The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - How many of us recall fondly the hot lunches of our early school days?

Movies and television shows depicting lukewarm mystery meat and grayish slop dashed onto plastic trays might be a touch melodramatic, but the image is grounded in somebody's reality. Right?

Well, Dayton School District has hired a new chef who appears to be dispelling those lunchroom myths, and Superintendent Doug Johnson says the numbers prove it.

"Just today we served our highest lunch count of the year - 253 students," Johnson said last Thursday.

This chef isn't new to Dayton. She's been serving handmade soups,...