Students at Austin High School will get better food more quickly next year with approximately $70,000 in new equipment and updates for the cafeteria, which are currently underway.

"This one was a pretty critical need," Food Service Director Arla Klimesh said. "The serving equipment we had was pretty outdated."

The project will add new equipment and enable the school to add another serving line. In the past, products were basically divided between two lines. The extra line will shorten the wait for students by shortening the lines and allowing for more self-service.

The equipment will have warmers and refrigerated containers to keep items fresher, and there will now be sneeze guards to help with sanitary concerns.

"This will be able to keep the food at a better quality and keep the food warm," Klimesh said.

She said the department has been looking at updating for five or six years, but did not have the money until now.

Money for the project came from a surplus in the food service fund balance, which can not be used outside of the department, Klimesh said. Two years ago, the food service department started working with a pilot program for government commodities. Klimesh said better use of funds in purchasing these food items allowed the department to free up money to develop the facilities.

"That really helped a lot of schools utilize commodities in a more efficient manner," she said.

The old line has already been taken out, and the new items will be in at the end of July or early August.

Most of the equipment previously in place will no longer be used. Klimesh said it was very old and only a small amount was salvageable.

"We got our money's worth out of that serving line, and we'll get the same out of this one," she said.

Matt Merritt can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:matt.merritt@austindailyherald.com