Got Milk? Nicolet and Feeder Schools Say 'Yes' Despite Dairy Closing

Have no fear, your kids will have milk this year.

When employees of Golden Guernsey started reporting the Waukesha dairy factory had abruptly shut down, some people were worried about the ability of school districts to obtain milk for students.

A school official for the Slinger School District told Today’s TMJ4 that schools there will run out of milk by Wednesday. But Nicolet High School and its feeder schools will have no problem keeping "moo juice" on hand for local students. 

"Nicolet bids out for our milk supplier, and Golden Guernsey does not have our business this year, so we anticipate no issues regarding our milk supply," Nicolet Superintendent Rick Monroe said.

Lori MacGregor is the food service director for the area food service consortium, which handles Fox Point-Bayside and Maple Dale-Indian Hill School Districts, among others. MacGregor said their milk actually comes from nearby Sheboygan and there won't be any problems with that milk making its way south.

"The Golden Guernsey shutdown won't affect any of my districts as we serve milk provided by Dean's Foods," MacGregor said. "Ray Alderman and Sons Inc. is our distributor. Our milk actually comes from the plant in Sheboygan. I have already verified with my sales rep from Ray's that our service will not be affected."

And it's a similar story in other Southeastern Wisconsin towns. The Waukesha School District had milk on hand as schools started for the week on Monday. “Our food service company will get it from another company,” said Superintendent Todd Gray.  

“We have worked it out for Greenfield and the co-op we belong to,” said Greenfield Superintendent Conrad Farner. “We are getting milk from another distributor and already received our deliveries this morning. There will be some sorting out to do over the next few days, but as of now our services should not be interrupted.”

The Elmbrook School District is part of that same co-op, so the schools in Brookfield and Elm Grove will not have a milk shortage. Elmbrook Food and Nutrition Director Cheryl Piel said resolving the issue is "very important" because milk is a component of the federal lunch program.

"We have to offer it. We can't just say, 'Have water today,'" Piel said. "The only difference may be the color of the cartons."

Employees of Waukesha dairy are frustrated with the lack of information about paychecks and health insurance after the plant shut down Saturday without warning. Check out Waukesha Patch for more details.