NHPS Food Chief Seeks Shorter Cafeteria Lines

Every student knows that food waste and all recycle bins in the schools are all dumped into the dumpster. There is no recycling, only the appearance of it. There is tremendous food waste by forcing students to take foods they won't eat and use of styrofoam and plastic containers. And let's not forget heating the foods that are wrapped in plastic----- mmmm ,delicious heated plastic!!!
Visit a school and see for yourself. We need a real recycling program and food waste reduction program that is administered properly.

The food, a relaxed climate, and the overall organization of the school cafeterias are so important. Several small stories from long ago, from one old, retired educator who often staffed and mostly enjoyed time spent in cafeteria coverage "K-3 style." During one year of NHPS food services' attempts to introduce the students to "new foods," they substituted baked potatoes for tater tots. Most of the students looked quizzically at this new (to many) alien-looking carbo. This also happened when they substituted baked chicken for chicken nuggets. After some half-hearted attempts, most moved on even after lots of apparently unheeded adult encouragement. I don't know what is served now, but for a long time, the food service stopped serving all chocolate milk (it was low fat) and served only white milk. Needless to say, a good many of these "new" milks were unused or only partially consumed. And, of course, the always favorite, always consumed peanut butter crackers went the way of the dodo. Lastly, many of the students often ate certain foods with an odd but utilitarian combination of hands & plastic sporks, which would then leave the students' tiny fingers a bit greasy. Much time was allotted to assisting students with trying to open small packets of ketchup, etc., which by now were well-slathered with various cooking oils. Best of luck to NHPS Food Services Director Baron Young.

I remember the tv dinners/airplane food factory prepared trays we were fed at my elementary school Beecher in the 1970s, and how little food was eaten even though most of the kids were very hungry, thats how awful the food was.
And I remember the food at Sheridan middle school which was cooked in the school in the late 70s and was mostly very good homemade style food. The best was a paprika chili powder rubbed baked chicken that was never dry, cinnamon and nutmeg spiced apple slices dish, and crunchy but tender green beans, or smoked turkey collard greens. Very little of the food was wasted, because it was fresh cooked on site, cooked to perfection, and tasty.
I would bet a salad bar with lots of different unique ingredients and dressings to choose to make your own salad would be a big hit with students, and baked spice rub or teriyaki or other flavors chicken wings, stuffed baked potatoes with a choose your own stuffing, fried rice with diced veggies, burritos with various fillings, spring rolls or egg rolls with dipping sauce, there are lots of vegetable forward menu items that can be made tasty and delicious that appeal to many students if prepared properly.
If the students are not required to take foods they wont eat, and instead offered a tasting cup size portion of a new food the cafeteria wants to introduce, and the students could rate the food online to the school food department as add to menu, or its ok, or no thank you, and make suggestions for menu items they would like to see added, then the department could adjust menus accordingly to make sure they increase customer satisfaction and reduce waste.
Using locally sourced items whenever possible and make sure the food offerings are tasted before you accept a vendor would reduce the incidents of inedible cheese products and other nasty stuff that is bought strictly for how cheap it is, rather than how tasty it is, and not thrown away.

How much money was spent on kiosk stations with iPads because students could not remember a 5 digit code? FIVE digits. If they are really struggling that much, then suggest they save a photo of the number in their smart phone and mark it as a favorite. Then they can pull it up whenever. Problem solved with zero cost.

For a school district that claims to be broke, why are all of your solutions based on a money first approach instead of making do within your means or changing habits/culture?

Nitpick all you want. I find Mr. Young's ideas for improving school food service very thoughtful. I especially like that he has visited schools and talked with cafeteria staff, teachers and students. He is interested in change and improvement not maintaining what was.

My 2nd grader at JCD comes home with a dozen cheese sticks in his bag that his friends don't want. The one-size-fits-all approach encourages so much waste--food and plastic.

There's a lot of room for improvement and the new head is looking for them. Glad to see the composter pilot underway. My kindergartner at ECMS wants to make it happen in his classroom! Not sure why students should have to punch in ID numbers for a free lunch... Instead of streamlining bureaucracy, consider eliminating it where possible?