CNP Assistant 2025-2026

Reports to: CNP Director

Application Deadline: Until position is filled

Start Date: August 1, 2025

Answering the Call

Feeling trapped in the box of the traditional educational model? Ready to rethink rural, K-12 education? Wouldn’t it be cool if you could work in an innovative rural school that cultivates students’ creativity and makes learning relevant through real-world experiences? A school in which the content standards are the floor and not the ceiling? A school in which relationships are valued more than compliance? Well, here’s your chance!

University Charter School

University Charter School (UCS) is an innovative and new PK-12 public charter school that opened in August 2018 in rural Livingston, Alabama. For the 2025-2026 school year, UCS will have ~750 students in grades PK – 12. UCS is designed to be a rural, diverse school that cultivates independent thought, promotes the building of character and civic responsibility, and is committed to preparing all students for personal and professional success through the discovery of individual learning pathways in a rigorous and integrated Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STREAM) focused, project-based and place-based curriculum. The vision of University Charter School is to become a rural model for producing adaptable learners that have a strong sense of place, mission, and rural identity, and who recognize the value of collaboration within a school, across a community, and between diverse rural regions. Our graduates will be prepared to continually meet the demands of an ever changing economy and will be perceived as community leaders and catalysts for meaningful change. We see UCS as a purposeful, place- based, and collaborative pathway to encourage growth and retention in and to restore relevance to our rural community.

UCS is strategically and intentionally located on the campus of the University of West Alabama and was created in partnership with the University of West Alabama. UCS faculty and students will leverage the assets of the University through hands-on partnerships and academic projects with participating colleges and divisions that span health care, education, and the arts, to name a few.

UCS’s approach to education is unique in a number of ways:

• Location: The school’s location on the University of West Alabama campus in rural Sumter County, Alabama, will provide students with the opportunity to build rich and ongoing relationships with each other and benefit from the programs and opportunities available on campus and in our Sumter County, our rural community, has been challenged by a lack of high quality educational opportunities, a decline in overall child well-being, high poverty rates, high unemployment rates, low per capita income, and depopulation. UCS was created out of a partnership between the University of West Alabama and a rural, impoverished community in an effort to meet the educational needs of the children. By nurturing the diversity of a divided community, UCS presents a solution to the unique educational challenges that face rural communities by providing a blueprint for others to follow, as well as presents opportunities to demonstrate and implement PK-12 best practices in a rural setting.
• Curriculum: UCS’s curriculum is project-based and place-based, which will provide students with real-world local connections to what they are learning in Students will also have the autonomy to direct their course of study, allowing them to pursue academic work and projects that inspire them.
• Diverse by Design - Last but not least, UCS will ensure that a diverse group of students can take advantage of all of the opportunities this school will offer.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, food preparation, serving food, washing dishes, setting up of serving lines, putting away supplies, sweeping, mopping, & cleaning dining area, unloading and stocking deliveries.
• Promotes good public relations and increased participation with students, faculty, and parents through outstanding customer service practices.
• Works cooperatively with the Child Nutrition Program Director and other cafeteria personnel at all times to promote teamwork and efficient production.
• Follows all Federal, State, School Board, and Departmental policies and regulations that pertain to the Child Nutrition Department.
• Cooks and prepares foods while following stringent standardized recipes, USDA nutritional guidelines, centralized menus, HACCP Standards of Operating Procedures, Health Department regulations, and determines if the finished product is of the best quality both in flavor and appearance before it is served.
• Operates essential commercial foodservice equipment to include but is not limited to; combi-ovens, convection ovens, blast chillers, meat slicers, food processors, tilting skillets, steamers, industrial kettles, commercial dishwashers.
• Cashiers utilizing a computerized touch screen point of sale system with the responsibility to open and close tills, maintain a balanced cash drawer, correctly identify the customer, key in customer meal selections while verifying a USDA reimbursable meal versus ala carte sales, receive payments to customer accounts, and maintain strict confidentiality.
• Keeps adequate supply of trays, napkins and flatware; stocks serving line utensils and ensures serving line is turned off after lunch.
• Removes food from serving line to cool down, count, wrap, date and label to store after lunch; counts milk, return drinks to the refrigerator after service.
• Responsible for washing and sanitizing prep areas at the start and end of the
• Performs major cleaning of equipment and work areas at regularly scheduled
• Cleans and sanitizes pots, pans and utensils according to established procedure using the dish machine and/or three compartment sink following sanitation and safety rules.
• Breaks down dish machine, wipes down prep tables, sinks and sweeps and mops
• Wipes out food warmers, ovens and steamers; cleans refrigerator, freezer and deep fat
• Follows the trash and garbage collection policy and procedures in a sanitary
• Keeps work area and serving areas clean to ensure safety of staff and students by cleaning up spills and sweeping up food from floors.
• Follows instructions in all areas, performing and completing all scheduled tasks, to the required quality and time standards as assigned.
• Reports immediately to the manager any problem or accident occurring in the kitchen or the cafeteria areas.
• Check in food and supply orders reporting any errors or discrepancies with deliveries to the manager such as shortages, damaged products, and/or incorrect invoices, using the established procedure and only signing invoices after each order has been verified.
• Receives, dates and puts away new stock on shelves ensuring that FIFO and all safe handling procedures are used.
• Assists in the accurate completion of a monthly physical inventory, daily production records, and in the preparation of other records as deemed necessary for the efficient operation of the program and auditing purposes.
• Follows the Universal Precaution
• Maintains exceptional organization calculating and planning food supply and preparation needs for the following day.
• Participates in staff meetings and in-service training programs to stay informed and to extend his/her knowledge and ability in the various areas of the Child Nutrition Program.
• Maintains personal appearance and hygiene according to
• Performs additional duties as

Qualifications

The strongest candidates will have the following certifications, skills, and experiences:

• An undeniable enthusiasm for and commitment to customer service
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Exceptional organizational and planning skills
• Experience working with a CNP program in Alabama (preferred but not required)

Salary and Benefits

UCS offers a competitive hourly wage dependent upon degree and experience and comprehensive benefits package including health insurance and retirement.

Online applications are stored on a secure site

Only authorized employees and hiring authorities have access to the information submitted.

UCS does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religious preference, marital status, disability, national origin, or any other reason prohibited by state or federal law. Employees of the District are required to comply with the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments. Alabama school boards are required by state law to verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees by using the federal E-Verify program. New employees are required to provide a Social Security number, an unexpired identity document that contains a photograph, and other acceptable documents that establish employment eligibility. In addition to determining whether a new hire is authorized to work in the United States, E-Verify will confirm that the employee's name and Social Security number match. All applicants must pass a background check through the Alabama State Department of Education to be eligible for employment.