee the completion of construction at unfinished school sites including McNair.

Construction on the kitchen resumed after the school board last May approved a $25 million certificate of participation loan, a portion of which was used to cover the costs of finishing the kitchen, Jenkins said.