School’s out, ice cream’s in: Lakeville family takes dessert on the road

LAKEVILLE — What do teachers do when the school year ends? They ride around town in a school bus serving ice cream, of course.

Katie and Peter Gallagher teach science and STEM at Freetown-Lakeville Middle School. When summer break started this year, the couple gave themselves a new assignment: School’s Out Ice Cream — a converted school bus from which they serve frozen treats at festivals, birthday parties and to anyone who flags them down on the road.

And they don’t do it alone. Their three children — Connor, 17, Caden, 15, and Jordyn, 10 — often join them. In fact, the plan wasn’t born from entrepreneurial ambition — it started with Jordyn.

“She has a rare genetic disorder, but she's also autistic and nonverbal, and we're always going, ‘What is she going to do when she's older?’ So we were throwing around things that we could start, that she could help with,” Peter said.

An ice cream school bus wasn’t the first plan. Before that, the Gallaghers considered a traditional food truck — and before that, opening a charter school designed to meet their daughter’s needs.

Those plans were eventually sidelined by time, cost and logistical challenges. But when Katie suggested converting a school bus into an ice cream van, Peter jumped at the idea.

“She has come up with many ideas,” he said. “This one, I was like, I’m going to run with this one. That’s why I found the bus before she could change her mind.”

They bought the bus in March, and by May the seats were out, the cooler was in, the decorations and menu were on and the bus was parked at Angers Conway Farm, ready for School’s Out Ice Cream’s first event.

Since then, they’ve brought the bus to birthday parties, company events, Sip and Stroll in Middleboro and a host of other places. While the entire family can’t make it to every stop, there’s one destination Jordyn never misses — the ride itself.

“The other day, we’d been driving around for an hour without a single customer,” Katie said. “But Jordyn was just loving it, the wind in her hair. And I was like, ‘Well, remember, this is what it was about.’”

The Gallaghers share updates and schedules on their website, schoolsouticecream.com, where customers can track the bus live and request a stop. They typically drive around Lakeville two to four nights a week from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Often, their customers are the children they teach.

Their two sons, Caden and Connor are both in culinary school at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School. While Katie said she doesn’t think they plan to pursue cooking as a career, “they’re more credentialed than we are” when it comes to serving food.

Jordyn’s participation is more limited than her brothers’, the Gallaghers said. Inhibited by her motor skills, she doesn’t help serve the ice cream. But the school bus provides their daughter with a change of scenery — it’s something she enjoys and it raises awareness.

“Sometimes we're helping someone, and [Jordyn’s] making her very loud screech. But then [the customer] looks and they wave, they say hi. Then more often than not, we have a nice conversation about how they have someone in their family that has special needs. And it brings some sort of community and connection,” Katie said.

The couple hopes that as Jordyn ages, she can take on a more involved role. But for now, they’re just happy spending time with their daughter.

“Community and connection” are important and take precedence over monetary gain when it comes to School’s Out Ice Cream. The couple both grew up in the area and attended Apponequet Regional High School.

“This is just — it’s our community,” Katie said.

They once considered taking the bus to Horseneck Beach in Westport, thinking about “how much money they could make” at the crowded family destination. But they decided against it.

“Afterwards, we're like, that’s not really what we're here for,” she said.

They source their product from New England Ice Cream. The menu took some trial and error before they landed on the right selection — a customer favorite now is the Big Bopper, a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.

When it comes to pricing, Katie said she just thought about what she “would want to pay” to buy a dessert for her kids.

There is one place outside of Lakeville School’s Out Ice Cream can be found: Freetown. The couple just finished the necessary permitting to expand into what they described as the “other half” of their community.

As for the future, the couple jokes about one day having a “fleet” of buses — but their primary goal, they say, has already been accomplished.

“This is fun, and I can do it with my daughter,” Peter said.