The week before the start of the 2022-23 school year, Food Connects hosted a Celebration of Farm to School for school administrative teams and food service directors. We are so proud of the work being done by Farm to School teams at our member schools in Windham Central Supervisory Union, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, and Windham Southeast School District, and we are grateful to the leaders who help make the work possible. At the event, we shared highlights from the 2021-22 school year at each member school, and we want to take a moment to share those highlights with a wider audience. Read on to hear the wonderful things happening in schools throughout the region!
An Inspiring Year at Central Elementary School
Central Elementary School (CES) recently closed out a phenomenal year of Farm to School (FTS) programming, wrapping up 12 months of work dedicated to advancing food education at the Bellows Falls area school.
Selected as a participant school for the 2021-2022 Shelburne Farms Northeast Farm to School Institute, CES won a $5000 grant to jumpstart their FTS programming. While the school already had a garden and dedicated food service staff, the funding and coaching provided by the Institute helped to formalize the FTS program and integrate it more fully into the school culture and environment.
A thriving Farm to School program usually involves three key components: the classroom, the cafeteria, and the community. Often, it takes years for a school to be active in these areas, but Central’s team has grown its program from the beginning and has a comprehensive program that reaches into each of these areas.
In the classroom, Farm to School came alive in the 2nd-grade classrooms. Teachers Kate Kane and Judy Verespy worked closely with librarian Jody Hauser to devise monthly programming that included everything from art projects and read-alouds to food preparation and tastings.
In October, students harvested carrots from the garden, painted carrots with watercolors, and made informational posters about carrots before teaching other classrooms what they’d learned. Food Service Director/Garden Coordinator Erica Frank baked delicious carrot muffins for the entire school. In January, students painted with beet juice and made beet hummus in the classroom. Erica, again tying in the cafeteria, made nutritious and delicious beet brownies for the school food program.
The third “C” of successful FTS programs is community, and Central Elementary was able to connect with its community in impressive and innovative ways. In March, when the Harvest of the Month was maple syrup, the students visited a neighborhood home that ran a sugaring operation! They also tasted some “sugar on snow” made by a local (teacher’s!) family. In the spring, local farmers John and Teresa Janiszyn of Pete’s Farm Stand in Walpole, NH, visited the classroom. The farmers taught students about soil and composting, and students planted cucumber seeds. Weeks later, they transplanted these same cucumbers into the fields at Pete’s! What an amazing circular connection between students and the farmers in their communities. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship between the community and Central Elementary this school year, with each gaining and giving benefits to the other. The Rotary Club of Bellows Falls came to help with a Garden Volunteer Day and donated garden supplies. Students received gift cards to buy something at Pete’s, funded by the FTS budget.
Central’s story is one of success, but it’s only the beginning of their journey, and it has been possible through many dedicated staff members and community support. The Institute helped the team shape an action plan for their program. Principal Kerry Kenedy has supported FTS from the beginning and plans to integrate the program more deeply into the school culture over the years. One step in this process is that next year, the third grade will join the second grade in receiving monthly programming. Physical Education teacher Peter Lawry was integral in planning, building, and maintaining the garden. And Erica Frank has worked to connect the summer school program to the FTS activities throughout the summer.
If you’re curious about all the amazing things Central has been up to, please check out the inspiring book Librarian Jody Hauser made with the students.
Central Elementary Students Explore the Maple Harvest
Written by Second Grade teachers Kate Kane and Judy Verespy
In early March, the 2nd-grade students carried on the Vermont tradition of tapping maple trees in the waning days of winter. We tapped two maple trees at school, neither of which was a sugar maple, but instead a Norway maple and silver maple. Thanks to Librarian Jody Hauser for scouting and identifying our trees! The Norway maple has a very slow sap flow, but the silver maple began flowing immediately! Mrs. Kane’s brother Thad came to help us tap the trees, and we were thrilled to get that hands-on experience that generations of Vermonters have had before us.
Later in the week, we enjoyed “sugar on snow,” using maple syrup that Mrs. Stoodley’s family had boiled last year. We took a walk down School Street to Leah’s house to experience their sugaring operation on Friday afternoon. We have all decided that maple syrup is DELICIOUS. We thank Tim and Whitney Patterson, Ryan and Karen Stoodley, and Thad and Jan Guild for helping us understand the experience of making “liquid gold!” We also had a blind taste test to compare silver, Norway, and sugar maple sap to decide which is the sweetest. The results were surprising! While most students thought the sugar maple sap would be the sweetest, the taste test indicated that the Norway maple sap actually tasted the sweetest to the students, as shown in our graph.
Erica Frank in our cafeteria baked up delicious maple-sweetened blueberry oatmeal cakes for the students to enjoy. They were a hit!
Farm to School efforts continue to expand with regular taste tests and activities tied to Harvest of the Month. And we’re getting ready to ramp up our garden, with cold frames already set up and a garden workday planned with help from the Rotary Club to repair and build new raised beds for Spring. Stay tuned for more!
