Posts Tagged ‘“Healthy Schools”’

Posted by Andrea Northup | October 12th, 2010

By Andrea Northup

Imagine a D.C. schoolchild travels to a farm in Maryland and harvests green, leafy kale with his classmates. The students take the kale back to their classroom and prepare a delicious dish with the help of a prominent local chef. He tries kale for the first time in his life – and likes it!

And when he sees kale on her cafeteria tray during lunch that week, he eats it and encourages his friends to do the same. He gains a deeper appreciation – through his complete farm-to-table experience – of where food comes from and how it can be prepared in healthy, delicious ways.

During D.C. Farm to School week October 12-15, 2010, nearly 2,000 D.C. schoolchildren will have the chance to harvest seasonal produce on a local farm, and prepare it in the classroom with a professional chef. Additionally, schools across the District (nearly 200 in total) will serve and highlight fresh, local foods in their school meals during the week. The D.C. Farm to School Network is working in partnership with schools, parents, sponsors and community partners to make the week a success. A special thanks to our top-tier sponsors for their support – Whole Foods Georgetown , WGirls DC, and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. For more information, including a complete listing of participating schools and events, visit our site.

D.C. Farm to School Week will begin with an exciting kick-off celebration, featuring battling chefs, a local apple taste test, and a school garden work party/dedication ceremony.

When: Tuesday, October 12th; 1:00pm
Where: Thurgood Marshall Academy & Savoy Elementary’s shared Gymnasium
2427 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE
Near the Anacostia metro station and many bus lines; parking available in lot across the street
RSVP to Kacie @ kwarner@washingtonyouthgarden.org

Special guests Dr. Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, and Sam Kass, White House Chef and Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives will join us, as students judge local chefs competing to create the tastiest dish from a local apple harvest. The images from a city-wide School Garden Photo Contest will be displayed and the winning photographers announced. A brand-new school garden, shared by Thurgood Marshall Academy and neighboring Savoy Elementary School, will be named, dedicated, painted and planted. We’ll also celebrate the passage of the D.C. Healthy Schools Act and the exciting changes in school lunches with Councilmember Mary Cheh. It’s an exciting time for Farm to School here in the nation’s capital – please join us in
celebrating!

Andrea Northup is the Coordinator of the D.C. Farm to School Network, which is a program of the Capital Area Food Bank.

Posted by Jody Tick | August 16th, 2010

There has been a lot of buzz and excitement about the new leadership and direction of the DCPS food services.  The conversation continued yesterday at a DCPS Community Forum, where about 60 parents, teachers, food service professionals, and community organizations gathered to ask questions of DCPS Food Services Director Jeff Mills, Chief Operations Officer Tony Tata, and Director of Health & Wellness Diana Bruce.

As an active DCPS parent, and a program director at the Capital Area Food Bank, I recognized almost every face in the room – fellow parent activist Constance Newman; garden educator Kacie Warner; and anti-hunger advocate Kristin Roberts; just to name a few.  Each of those wonderful stakeholders could be so much more than just a face in the crowd.  We could be valuable assets to the DCPS school meal system, and advocates in support of the changes you plan to make.

Since coming in to town a few months ago, the DCPS food services team has undertaken incredible efforts to transform D.C. school meals. This has been a challenge, given that D.C. school meals have a rocky history plagued by contract mismanagement, financial accountability issues, food safety concerns, and inconsistent leadership.  Jeff Mills and his team have inherited a 60,000 meal-a-day beast of a system, and have been quick to make big promises about how they’re going to turn it around on a dime.  To their credit, they’ve made huge expansions to breakfast in the classroom, piloting supper programs at after-school programs, taking on two new vendors as pilot projects, and hiring new staff.  And there are big promises of things to come, such as a garden-kitchen educational program, special celebratory events, a totally new menu based on unprocessed, fresh foods, 20% local produce, and compliance with IOM standards… the list goes on.

But who’s calling the shots?  What is the end goal?  Where are we headed?

