ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Worcester Public Schools Page 1 Business Division Report of the Superintendent May 4, 2017 Worcester Public Schools Child Nutrition Programming Healthy Equitable Accessible serving academic and public health relevance while developing local economies ANNEX A ROS #7-8 National School Lunch Act of 1946 Page 2 a nutritional safety net for the nations children who were suffering the ill effects of nutritional deficiencies under-nutrition adversely affects behavior of children performance in school overall cognitive development Worcester Public Schools specific ANNEX A serving over 5 million meals annually and growing ROS #7-8 Page 3 USDA Funded School Meal Programs breakfast lunch snack/supper fresh fruit & vegetable program summer meals support academic programming and close nutrition gaps provide healthful meals ensuring ALL students are well nourished and ready to learn regardless of economic status and school calendar work with community agencies to achieve public health relevance while supporting local economies ANNEX A ROS #7-8 WORCESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS Page 4 WE ARE NOW OFFERING FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH TO ALL STUDENTS! Did you know your Child Can Eat Breakfast and Lunch for FREE at school? As part of the 2010 Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act, Worcester, along with other districts, will begin offering free meals to all students this school year. For parents, that means no more forms to fill out, no online meal account to remember, no last minute scramble for change before the bus, and no more lunchboxes to pack. All students can eat for free! What do we need to do to get a breakfast or lunch at school? For those schools that are providing breakfast directly in the classroom, your child can simply take the breakfast items that are offered. For other schools, the child can simply go to the cafeteria in the morning and eat breakfast. For lunch at the elementary level, classroom teachers will ask students if they wish to have a school lunch that day, and they’ll send the counts to the cafeteria so enough meals can be prepared. At secondary schools, the student can simply enter the lunch line and take a meal. All students will still need to have their meals recorded at the register. What is served at breakfast and lunch? What are my child’s choices? During breakfast we offer two grains (or one grain and one protein), two fruits, and a milk. All your child needs to do is take at least 3 menu items (with one being a fruit) to be considered a free meal. During lunch we serve a grain, protein, vegetable, fruit, and milk. All your child needs to do is take at least 3 different items offered (one being a fruit or a vegetable) to be considered a free meal. Check the newspaper or our website for daily meal choices. What does a school meal look like today? We provide fresh fruits and vegetables every day at every meal; we serve only whole-grain breads, low fat and fat free milk, minimally processed foods; and we use locally sourced food whenever available. We never serve fried foods. We provide salad and vegetarian offerings at the middle and high schools. We have been state and nationally recognized for our farm-to-school program and menu offerings. We recently hired professional chefs to continuously improve and expand the menu options for students. CEP is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, an equal opportunity provider and employer, and is administered by The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. USDA Nutritional Standards required for School Meals ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Page 5 st 1 meal of the day ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Expanded Breakfast Programming Page 6 provides breakfast “after the bell” often in the classroom setting to all students in attendance schools with 60% or greater free/reduced eligibility a.k.a Direct Certification Rate 2006 2013 assuring Belmont Community Clark Street accessibility Gates Lane Burncoat Preparatory reliability Canterbury Street Jacob Hiatt nutrient dense foods Chandler Elementary Lake View Chandler Magnet McGrath whole grains City View Rice Square fresh fruit Columbus Park Wawecus 100% juice Elm Park milk Goddard Grafton Street Lincoln Street Quinsigamond Union Hill Vernon Hill Woodland Academy Fresh chef created “local” menu production. ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Culinary Page 7 excellence for students conversion of frozen plated meals to fresh menu system adapted from commercial restaurants produced locally within Worcester Public Schools 24 elementary schools over 6,000 meals per day and up to 4000 various menu components per day for 20 of the larger self preparation sites expanding labor opportunities and skills unprocessed USDA commodities and local purchases Initiated with Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council. ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Culinary Page 8 excellence for students culinary initiatives and quality assurance development and implementation of culturally relatable menus and recipes Coordinator of Culinary Student Menu Cohorts Initiatives with WPS Chef Brian Corbley WPS Chef Brian Corbley (back) Project Bread’s Chef to School Chef Vanessa LaBrancehe (back) North High School Teacher Paul Owusu-Mensah Contributing to the displacement of foods of “minimal nutritional value”. ANNEX A ROS #7-8 USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Page 9 provides additional fresh fruits and vegetables to students during the school day 13 elementary schools with the highest level of direct certification eligible students Belmont Community Burncoat Preparatory Canterbury Street Chandler Elementary Chandler Magnet Columbus Park City View Columbus Park Elm Park Grafton Street Lincoln Street Union Hill Vernon Hill Woodland Academy Seasonally served where students are active and congregate ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Mobile Summer Meal Program Page 10 refrigerated, responsive, overnight, and independent Year 1: 2 sites DCR Pools Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 3 refrigerated meal trucks generously funded by the 11 sites 21 sites 21 sites Stop and Shop Family Foundation DCR Pools donated by the DCR Pools DCR Pools Worcester County Food Bank City Libraries City Libraries City Libraries Family Shelters Family Shelters Family Shelters Parks & Rec Parks & Rec YMCA Camps YMCA Camps Mobile Library Mobile Library Multi Use Parks Initiated as a pilot Fall 2004 with 6 other districts ANNEX A continually expanding ROS #7-8 Page 11 Massachusetts Farm to School procurement per WPS Wellness Policy “fresh with a preference for locally grown” required vegetable/fruit menu components and recipe ingredients Small Medium/Large Worcester Regional Distributors Farms Farms Food Hub locally grown cherry tomatoes strawberries additional farm product cucumbers carrots locally grown from farmer to peaches turnip sticks aggregation sites Apples broccoli Potatoes greens corn-on-the-cob ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Programming Awards and Recognitions Page 12 Healthiest School System 2010 Massachusetts Health Council “promoting healthy living, prevention, and wellness throughout the community” Harvester Award 2011 Worcester County Food Bank “outstanding commitment to the Food Bank’s mission of feeding hungry people today while working towards creating hunger-free communities of tomorrow” Healthy Start Leadership Award 2014 EOS Foundation ” leading expansion of universal free breakfast in the classroom in 18 of the city’s elementary schools and sustained the program for students attending the schools” Lemuel Shattuck Award 2016 Massachusetts Public Health Foundation “extraordinary work to reduce health inequities in Massachusetts” ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Programming Presentations Page 13 American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference 2010 “Creating Opportunities in School Nutrition Wellness” Worcester County Food Bank Worcester County Forum on Hunger: A Call to Action 2011 “School Meals as a Child Nutrition Resource” Smart Health Talk, live KCAA Radio, San Bernardino, CA October 6, 2011 “explained how WPS has been able to increase nutritional quality of meals and implement school breakfast in the classroom programs” Smart Health Talk, Thursdays from 4:00-5:00 PM, www.kcaaradio.com. Host Elaine McFadden, MPH, RD. Harvard University Healthy Food Fuels Hungry Minds, June 10, 2015 “The Business of School Food” ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Programming Presentations Page 14 UMass, Amherst Food For Good, October 30, 2015 “Healthier Food Choices for Schools” The Boston Public Market: Boston Globe April 6, 2016 “Stepping Up to the Plate: Creating Tasty, Healthy and Affordable School Lunches” Harvard University Healthy Food Fuels Hungry Minds, June 1, 2016 “The Commissary Conversation: Make or Buy” Massachusetts Association of School Committees Summit on Poverty, Clark University, March 10, 2017 “The Hunger Game: Getting Nutrition to the Kids Who Need It” Regis College Hunger Banquet April 6, 2017 “Healthier Food Choices for Schools” ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Community Collaborations and Advisory Page 15 Worcester Community Action Council Board of Directors Core Team Member Worcester Workforce Development and Training Nourishing Kids Initiative Breakfast Learning Cohort USDA Foods Quinsigamond Community College Advisory Committee Hospitality Restaurant Management Advisory SMARTTs Advisory Group School Meal Accountability & Responsibility Training Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education CHEFS IN SCHOOLS ANNEX A ROS #7-8 Community of Partners Page 16 RecWoo Summer Lemuel Shattuck Award June 2016 Doherty PEACH Club Congressman Jim McGovern “Summer Food Rocks Tour 2016” with USDA Undersecretary Kevin Concannon.