Meet Our Children’s Courtyard Staff – Ms. Jessica, Food Specialist

Meet Ms. Jessica, food specialist and previous Early Preschool teacher at The Children’s Courtyard in Morgan Hill, CA. Check out our Q&A with her to learn more about her background, daily duties and what she loves most about working at The Children’s Courtyard!

Tell us some more about your background!

I’ve been working in this field for about 15 years now. It was always of interest to me, and being that I have six children, working with children has always been a benefit for me. Coming into early education as a parent and then being offered a position just changed everything for me. As soon as I started working with kids, it’s become something that I just cling to.

What are some of your responsibilities as the food specialist?

I prep morning meals for the children, along with lunch meals and our PM snack, ensuring I have substitutes for any children with allergies. I make sure I go above and beyond in not giving them just the quickest substitute – I do my research on better ways they can get their nutrients in for the day. Other than that, I fill in and help in the classrooms when needed or just to say hi to the kids!

Can you share a fond memory from your time at The Children’s Courtyard?

With my original Early Preschool classroom that is now in Pre-K, when I see them at school now, they say things like, “Remember when you were my teacher?” or “When I get little again, will you be my teacher?” I’m like, “if you get little again, then yes, that can happen!”

What’s the best part of your job?

Being able to be flexible within the center. Being able to go into the different rooms as needed and being able to work with the different age groups along with providing the meals and hearing the children say, “today’s lunch was great!” and “we loved today’s lunch!”

Why do you enjoy working at The Children’s Courtyard?

Definitely the staff. That’s always been such a good thing that we have here. We have good communication here among each other. But the number one thing is the families. We have a lot of long-term families which is great. They obviously stay here for a reason and don’t leave us.