This year, the Curley K-8 participated in the BPS Farm to School Initiative, a program that makes connections between K-12 schools and local farms. The initiative works to increase healthy meal options in school cafeterias; improve student nutrition; provide agriculture, health, and nutrition education opportunities; and support local and regional farmers. Through the Farm to School Initiative, Curley kids were able to participate in “Local Lunch Thursdays” to get a taste of new local produce each week.
Over the next few weeks, the (very leanly-staffed!) BPS Farm to School team will be evaluating the work they’ve done this year. They’ll also be thinking about how to expand the program next year – and they would love some feedback from our community. What would you like to see from the Farm to School Initiative next year? Please take a moment to think about your wish list: what are the top 5 things you’d like the Farm to School Initiative work on at the Curleyl (or district-wide) next year? These could be things that might change or increase from this year (e.g., more in class workshops related to Farm to School) or totally new ideas (e.g., start school gardens). We’d love you to share your ideas in our website’s “Leave a Reply” section of this article – then we’ll compile them and send them onto the Farm to School people (even if we have more than five ideas)!
For more information about the Farm to School Initiative and how it operates in BPS, you can contact Kim Szeto, the Farm to School Coordinator for BPS’s Food & Nutritional Services division.
2 comments
Katie Fitch says:
June 25, 2011 at 3:45 pm (UTC 0)
1. More workshops in class
2. More outreach to remind parents about local lunch Thursdays, my daughter is in K1 very little to no information was brought home or communicated to me about this
3. Could local produce be offered during lunch even for those who don’t buy lunch, at least to get students interested in the program
Ann Greaney-Williams says:
June 29, 2011 at 12:41 pm (UTC 0)
In addition to Katie’s comments:
1) I think that the Farm to School program should be expanded. More fresh fruits and vegetables, not only openly available during ALL lunches.
2) If a student would rather have a fresh fruit or vegetable (or even an extra of these), versus processed “bean salad” or starch, they should be allowed to make this selection (I was told by teachers and parents that this sometimes happens).
3) Sugary sweet breakfast food (ie. honey-buns and highly sugared cereals) should NOT be offered at all. Chereos…flakes…shredded wheat…rice krispies even…all of them more nutritious and from the same manufacturers. Fresh fruit should be offered (versus canned or containers corn-syrup fruit…like sweetened oranges and peaches).
4) Farm to school should be incorporated into any snack program (SPC already decided to remove the “bad snacks”) replace them with fruit, carrot sticks, celery with peanut butter or soy nut butter, cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumbers…even cheeses and apple slices are better than what’s been served in the past.
5) Farm to school should be incorporated into the AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM. They are given a lot of junk food in the after school program…ie. frozen corn-syrup strawberries, chocolate teddie grahams, etc.
6) Try to see if you can’t work with the farms to create a school-wide composting program in the cafeteria, creating a system whereby Curley can compost (non-recyclable milk cartons, used napkins, and food) and create a relationship with farmers to collect the compost. The farmers can benefit by gaining the compost for their crops and Curley can reduce it’s overall waste stream, potentially reducing waste disposal costs.