The District Food Services Program is run by employees of the district not a contracted catering company. We are proud of the fact that we are an independently run operation. Most of the food service staff have been with the district for years and are community members. All of the staff members are dedicated to making sure your child has a nutritious and pleasant lunch experience. Most of the “lunch ladies” know each child by name and they all genuinely care about the children of this district.

The District Food Service Program is part of the federal government’s National School Lunch Program. By following the guidelines of this program, we are able to provide meals to all children, including providing assistance to low income families through the free/reduced breakfast/lunch program. This further promotes the District’s philosophy of no child left behind. We in the Food Service Department strive to treat all children equal in providing nutritious meals to all students. The NSLP does have regulations we must follow in all aspects of our operation, including following the USDA dietary guidelines for Americans. The guidelines our program must follow for lunch are as follows:

Milk: 8 fl oz (1 Cup)

Lean Meat or Meat Alternate (quantity of edible portion served): 2 oz.

Vegetable or Fruit: 3/4 Cup Daily plus ½ extra cup per week

Grains/Breads (enriched or whole-grain): 12 per week 1 -minimum 1 per day

Our menus start out based on these guidelines. We strive to make the meals nutritious and acceptable to our students. All items menued must fit into these guidelines as well as be acceptable to the majority of students, and fit into the current budgeted price.

Our main entrée items are very low in fat or are reduced fat products. All of our beef based products are reduced fat products ranging from 2.5 – 1.5 g. of saturated fat per serving. We use Tyson chicken products that are baked, and depending on the type range from 4 to 6 g saturated fat per serving. The oven fries we use are a Simplot product that depending on the type of fry contain .5 or 0 g of saturated fat per 3 oz. serving, and contain 0 grams of Trans fats.

In addition to the RED or main entree choice, at least 3 other meal options are available. A fruit and vegetable bar is offered daily to all students who purchase one of these choices. This provides students with a variety of healthy choices to add to the main menu choice. On any given day there are at least 3 fresh fruit/vegetable choices and 3 canned/frozen choices.

To round out the meal we provide 2% white milk or 1% chocolate milk.

In addition to these efforts, we have made some changes this school year.

We serve whole grain bread products

We serve only baked or reduced fat chips

We have changed the menus at the middle school level to develop better eating habits. In addition, we added more variety to hold their interest. Middle school students have the option of at least 8 meal choices per day.

Our daily treat is now a fun product that is actually a bread serving or fruit portion.

Nutritional Records are on file in the Food Service Office and in each schools Health Office, you may call to schedule an appointment to view them at any time.

We are not in the junk food business: we are in the business of child nutrition.

Respectfully,
Kimberly Radzinski
Director of Food Services