Category Archives: School lunch

Applications for Summer Food Service Program – Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced that applications are available for the Summer Food Service Program, a federally funded, state-administered program that serves meals to California’s low-income children.

“Providing nutritious meals to students during the school year helps students stay alert and focused in class,” Torlakson said. “Making sure children have access to healthy food during the summer is just as critical. Those students will return to school in the fall ready to learn.”

The Summer Food Service Program reimburses participating organizations that provide free meals to children 18 and younger when students are on summer vacation or when those students who attend year-round schools are out of school for 15 or more consecutive school days.

Source: Applications for Summer Food Service Program – Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

School’s out but lunch is in and looking fresher – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

School’s out for the summer, but a free, nutritious lunch for kids, always popular, is still in at several places across Vacaville.

Vacaville Unified’s summer feeding program began earlier this week, with lunchtime meals available Monday through Friday for children at three sites, with a fourth one, due to popular demand and an expressed need, added today, said Juan Cordon, the school district’s new director of child nutrition.

They are Markham Elementary, 11:30 a.m. to noon; Public Library-Town Square, 1 Town Square Place, where food is delivered, noon to 12:30 p.m.; and Fairmont Charter Elementary, 1355 Marshall Road, 12:30 to 1 p.m.; and, newly added, the Vacaville Boys & Girls Club, 100 Holly Lane, also where food is delivered, 1 to 1:30 p.m.

via: Schools out but lunch is in – The Reporter

Free meals program underway in Vacaville – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Schools may be out for the summer, but lunch, always popular, is still in.

Vacaville Unified’s summer feeding program began this week, with free nutritious meals available Monday through Friday for children at three sites across the city.

They are Markham Elementary, 11:30 a.m. to noon; Public Library-Town Square, 1 Town Square Place, noon to 12:30 p.m.; and Fairmont Charter Elementary, 1355 Marshall Road, 12:30 to 1 p.m.

Lunches will continue through the summer months until the first week of school in mid-August. Classes begin Aug. 18.

District officials believe some 17,000 sack lunches will be served while the program — in its fifth year and funded largely by the USDA and in-kind donations from local charities — is in effect.

 

Source: Free meals program underway in Vacaville

CDE wants sponsors for summer meals program – The Reporter

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School in eastern Solano County will end in early June, but low-income children’s hunger and their need for healthy meals will not.

Schools, camps, nonprofits, Indian tribal governments and government offices among many entities and groups are being urged by state education leaders to apply to become Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors. It is a way to make sure poor children get nutritious meals once school is out.

Applications are due before June 1, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, which issued a press release.

“Summer for our students should be a time of discovery, fun, and making memories,” said state schools chief Tom Torlakson. “For many California children from low-income families, however, summer can represent just the opposite, with limited opportunities for educational enrichment, a lack of safe places for social activities, or a time without healthy meals to eat.”

Source: CDE wants sponsors for summer meals program

CDE seeks summer meals sponsors for low-income students – The Reporter

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School in eastern Solano County will end in early June, but low-income children’s hunger and their need for healthy meals will not.

Schools, camps, nonprofits, Indian tribal governments and government offices among many entities and groups are being urged by state education leaders to apply to become Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors. It is a way to make sure poor children get nutritious meals once school is out.

Applications are due before June 1, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, which issued a press release.

“Summer for our students should be a time of discovery, fun, and making memories,” said state schools chief Tom Torlakson. “For many California children from low-income families, however, summer can represent just the opposite, with limited opportunities for educational enrichment, a lack of safe places for social activities, or a time without healthy meals to eat.”

Source: CDE seeks summer meals sponsors for low-income students

Food costs, budgets, contract proposals on TUSD agenda tonight – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

The costs of breakfasts and lunches, the second interim budget report, and adoption of a district initial contract proposal to teachers is on the agenda when Travis Unified leaders meet tonight in Fairfield.

Ken Forrest, the district’s chief business official, will tell the five-member governing board that cafeteria meal costs largely match those of surrounding districts.

However, a reduction in the state’s reimbursement rate and an increase in labor, food and supply costs require a 10-cent increase for breakfasts and lunches.

The price increase will help the cafeteria fund to continue to bear “indirect costs” from the general fund and continue with program improvements, he will report, according to agenda documents.

Trustees are expected to approve the increase, which will take effect at the outset of the new fiscal year, July 1.

Source: Food costs, budgets, contract proposals on TUSD agenda tonight

Students Eligible for Free School Meals – Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

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SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today reported a 32 percent increase in the number of students automatically approved to receive free meals in California schools as a result of collaborative efforts among three state agencies, two legislators and food policy advocates.

In December 2015, the last month complete data are available, the 32 percent increase meant that 326,029 additional students were automatically approved for free school meals in Californias school nutrition programs. That brings the total number of automatically eligible students in the state to 1.3 million.

Students are enrolled in the free meals program each month through a federally mandated “direct certification” process that grants automatic eligibility to students in families already participating in the CalFresh and California Work Opportunity or Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) benefit programs without the families having to complete any additional meal applications. Direct certification relieves school districts and low-income families from another administrative burden and helps ensure the most vulnerable children have access to nutritious meals during the school day.

via Students Eligible for Free School Meals – Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education).

