Honoring our School Lunch ‘Superheroes’

who Serve Healthy School Meals

School Lunch Superhero Day is May 3, 2013

 School Nutrition Employee Week is May 6-10, 2013

Between preparing healthy food, adhering to strict nutrition standards, navigating student food allergies, and offering service with a smile, Iola-Scandinavia School District nutrition professionals have a lot on their plate. To celebrate their hard work and commitment, the School Nutrition Association (SNA) organizes School Nutrition Employee Week, May 6-10, 2013.

School nutrition employees must balance many roles and follow numerous federal, state and local regulations to ensure safe and healthy meals are available in schools. In fact, federal nutrition standards ensure that every school lunch offers students a well-balanced meal offering low-fat or fat-free milk, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein.  School meals also meet limits on calories, sodium and unhealthy fats. 

The importance and nutritional value of school meals are well documented. For many children, school lunch is the most important and nutrient-rich meal of their day.  On average we serve 550 lunches and 65 breakfasts daily. 

A healthy school lunch is value priced at $2.15 for grades 4K-6 & $2.45 for grades 7-12.  Breakfast is conveniently served daily at the elementary school for $1.25.

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, non-profit professional organization representing 55,000 school nutrition professionals across the country. Founded in 1946, SNA and its members are dedicated to making healthy school meals and nutrition education available to all students. To find out more about today’s school meals, visit www.TrayTalk.org.

Picnic Lunch at Iola-Scandinavia Elementary School

Exciting Changes Ahead for School Meal Programs

By: Mary Jo Gerhardt

       Food Service Director

We’ve been working over the summer to make changes in our menus.  Our school meal program – as you may have seen in the news, must meet tough new federal nutrition standards when school begins this year.  These standards ensure that meals are healthy and well-balanced and provide students all the nutrition they need to succeed at school.

As in the past, school meals will continue to offer students milk, fruits and vegetables, proteins and grains, and they must meet strict limits on saturated fat and portion size.  Starting in School Year 2012-2013, school lunches will meet additional standards requiring:

·         Age-appropriate calorie limits

·         Larger servings of vegetables and fruits (students must take at least one serving of produce before they sit down with their tray)

·         A wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red/orange vegetables and legumes

·         Fat-free or 1% milk (flavored milk must be fat-free)

·         More whole grains

·         And less sodium

All grade levels are affected by these changes.  We will publish our menus in the Orange & Black monthly and on our school website.  Menus will also be available at each school office.   We encourage you to look at the menus and show them to your student(s).  We know that some of these foods may be new to them, but we view the school cafeteria as a great place to learn – but here they usually don’t learn math or science or reading – they learn to eat healthy foods!

We will have a variety of ways to let our students know what is new and different in the cafeteria.

Our lunch and breakfast programs continue to be a great value and a huge convenience for busy families too! Lunch costs $2.15 daily for students 4K-6 and $2.45 daily for students 7-12.  Breakfast will be offered at the elementary school at a cost of $1.25 daily. Your children may qualify for free meals or for reduced price meals.  Reduced price for lunch is $.40 per day for students 4K-12. Breakfast will be offered free to those students who qualify for reduced price meals (4K-6 only).  Elementary students who qualify for free hot lunch are also eligible to receive free breakfast.

Now is a great time to encourage your kids to choose school lunch!  We look forward to welcoming your children to the cafeteria this fall.

Thank you!