GEORGIA’S TEEN CULINARY CHAMPS RETAIN LEGAL COUNSEL
New Culinary Curriculum Requirements Stunt Program Growth

Marietta, GA - February 28, 2008 – Imagine the Georgia High School Association telling last year’s state championship football team that they can’t play next year because their stadium is outdated.  It’s hard to imagine in Georgia.  Members of Alan C. Pope High School’s State Championship Culinary Team and program may face that very fate, if the program does not receive funds to build a commercial kitchen by August 2008.  Pope has one of the most successful Culinary Programs in the state, and they are the reigning 2007 ProStart State Culinary Champions.  Remy Coltek, 16, a junior and Callie Johnson, 15, a sophomore, both team members of the 2008 team, have hired local attorney, David Haskin, to investigate their legal rights and options as students in the threatened Culinary Program and its future.  “There have been meetings with the State, County, and local School Board, with no reasonable solution” says Coltek.  “After exhausting all of our options, Callie and I decided to speak with Mr. Haskin and ask him to help us, and the rest of the students in Georgia, who might want to pursue a career in the culinary and hospitality industry.” Coltek is a returning team member from last year and the 2008 Team Captain.  She works outside of school in the culinary industry, and knew by the age of 12, that she wanted to be a Chef.

In late 2006, the Georgia Department of Education (DOE) announced that they would be changing the curriculum of the popular culinary program that is taught in 80 plus schools throughout Georgia.  The new curriculum will present problems for 60 or more schools. The DOE recently announced that it is requiring that each school that teaches the new curriculum have a commercial kitchen.  A new kitchen costs between $300,000 and $600,000.  So far, the DOE has not provided the counties in Georgia any time to address the financial realities associated with building these newly required kitchens.  However, the DOE has presented a modified kitchen plan for schools that cannot afford the higher end requirements. The DOE has offered a sizeable grant to reduce the financial burden, but the problem is that the equipment on the modified list also requires commercial ventilation, which most schools do not have, and alone, can consume the grant.  Schools that do not have a commercial kitchen by August 2008 will be reduced to teaching a “Freshman Intro to Culinary” class, with no follow up advanced classes available to the upperclassmen.   Currently, all of these schools teach increasingly more advanced curriculum from 9th – 12th grade, giving students much more industry training and the opportunity to receive scholarship dollars and experience credits toward 2 and 4 year culinary schools after graduation.  “The new curriculum is great, and was intended to advance our classes, but because our current kitchen at Pope is not filled with brand name, commercial equipment, we cannot take advantage of this new and improved curriculum” says Coltek.  She adds, “Students can learn to cook on a residential stove as well as on a shiny commercial stainless steel one.  It is all about learning technique, flavor profiles, safety and sanitation.  It’s not about equipment.”   

“The Administration at Pope, the Pope High School Foundation and the Cobb County School Board have been very supportive of our program, and have been looking for ways to raise money for a new kitchen” says Callie Johnson.  “This change really affects my future and that of lower classmen that want the opportunity to explore the culinary field, and will have an impact on the number of employees available to the restaurants and hotels in our state in the coming years.  I plan on going to Johnson and Wales to become a Chef and I will lose a lot of education and experience over the next 2 years.” The Pope High School Foundation is currently looking into grants and perhaps industry funding to help build their kitchen.  They can be contacted through their website www.popehighschoolfoundation.org 

Lee Chadwick, the Chairperson for the Georgia Restaurant Association’s Board of Directors, believes that  “As the hospitality industry continues to grow throughout Georgia, especially in the Atlanta area, culinary programs like Pope’s offer students a chance to find their niche, as well as supplying ever growing industry needs.  The state regulations that could change the culinary program amount to an ‘unfunded mandate’” she says.  According to Grand Hyatt Buckhead Executive Chef Billy Skiber, “Making successful culinary programs stop teaching at an introductory level, is just foolish.  The Food Network has shed a new bright light on our profession.  And now the State wants to bring back home economics into our schools, and plunge a very successful program into the culinary dark ages.  A commercial kitchen has nothing to do with teaching culinary.  I have had the pleasure of working in Pope’s kitchen, which is more than adequate to teach in.  Quite frankly, the young Chefs that Pope has produced, are as talented as some 4 year culinary graduates.  I would hire some of them to work after school, if they weren’t just 15 or 16 years old!”  

Chef Drew Ihrig, owner of Endive Catering in Buckhead, who hires Pope Culinary Students on a part time basis, is angry.  “With a state government that talks constantly about the importance of our hospitality industry in Georgia, it seems as if there was a monumental lack of planning and communication at the DOE prior to its decision to change the requirements.  Reducing 2/3 of high school culinary programs from where they are now, to teaching intro classes unless they have a professional kitchen, is just not well thought out.  It would be a great disservice to our kids, our profession, and especially the hospitality industry in our state, to move forward with the current plan.  I feel the state needs to get input from the industry before going down this path.  I think that the Georgia Department of Labor would have issues with their plan, given the fact that Georgia does not have enough Culinary and Hospitality professionals as it is.  ”

Dave Haskin, the attorney that Coltek and Johnson have consulted, says, “It is very simple.  What would be the harm in grandfathering in all these programs around the state to teach the new curriculum?  Give the counties time to decide how to go forward with the funding for these new kitchens.  All we are asking is for a reasonable extension of time, taking into effect the time it takes to raise funds, draw plans and construct new kitchens.  These kids do not really have time to think about all of this, as they have been practicing for their State Competition to defend their title next week.  These kids are willing to do what is necessary to continue their education, and I am committed to helping them.  It would be a shame to destroy the educational opportunities for so many young folks entering this growing industry.”  

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