Seeks Sponsors for Summer Meals Program – Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

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SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today urged eligible organizations—schools, camps, nonprofits, Indian tribal governments, and government offices among them—to apply to become Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors and ensure underprivileged children have access to nutritious meals once school is out. Applications are due before June 1, 2016.

“Summer for our students should be a time of discovery, fun, and making memories,” Torlakson said. “For many California children from low-income families, however, summer can represent just the opposite with limited opportunities for educational enrichment, a lack of safe places for social activities, or a time without healthy meals to eat.”

Good summer nutrition plays an important role in addressing childhood obesity as well as combatting the “summer slide,” a learning loss that many children experience during the summer months.

via Seeks Sponsors for Summer Meals Program – Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education).

School Meals May Expose Children to Unsafe Levels of BPA | Suisun City, CA Patch

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By Paige Miller

Federal standards for school meals are intended to keep kids healthy. But with emphasis solely on nutrition, schools are missing another component critical to students’ health – exposure to toxic chemicals, according to a study led by Jennifer Hartle, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.

School meals may contain unsafe levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical often found in canned goods and plastic packaging, according to the first-of-its-kind study published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. BPA can disrupt human hormones and has been linked to health effects ranging from cancer to reproductive issues.

via Stanford Study Indicates School Meals May Expose Children to Unsafe Levels of BPA | Suisun City, CA Patch.

CDC Says School Lunches Getting Healthier – Education News

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By Polymnia Hadjipanayiotou

In line with several government initiatives, school lunches are becoming healthier, federal officials have revealed in a new report.

Meals now include whole grains and more fruit and vegetables and are more likely to have less salt, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey reveals. About 97% of schools offered a whole grain option for breakfast and 94% had a similar option for lunch in 2014.

CDC officials analyzed school surveys from 2000, 2006 and 2014 to see how the 2012 policies mandated by the Department of Agriculture affected the meal choices offered at school cafeterias, and their findings conclude that overall, lunches are getting healthier.

  • “The standards require serving more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and gradually reducing sodium content over 10 years,” the CDC officials wrote, something many schools are implementing already.
  • “Almost all schools offered whole grain foods each day for breakfast and lunch, and most offered two or more vegetables and two or more fruits each day for lunch,”

The report says that almost eight in ten schools served two or more vegetables for lunch every day, while 78% percent of schools served two or more fruits.

via CDC Says School Lunches Getting Healthier.

School Food Workers Need More Training, Resources, Survey Finds – Education Week

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By Evie Blad

School food workers say they need more training and resources to keep up with changes made in the wake of new nutrition standards created under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

In a recent survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 58 percent of 3,372 total respondents said cooks and front-line servers needed training on basic cooking skills, and 68 percent said nutrition directors needed training in developing or modifying menus to meet the new standards.

“To run successful programs and meet updated nutrition standards, most school districts expected to make at least one change in their production approach, like cooking more meals from scratch or implementing recipe changes to ensure appropriate and consistent nutrient content,” the report says.

The nationally representative survey was administered during the 2012-13 school year. Thats before the U.S. Department of Agriculture set training and professional development standards for school food workers. Those standards set minimum training and education levels for food personnel that vary by district size.

via School Food Workers Need More Training, Resources, Survey Finds – Rules for Engagement – Education Week.

VUSD trustees face light agenda tonight – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A pair of construction contracts that call for trustee votes and two in the consent calendar not requiring a vote are part of a relatively light agenda that Vacaville Unified leaders will face when they meet tonight in Vacaville.

But the governing board, with president Whit Whitman joining via teleconference from Detroit Lakes, Minn., may face public comments stemming from Tuesday’s workshop 5-1 vote to re-open Sierra Vista Elementary in fall 2016, with the school’s grade configuration — K-6, K-8 or 9-12 — still open for discussion and stakeholder input, pending a final trustee vote in the coming weeks and months.

In more formal matters, trustees are expected to approve an $87,000 contract with Swank Construction to repair portable classrooms at Browns Valley and Alamo elementaries.

via VUSD trustees face light agenda tonight.

Vacaville Unified School District cafeterias come to the community – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

As a light rain fell Wednesday morning, Helena Pendergraft, 10, happily munched a Granny Smith apple near the main entrance of Vacaville Public Library-Town Square in downtown Vacaville. With each bite, her eyes and smiles seemed to widen.

Standing nearby, her sister, Trinity, 6, pointed to a small box of chocolate milk when asked which item was her favorite part of the free bagged lunch. To her, the lender, foil-wrapped pizza, half-dozen celery sticks, and a red delicious apple were also-rans on the yummy meter.

via Vacaville Unified School District cafeterias come to the community.

Free summer lunch program begins today – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

Vacaville schools are out, but, beginning today, the school cafeterias will be coming to several Vacaville apartment complexes, a couple of city parks, and a downtown Vacaville library.

