(This article appeared in The Sacramento Bee November 11, 2005.)
A Recipe for Success
Posted November 15, 2005
Speak text (Explanation)
Running a cafe trains students for a career, keeps them linked to school
By Elizabeth Hume, Bee Staff Writer
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Michael McLaughlin, 18, dreams of pots filled with strands of pasta and skillets bubbling with red tomato sauce.
"I'm planning on getting into my own restaurant. Italian," said McLaughlin, stirring a pot of beef stroganoff.
A senior at Leo A. Palmiter High School on Ethan Way, McLaughlin knows his restaurant could be years away. But thanks to a culinary arts program through the Sacramento County Office of Education, the dream could become a career.
Since 1998, the food and hospitality class has trained special education students in the basics of the restaurant trade - how to cook, serve food and deal with chores from storage to sanitation and hygiene. The program offers real restaurant experience through the Culinary Arts Café, a public restaurant at the Arden-area school that opened again for the school year Thursday.
The students learn a skill and earn a little money, too.
"It's amazing to watch this because they really get into it," said Principal Carmen Walker.
The county Office of Education is responsible for educating about 30,000 students. Many are in the foster-care system, moving from house to house. Others are in community day schools, which accept students expelled from their district. Some of the youths under county auspices are in custody.
The importance of keeping these youths connected to school has made vocational education a priority at the county office. About 13,000 students are enrolled in a variety of regional occupational programs. Many more receive county-supported instruction at their local schools.
Sacramento County Superintendent of Education Dave Gordon, in the job for 16 months, wants to create a new program combining vocational education with remedial academic instruction in math, reading and writing. The program is called LINKS, a simple acronym backed by an awkward series of phrases: leadership and everyday life; integrity in thought and practice; navigating choices; keeping the promise; sufficiency in preparation.
Unlike most vocational education programs, which tend to focus on teaching job skills, LINKS would attempt to marry academics with job training, county officials said. The idea is to make sure students meet state academic standards while placing them on a career path.
"We're looking at more and more of the hands-on focus," Gordon said, standing recently in the center of the Palmiter classroom kitchen. "Getting kids exposed. Giving them experiences.
"Those programs are a great way to engage those kids who would not be engaged otherwise. It's active learning."
In Palmiter High's kitchen, the cooking class resembles a typical vocational education plan. Students commit to a couple hours a day for elective credit. They earn $6.75 an hour for up to 100 hours a year.
The class conducted a trial run last week prior to Thursday's opening. The meal included beef stroganoff, carrots with peas, green salad and pumpkin bars. Thursday's meal was chicken Lynda with barley pilaf, asparagus, salad and coconut cream pie. All for $6. Lunch is from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reservations required.
The class of 24 students split up the tasks. Some set up the cafe. Some prepared the meal. Shawn Miller, 17, shaped dough into rolls. Katelyn Cook, 16, chopped green onions for the main dish.
Teacher Bev Haffner stood back as three boys created the stroganoff.
"You need a teaspoon of pepper and a little bit of Worcestershire," Haffner said. "No more than a teaspoon though. Some people don't like it."
Many of the vegetables served in the cafe come from another vocational program - landscaping. Where sod once stood at the school, today a vegetable garden grows. Green leaves sprout from the ground. There is lettuce, spinach and carrots.
"What do you taste?" Haffner asked McLaughlin as he put a spoonful of creamy white sauce into his mouth.
"All I taste is sour cream," he said.
Part of the program's success comes from community support. Last year the students were hired for two catering jobs. One involved serving 1,500 bag lunches at the Capitol. Since 1998 about 75 students have been hired for jobs at various eating establishments.
For now, McLaughlin cooks only for the cafe and at home. But from his reviews, he seems likely to have a future in the culinary arts.
"He's like the head chef," Walker said. "He just loves cooking."