All the people in that room last night are on the same side as Jeff and his team.  We want the great things for our kids and our community that they rattled off – more fresh, unprocessed foods, more local produce, better access to school meals.  But we understand that it won’t be easy to get those foods on D.C. cafeteria trays, and then get kids eat them.  You’ll need the community to be your allies in this.  But a few things need to change.

First, you must engage us. We need a formal system for providing input and giving feedback.  It is not enough for you to stand in front of us and tell us what’s happening.  We need to have a formal “Advisory Committee” comprised of a wide swath of community members and national experts to be a part of the planning and execution of the new DCPS school meal operation.  We need this NOW, as plans for the future are being shaped and defined, not after they have already been developed.

Second, slow down. Nobody is expecting a barrage of reforms that will solve every aspect of the DCPS school meals all at once.  The issues plaguing the DCPS school food system run deep, and have been decades in the making (as you probably know better than we do).  We would rather see a few simple, measurable goals achieved than dozens of efforts pulled together quickly.

Third, show us a strategic plan. This city has seen too many well-intentioned but piecemeal efforts to improve the health and well-being of our youth.  We need to be thinking not months, but years into the future at what DCPS food services will look like.  Tony Tata himself said that DCPS has no idea what this operation will look like after this year, and that’s unacceptable.  Other large, urban school districts have overcome the same issues we are facing and are serving the types of meals we strive to serve.  Let us learn from their successes and failures, and develop a strategic plan to get where we all want to go, with attention to the unique strengths and weaknesses we have here in the nation’s capital.

Fourth, be transparent. Keep us in the loop with your plans, the criteria you use to evaluate foods, how you spend our taxpayer dollars, where your food is coming from and what’s down the pipeline.  It’s not enough for you to give us vague responses to our questions from time to time – stay ahead of the curve and provide us with concrete information.

You can have our 100% support in these efforts if you engage us, and make calculated, strategic change towards our common goals, and are transparent with the community you’re serving.  And believe me, it is going to take our support and buy-in on a much deeper level to realize the ambitious goals that we all have for D.C. school food.  We owe it to the thousands of children who depend on these meals each day to work together on this while we have the chance.  Let’s get it right.

Posted by Ed Bruske | August 11th, 2010

By Ed Bruske The District of Columbia is about to embark on what may be the nation’s most unorthodox public school feeding program: meals from scratch using locally farmed ingredients and made by a charitable social service agency whose primary mission is feeding the homeless and teaching ex-offenders how to cook. Beginning next week, the agency in question–D.C. [...]

Posted by Ed Bruske | May 27th, 2010

By Ed Bruske Contributing Editor The D.C. Council yesterday agreed to fully fund the recently approved “Healthy Schools” initiative, but not with the “soda tax” proposed by Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3). Rather, the city will begin imposing a more traditional sales tax of six percent on all soft drinks sold in the District. What, [...]

Posted by Ed Bruske | May 26th, 2010

By Ed Bruske Contributing Editor A proposed tax on soft drinks to fund “Healthy Schools” legislation appears to be on shaky ground at best and may be dead on arrival. Meanwhile, social service advocates are engaged in a mad scramble to stave off cuts to services for the poor. While some members of the D.C. [...]

Posted by Ed Bruske | March 27th, 2010

By Ed Bruske
Contributing Editor

Improved nutrition, easier access to school food and incorporating local produce in school meals would cost the District an estimated $6.5 million annually under proposed “Healthy Schools” legislation, according to the D.C. government’s Chief Financial Officer, Natwar M. Gandi.

Gandi released written testimony yesterday indicating that most of that money would be spent on increasing the city’s contribution to school meals by 10 cents for breakfast and 10 cents for lunch, as well as a 5 cent bonus for meals that contain locally grown products, free breakfast for all students and covering the cost currently paid by students who qualify for reduced-price meals under the federally-subsidized meal program.

The cost of the legislation, which had previously been undetermined, brought out a parade of charter school officials complaining that they did not have the means to pay for it. They appeared at hearings before D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), author of the bill.

“This is much like ‘No Child Left Behind,’ full of unfunded mandates,” said Donald Hense, of Friendship Public Charter School. “The financial incentives are not enough for us to change our food service.”

