Owsley County Schools seeks food service workers for new school year

Owsley County Schools is looking to add food service workers before students return, with Saundra Bowman posting a June 30 recruiting message on the district’s live feed and linking an application for anyone interested in joining the cafeteria staff.

The timing matters in a county as small as Owsley. The U.S. Census Bureau lists the county’s population at 4,051 in the 2020 census and estimates it at 3,932 as of July 1, 2025, a scale that can make every unfilled school job more visible in daily operations. In a district like this, food service is one of the most basic parts of the school day: breakfasts and lunches have to be ready on time, meal lines have to keep moving, and students have to be served reliably when classes start.

The recruiting push also fits a broader staffing picture at Owsley County Schools. The district’s employment page shows multiple current openings, including a guidance counselor, ESS coordinator, substitute custodian, ESS teachers and a school-home-community liaison, suggesting the system is hiring across several departments rather than for one isolated vacancy.

Food service is a year-round part of the district’s work, not just a school-year assignment. Owsley County Schools takes part in Farm to Table during the school year, with agriculture classes at Owsley County High School growing produce that the food service department buys and serves at lunch. The district is also operating its 2026 SUN Meals summer pickup program at Owsley County High School on Tuesdays and Thursdays from June 2 through July 23, 2026.

The district’s nutrition page says students in Owsley County schools receive free breakfast and lunch under the Community Eligibility Provision for the 2024-2025 school year. That makes the cafeteria staff’s role even more central, since the district is responsible not only for serving meals, but for keeping the system steady for families who depend on those meals every day.

A recent district post also showed administrators and food service workers preparing and serving an employee meal while celebrating staff members for their years of service at the end of the school year. The public recruiting post, paired with the district’s ongoing nutrition work, shows Owsley County Schools trying to stay ahead of the staffing needs that can affect the first bell in Booneville and the lunch line just as much as the classroom.