Davenport Community School District Nutrition Director Wins Award

The national, non-profit School Nutrition Association (SNA) has named Coni Dobbels, Director of Food and Nutrition Services for Davenport Community School District, Iowa, the Midwest regional Director of the Year. The award recognizes the extraordinary contributions of school nutrition directors who manage effective school meal programs providing healthy, appetizing meals to students.

A person who leads by example, Coni Dobbels excels in her role as director, especially during the years of the COVID pandemic. She has enhanced the accessibility of healthy meals to all students in the Davenport Community School District. At one point, the district supported drive-thru meal pick-up sites at six different locations. Today, they still operate a weekly food distribution site serving approximately 1,800 meals for students engaged in online learning.

Before the pandemic impacted school meal programs, Dobbels wanted to launch a breakfast in the classroom program. Through her hard work and grant applications, she was able to make that happen. The district has seen a 30% increase in breakfast participation since.

Dobbels’ leadership style inspires and empowers her team to serve. Under her guidance, the department started donating unused food to a local homeless shelter to be distributed before school breaks. Share tables have also been set up at 28 schools in the district, and Dobbels worked with the school nurses to ensure those items went to students in need.

She understands that the little things can really add up to provide a positive work environment. Dobbels created an employee of the month program, where employees can nominate each other. She hires motivational speakers for in-service training. She provides each of the 170 employees personalized birthday cards and has been known to hide “ducks” for staff members to find in the kitchens, just for fun.

Dobbels often reminds staff that the students are their purpose for the important work they do. She asks for student involvement in menu choices, holding focus groups to hear student concerns and offer menu tastings. She has developed themed meals, working with the school curriculum to support events such as Johnny Appleseed’s birthday and Earth Day.

As the director of Food and Nutrition Services, Dobbels has had the opportunity to become a Junior Achievement volunteer and teach in several classrooms.

“Coni Dobbels is a leader who puts others first and understands what motivates her team. The Davenport Community School District and its students benefit from her dedication to providing healthy school meals,” said SNA President Beth Wallace, MBA, SNS.

Dobbels is currently the Vice President of the School Nutrition Association of Iowa. She is an advocate for joining the local and national School Nutrition Association and works on behalf of members, recently helping to implement wage increases for employees who obtain SNA Certifications.

The regional Director of the Year Award was created to recognize school nutrition directors who exhibit an extraordinary commitment to their school meal programs. The directors are responsible for maintaining the quality of the program through student interaction, menu planning and a commitment to serving nutritious, tasty and well-balanced school meals. Through effective oversight of all aspects of foodservice operations, including budgeting, staffing, training, marketing and community outreach, school nutrition directors ensure the overall success of school meal programs.

Dobbels was announced as the Midwest regional Director of the Year during a School Lunch Hero Day (SLHD) online awards ceremony on May 2. The accomplishments of Dobbels and all of this year’s SNA award winners will also be recognized in a special publication and promoted in SNA's annual SLHD social media campaign on Facebook.com/TrayTalk and TrayTalk.org.