Can't use the kitchen? Time for a special pizza delivery

Chiloquin Schools make the best out of an unexpected kitchen maintenance issue

Chiloquin Elementary school students eat their pizza Tuesday via pizza delivery.

Chiloquin Elementary school students eat their pizza Tuesday via pizza delivery.

Want to see students smile? Bring them 100 boxes of cheese and pepperoni pizzas for lunch.

That’s exactly what students at Chiloquin Elementary School got for lunch on Tuesday. On Monday, they had an unexpected day off from school so kitchen maintenance issues could be resolved. The next day, school leaders wanted to make sure lunch was special for students.

“This took a challenging situation and made it something fun, something different for the kids,” said Jeff Bullock, Klamath County School District curriculum director. “Having already canceled school on Monday, we didn’t want to serve a cold lunch on Tuesday. Our first thought was: Can we get pizza up here?”

Since Chiloquin Elementary School is nearly 30 miles from Klamath Falls, with the travel time and the school schedule, that meant the district needed a whole lot of pizza ready by 10 a.m.

“Domino’s really came through,” Bullock said. “The manager offered to open early just to get this job done, and she gave us a great discount as well. I was really thankful. … I saw a lot of happy faces as all of those pizza boxes started coming into the school.  Hot lunch makes a big difference.”

The school kitchen was up and running on its regular schedule by Wednesday morning.