Brenda Zeiler to retire as WASD Food Service Director
WALLENPAUPACK - Among other business, Wallenpaupack School Board, in November, accepted with regret the pending retirement of Brenda Zeiler, Food Services Director & Dietician.
Superintendent Keith Gunuskey remarked that he has been with the school district 24 years, and Mrs. Zeiler has been here a lot longer. Her resignation is not effective until March 31, 2022.
Describing her as "welcoming, very friendly, a hard worker," Gunuskey noted that food services have grown "mightily" over the last few years with the challenges of the grant writing and the approval process, which Mrs. Zeiler has met.
"Probably in my mind her most shining moment happened during the pandemic when... a lot of people were told to stay home," Gunuskey said. "Brenda was very concerned about assuring that our students were fed. She was in here every single day; she was in on weekends planning for the next week, and through the heart of the pandemic, Brenda did a phenomenal job. She was here all the time helping out, assuring that our students and our community were well fed... She is definitely a shining example of what it means to be an employee at Wallenpaupack. I'm very proud of her."
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Board member John Kiesendahl also made note that Mrs. Zeiler has a tough job, and has done it very well.
In the summer of 2019, she instituted the "Free Kids' Picnic" summer lunch program for students, held under the bandstand in Bingham Park. Zeiler had applied to the PA Department of Education to start the program, which is sponsored through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The school district receives reimbursement for the expenses based on the number of children served each day. “Free Kids’ Picnic” offered a varied menu with nutritious and balanced lunches. The program was highly successful, with plans made to expand it in 2020.
This experience proved timely, with the totally unexpected state-required school closures in the spring of 2020 that came about due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although schools were closed for the last three months of the school year, Zeiler and her Food Services crew kept busy offering "Grab & Go" bagged lunches and breakfasts.
This continued through the summer of 2020 and during the 2020-2021 school year when about a quarter of the student body chose the remote education model, with their classes online from home.
An example: Just for May 2020, Zeiler's report to the school board in June stated that 12,987 lunches and an equal number of breakfasts were given out, averaging 649 free lunches and 649 free breakfasts a day. In July 2020, the average was 372 a day, for each meal.
Heather Fedoryk has been named as Zeiler's successor, Gunuskey told this newspaper. " I am confident Heather will do a great job for us moving forward," he said. "Brenda will be sorely missed."
John Drake retires from Board
The school board accepted the resignation of John Drake from the board, which was effective that evening.
In turn, the board named Roy Finney Jr., a life-long resident of Palmyra Township- Pike County in his place. Finney owns the Boat Shop on Lake Wallenpaupack.
"It has been a true honor to serve on the board for over 20 years," Drake said in his written letter of resignation. "As a life long resident of the area and a graduate of Wallenpaupack, it had been a very personal mission..."
Gunuskey remarked that Drake came to the board with no other agenda than helping the students and for their safety. He and Chairman John Spall thanked Drake for his service.
More retirements
The board also accepted three more resignations for retirement, with regret:
Sue Bouselli, Middle School Education Teacher, effective January 26, 2022
Kimberly Glodek, Special Education Secretary, effective October 18, 2021
Catherine Walpole, North Primary School Secretary, effective February 4, 2022.
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Brenda Zeiler to retire as Wallenpaupack School Food Service Director
