Nutrition Services Strives to Offer Diverse Choices

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Thursday January 12, 2012

During last week’s South Burlington School Board meeting, administrators and Board members heard how new initiatives are helping students and staff make healthier choices when selecting their meals at schools.

The District feeds about 1,200 students, or 38 to 43 percent of pupils on a daily basis, and about 19 percent of the school population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. That last figure is low in comparison to many other Vermont schools, translating into a low poverty rate for South Burlington.

Additionally, the Legislature appropriated funds so that students receive a free breakfast during the school week.

However, with the rising epidemic of childhood obesity, school administrators, headed by Assistant Superintendent Winston Goodrich are working to offer healthier choices along with an array of more options.

At Chamberlin School, students taste tested “colorful carrots” in the run up to holiday vacation.

Increasingly, the District’s Nutrition Services is turning to offering locally-grown produce at their tables. In a report presented to the Board last week, about 30 percent of the meals at the District’s schools use “locally-grown” produce. As the seasons, change, other area produce options are offered whenever they are available.

This choice is catching students’ attention, according to South Burlington parent and school worker Lisa Levite.

“I think it all goes back to having successful gardens at school,” she said. “The kids get their hands dirty and if the kids have a vested interest, then they’ll eat it.”

Levite pointed to an example when student-grown squash was on the menu, they saw it in the cafeteria, pointing out that they “helped to grow it.”

Levite went on to tell Board members, administrators and other audience members, that nutrition service employees encourage students to choose fruit and take milk as they make lunch choices. The concern about healthy choices is leading the District to increasingly embrace a Farm to School program. That scheme, now in its second year, sees school districts purchase locally-grown produce and then serve it to students at meals.

School Board Chairman Richard Cassidy praised the District’s nutrition department saying, “If you’re looking for a better or healthier choice in the market, then you’d have to look a long way.”

SOURCE: Gail Callahan, Correspondent