From 10:40 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. Mondays through Fridays until July 31, trucks and volunteers will take free bagged lunches to 15 neighborhood sites. They range from Lynwood Knolls and the Vacaville Park apartment complexes in the southern sector of Vacaville to the Brownsville Estates to Bennett Hill complexes in the northern sector.

In its fourth year — funded largely by the federal government, with in-kind donations from local charities, including The Father’s House — the program serves children, infants to 18 years. No registration is required and no questions are asked.

via Free summer lunch program begins today.

Fairfield-Suisun schools to offer summer youth meal program – Daily Republic

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By Ian Thompson

The Fairfield-Suisun School District is sponsoring a summer food program at 12 schools and 11 community sites this summer with many starting to serve breakfasts and lunches to those 18 years old and younger starting this week.

The program provides free weekday meals to local children and teens during the summer so that their nutritional needs met during the school year are also met while school is out for the summer, according to program announcement. Times when the meals will be served and ending dates for the program vary by location.

via Fairfield-Suisun schools to offer summer youth meal program.

Pay raises, boost in school lunch prices on FSUSD agenda tonight – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

When Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders meet Thursday night in Fairfield, they are expected to approve a three-year pay contract for several school district employee groups and approve an increase in school lunch prices, the first such increase in five years.

After separate public hearings for each contract, the seven-member governing board likely will OK a 3.75 percent salary increase for classified, or school-support, employees in Chapter 302 of the California School Employees Association (CSEA), for the Mutual Organization of Supervisors, and for the district’s Management Association.

The pay hikes will be retroactive to July 1, 2014, and will be in force through June 30, 2017, with contract “reopeners” slated for January 2016 and January 2017.

via Pay raises, boost in school lunch prices on FSUSD agenda tonight.

School lunches, school effectiveness survey on FSUSD agenda – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A bid to replace the gymnasium roof at Fairfield High, approval to charge more for school lunches, and a summary of a school effectiveness survey are on the agenda when Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders meet tonight.

Agenda documents did not specify the company to replace the gym roof or list the project’s estimated costs. The winning contract will be made public at the meeting.

Assistant superintendent Kelly Bartel will lead the discussion to recommend approval to boost lunch prices effective July 1.

She will tell the seven-member board that the costs for elementary lunches will rise from $2.50 to $2.60, and the cost for lunches at middle schools and high schools will increase from $2.75 to $3.

The price hikes will generate an estimated $144,000 annually, Bartel will tell trustees.

via School lunches, school effectiveness survey on FSUSD agenda.

Poll: Most Californians support ‘Breakfast After the Bell” bill – The Reporter

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By Richard Bammer

A statewide poll released Thursday finds that two-thirds of California voters support an Assembly bill dubbed “Breakfast After the Bell,” requiring thousands of schools to also offer breakfast after the start of the classes.

In a telephone survey of 1,251 registered voters, 64 percent expressed support for a proposal requiring public schools to offer breakfast after the school day begins, such as in homeroom or during a midmorning break. Currently, most schools offering federally funded breakfast serve it only before the school day starts, a policy that effectively denies the nutrition and academic benefits of a school breakfast to 4.3 million California students, Tia Shimada, a spokeswoman for California Food Policy Advocates, which commissioned the poll and sponsored the bill, wrote in a press release.

The poll also indicated that nearly four out of five California voters (77 percent) believe what many reliable studies have shown: Starting the day with breakfast boosts student academic achievement. A recent national study, which Shimada did not cite in the release, links school breakfast participation with higher math, science and reading test scores. Other studies have shown that school breakfast improves attendance, behavior and student health, she noted.

via Poll: Most Californians support ‘Breakfast After the Bell” bill.

Agriculture Department Expands School Food Training, Mentoring Program – Education Week

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By Evie Blad

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will expand a school nutrition training and mentoring pilot it launched this year into a nationwide program, the agency announced Monday.

The Team Up for School Nutrition Success Initiative provides “tailored technical assistance” and peer-to-peer mentoring to schools as they continue to implement heightened nutrition standards that were created as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

With assistance from the National Food Service Management Institute at the University of Mississippi, the USDA began piloting the program in eight southeastern states starting in November 2014.The agency expects the nationwide roll out, which will be done region-by-region, to be complete by September and to involve over 700 schools%2

via Agriculture Department Expands School Food Training, Mentoring Program – Rules for Engagement – Education Week.

March focus on nutrition is a chance to educate people on food choices – The Reporter

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By Larry Sly

March is National Nutrition Month, which focuses on educating people to make informed food choices and creating comprehensive dietary habits.

Struggling families in Contra Costa and Solano counties often aren’t able to select healthy options.

Many turn to less expensive foods that are higher in fat, salt, calories and sugar, which can contribute to chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano is committed to providing nutrition to local families that otherwise might be out of reach.

We all know that eating fresh fruits and vegetables is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but not everyone is able to afford such nature’s nutritionally-packed food.

This is why the Food Bank distributes a million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each month. In fact, our second biggest distribution program is our Community Produce Program, which focuses solely on produce.

via March focus on nutrition is a chance to educate people on food choices.