Along with setting healthier food standards, the legislation also mandates increased physical activity for children. Charter school officials said in many cases their schools have neither the funds nor the facilities to comply with the proposed standards. “How can charter schools implement all this?” said Josphine Baker, executive director of the Public Charter School Board. “Ten cents for breakfast and lunch is just barely enough. It could be cost prohibitive for all schools to use local produce. It’s a challenge sometimes to provide both a rigorous education and healthy, nutritious meals.”

Gandi estimated the total cost of the legislation for the city’s charter schools at $1.6 million. Cheh vowed that she will find funding to cover all of the bills requirements. “We fully appreciate the costs,” she said. “I’m working assiduously on getting that money. And I’m pretty much sure that I will get that money.”

Cheh added that the legislation will save money in the long run in reduced health costs for city residents. “Even if it cost money and we didn’t save money, how much is it worth to have people lead healthy lives?” Cheh said. “We will save money and have better lives.

Ed Bruske writes The Slow Cook blog.

Posted by Ed Bruske | March 22nd, 2010

By Ed Bruske
Contributing Editor

Re-tooled language in “Healthy Schools” legislation scheduled for a public hearing before the D.C. Council this week would require city schools to provide parents each year with a measurement of the body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio of every child, as well as an estimate of the amount of exercise each child engages in. It also calls on city schools to consider extending the school day in order for children to have more time for physical activity, and would offer grants to schools that commit to making students more active.

Schools would also be required to send parents information in English and Spanish explaining how to interpret unhealthy body mass and waist-to-hip information and what steps can be taken to address weight problems.

Drafters of the legislation last week backed away from strict nutrition standards recommended by the Institute of Medicine that would require increased portion sizes of vegetables served in school meals, saying schools cannot guarantee the quality of vegetables offered  in cafeterias or that students won’t throw them in the trash.

Instead, the legislation embraces requirements set forth in the U.S. Department of Agriculture “HealthierUS School Challenge,” which establishes several different levels of stringency in school food nutrition.

 The “Healthy Schools” bill would require all D.C. public schools to adopt the “gold” level of the USDA program, meaning school cafeterias would need to offer 1/4-cup servings of  dark green or orange vegetables three or more days per week, and cooked dry beans or peas once per week.  Schools would also be required to offer a different fruit, either fresh, frozen, canned, dried or 100 percent juice, every day of the week, but 100 percent fruit juice could be counted as fruit only once per week. At least one serving of whole-grain food would be offered each day.

The new bill also drops an attempt to create detailed nutrition standards for foods served outside the reqular food line in school cafeterias–so-called “competitive” foods–as well as those sold in vending machines and in school stores. Again, the “HealthierUS School Challenge” standards would apply. Total fat in those foods could be no more than 35 percent of calories, trans fat must be less than .5 grams per serving, saturated fat less than 10 percent and sugar no more than 35 percent by weight.

The only beverages allowed would be low-fat or skim milk, 100 percent fruit juice with no sweeteners and water, meaning no sugary sodas, sports drinks or ice teas. The standards would not apply to foods and beverages offered at official after-school events.

Posted by Greg Woods | March 3rd, 2010

Over the last two years of leading service projects in Washington DC, I have volunteered with several soup kitchens and homeless shelters. I respect and admire the work these organizations do. They help some of our most forgotten citizens.

One thing I love about some of these organizations is that they do great work rescuing unwanted food. For example, last year Bread for the City started its Glean for the City program, which gathers vegetables from local farms — all for free. And one of the better known examples of food-reclamation in the country was founded here in DC in 1989 — the DC Central Kitchen started off making meals for the homeless from the leftovers from the Presidential Inauguration festivals. These days, they rescue more than 600,000 pounds of food a year.

But in some cases at several service organizations, I see a large amount of food waste ends up in the trash. I often wonder: Can these organizations compost? Is there a way to ‘close the loop’ on this process, to give back to fields that produce the food? In response to these questions I raised to the DCFoodforAll Google Group, representatives from the Common Good City Farm, located near Howard University, say that the farm will start accepting compost from community members.

This may be just the start of a series of such community composting opportunities.