Groton’s Kelley Neville garners local and national recognition

This December will mark the ninth year that Kelley Neville has been employed as the food service director for Groton Central Schools (GCS). During that time, Neville has not only spearheaded efforts for healthier and more nutritious meals for GCS students, she has garnered numerous grants and received local and national awards as a result.

Beginning with a very generous multiyear Groton HARVEST grant through the Park Foundation in 2018 to Neville’s most recently acquired Healthy Meal Incentive Grant (HMIG) through the School Food Authority (SFA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the food quality and variety at GCS have risen to great heights.

Neville has lived in Groton all her life — first as the daughter of Bruce and Phyllis DeForrest and sister to Eric DeForrest and Shayna (Chaffee), and today as the wife of Rick Neville Jr. and mother to their daughter, Hannah.

Kelley is both a 1997 GCS and TST BOCES (TST) alumna, having started her culinary journey early in TST’s culinary arts program. She earned a scholarship at Paul Smith’s College and went on to earn her associate degree in culinary arts there. Ironically, her roommate was Vicki Fitzgerald, who is the teacher of the program at TST today!

After college, Kelley spent two years working at the Aurora Inn — first as an intern, but she was quickly promoted to sous chef, then executive chef. When the inn closed for renovations, Kelley followed the same path of promotions at Joe’s Restaurant in Ithaca for the next two years, until Joe’s closed.

“I was the executive chef at SUNY Cortland after that,” Kelley said. “I was relieved to make it past two years! I was there for nine, until I got lucky enough to get this position at Groton in December 2015.”

As already noted, Kelley has done some amazing things for GCS. She is very humble about that, but she is also very proud of what she has been able to be a part of and excited about what the HMIG has provided.

“The HMIG is primarily for funding equipment and for taste-testing of new menu items which will be on the GCS menus beginning this year,” Kelley said. “I was able to purchase a tilt skillet, which made kitchen operations much more efficient. We used to have to make several small batches of items that would take about three hours. Now, we can make large batches in 30 to 60 minutes and have a more consistent product!”

The other machine Kelley purchased is a convo therm oven, which is a combination steamer, oven and air fryer, which Kelley said, “replaced just a steamer, and both pieces are helping us reach the goal of using as much fresh, nonprocessed food as possible.”

Kelley explained that part of the grant required her to apply for a recognition award. She received the Small and/or Rural SFA Breakfast Trailblazer award, described as fueling a student’s day by providing a nutritious breakfast with limited added sugars.

“We were at 90% scratch-cooked breakfast before the grant,” Kelley said, “and now we are at 100%.”

One of the amazing opportunities that Kelley and her staff have had through their connection to the Park Foundation is participation in professional development of basic skills required for preparation and cooking of nutritious meals, using fresh produce wherever possible. Kelley and crew have had ongoing connections with the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF), under the headship of Chef Ann Cooper,  since 2022.

Kelley and GCS Superintendent Margo Martin were invited to present at the 2024 Annual National Conference for School Food in Boston, Massachusetts this past summer about their work with the CAF and how to build relationships within a school district for support of food service programs.

As a result of Kelley’s SFA award, she has been invited to attend the Fall 2024 Healthy Meals Summit given by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service and Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is fully funded and gives her national and local recognition by the USDA and AFHK.

Again, Kelley is honored, but she is even more excited about a New York Thursdays initiative that Groton, Dryden, Ithaca, TST BOCES and Lansing schools will be participating in this year.

“This will feature New York state grown and processed meats and farm-raised fresh fruits and vegetables that we will have on our salad bar and/or as side dishes at Groton,” Kelley said. “The idea is to support New York state farmers with things like farm-raised beef and cheese for cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese, fresh barbecued pork, plus the fruits and veggies.”

Kelley also said she is looking forward to another year partnering with the CAF to continue improving her goal of providing as many fresh and nutritious meals as possible.

“The CAF partnership is funded by the Park Foundation,” Kelley said. “None of this would be possible without their support, both financially and through the director’s meetings and trainings, and I couldn’t do any of this without my amazing and dedicated team at GCS, who have always stood by me and believed in all the changes we’ve made since I started here.”

Groton on the Inside appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com or text or call Linda at 607-227-4922. 

In brief:

Community brick garden

The long-awaited new municipal building on Main Street is finally a reality, and the village of Groton is offering an opportunity to buy bricks for a community brick garden outside of the building. A 4×8-inch brick, with up to three lines of text, may be purchased for $100.

Proceeds from the sale of the bricks will go directly to the Groton Fire Department. First National Bank of Groton has offered a matching donation for the first $5,000 raised. Contact the village office at 607-898-3966 for more information.

Pancake breakfast in McLean

The Mclean Fire Department Auxiliary will host its first breakfast buffet of the season at the McLean Fire Station from 7:30 to 11 a.m. or until gone, Sunday, Sept. 8. On the menu will be three different kinds of pancakes, with real maple syrup, French toast, scrambled eggs, home-fried potatoes, sausage links, ham, sausage gravy with biscuits, assorted desserts, an assortment of juices, white and chocolate milk and coffee. The cost for adults is $13. For senior citizens and children over five years of age, the cost is $8. Children under five may eat free of charge. Debit and credit cards are now being accepted for payment. Toys for Tots will also be collected.

Do you like to bake?

The rescheduled McLean Community Happenin’ in the Hamlet will be “happenin’” Sept. 26 through 28, and the Mclean Fire Department Auxiliary needs donations of baked goods for its cake (dessert) wheel. Please call Jerri at 315-702-3306 with any questions.