Gourmet joins school cafeteria

FINN ROCK, Ore. -- In the McKenzie School District, the food is so good that even the adults visit the cafeteria.

The reason is Bernadette Fleischer, a former gourmet restaurant cook who joined the school district after her restaurant burned in 1993.

Also, unlike other districts, McKenzie's food service budget is kept separate from the district's overall budget. Fleischer helps support the program by cooking dinner entrees once a week that teachers, staff members and families take home when they want to give themselves a break from their own kitchens.

And it means food so delicious that U.S. Forest Service employees in eastern Lane County often call in as many as a dozen takeout orders.

Thursday was sushi day. That didn't go over well with the kindergartners and first-graders.