Central Elementary Embraces Farm to School
Central Elementary in Bellows Falls is excited to be able to expand their Farm to School (FTS) programming by joining the Northeast Farm to School Institute this year! In October, second graders took on a leadership role as they taught their peers about carrots. The students were wrapping up an ongoing project in which they harvested, researched, and painted carrots, and then presented what they learned to students in grades kindergarten through fourth! At the end of the week, Food Service Professional Erica Frank cooked up a carrot cake breakfast cookie as a special breakfast item highlighting carrots grown in the school garden.
This deep dive into project-based learning and authentic teaching is one example of the exemplary Farm to School programming happening at Central Elementary School. This Bellows Falls area school is the latest in Windham County to join the Northeast Farm to School Institute. The Institute, which runs from Summer 2021-Summer 2022 is a year-long professional development opportunity offered by Vermont FEED. It gives school teams the time and guidance to form a Farm to School Action Plan and decide how they want to implement Farm to School in their community. The Institute also provides schools with a grant and coaching to get their programs off the ground.
Asked about why they were interested in joining the Institute, 2nd-grade teacher Judy Verespy remarked, “I think FTS helps students make the connection that eating well supports their learning and their health. I am also hoping they learn that it connects us with farmers in our community and helps support their important businesses. It truly is a win-win!”
This fall students have also harvested vegetables, planted garlic, and prepared the garden for winter. Future plans include hosting farmers as guest speakers, expanding their growing capacity, and continuing to create community through student-to-student teaching. And this work is already showing an impact. As Verespy shared, “One way FTS has impacted our school thus far is generating excitement and interest in fuelling our bodies properly. I see students reading nutrition labels and bringing or choosing fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks more often!”
Thank you to Vermont FEED for supporting so many schools with this program and Chroma Technology for sponsoring Central Elementary’s attendance at the institute this year. And, thank you to Central Elementary for your inspiring work!
Want to try those tasty-sounding Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies? Check out the recipe below!
Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
*adapted from “Love Real Food” magazine
1 cup oats
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 ½ cups peeled and grated carrots
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
¼ cup raisins or dried cranberries
½ cup honey or maple syrup
½ cup oil-coconut or vegetable
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and ginger. Whisk to blend. Add in the carrots, raisins, sunflower seeds and stir to combine.
In a medium bowl, combine honey or maple syrup with the oil. Whisk until blended. Pour wet mixture into the dry, and stir until just combined. The dough will appear very wet.
Drop a small spoonful of the mixture onto the baking trays; leaving 2 inches between each scoop. Using the palm of your hand, gently flatten the cookie to about ¾ inch thickness.
Bake until the cookies are golden and firm around the edges, about 15-17 minutes. Allow to cool on a baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. Leftover cookies will keep, covered, at room temperature for about 2 days; 5 days in the refrigerator, and 3 months in the freezer.
Cross-Pollination Gathering for School Garden Coordinators
Sarah Rosow searches for a cukamelon in the students snacking garden.
Garden Coordinators from five Windham County Farm to School programs gathered at Guilford Central School for a “Cross-Pollination” event in late October. Garden Coordinators, often somewhat isolated in their unique roles, had the opportunity to share ideas, challenges, and successes with each other as they prepare for winter activities in the classroom.
More and more area schools have hired Garden Coordinators in recent years, finding that they are a key component to a thriving Farm To School program. In addition to taking care of the gardens with support from students and volunteers, they also plan and execute educational activities around gardening and cooking and facilitate teacher and student involvement in FTS programming.
Sarah Rosow explains to Mandy Walsh how the Kelly Kettle works—a wonderful tool for making tea in the garden!
Sarah Rosow, Guilford’s Garden Coordinator since 2018, hosted the event, showing the visitors the school’s three different garden areas, the outdoor classrooms, and concluding with a “show and tell” of sorts where Coordinators discussed useful equipment for cooking outdoors, curriculum guides, and sample lessons. Everyone was inspired by Sarah’s “snacking garden” where students are able to snack freely on mint, cherry tomatoes, and adorable cukamelons growing on her archway.
As they toured the campus, Garden Coordinators discussed their roles at their schools and what makes their programs unique. While Guilford’s program excels at innovative outdoor teaching, Mandy Walsh of Westminster Center School offered the details of her upcoming Farm and Field Day—an event 3 years in the making, where students will participate in six different Farm to School stations. Kathy Cassin of Academy School spoke about her after-school cooking and gardening club while also gathering ideas about deterring the deer that had been eating all of Academy’s beautiful greens. After hearing that Mandy had some success with growing a border wall, she remarked, “that's good to know because it’s been so frustrating losing our greens!”
Sarah Rosow demonstrates using a pull chopper, which she uses to make fresh salsa and pesto in the garden.
Erica Frank of Central Elementary, a registered dietician and current Food Service Professional at the school, spoke about the value of getting kids involved in cooking. Amy Duffy, the new Garden Coordinator at Newbrook Elementary, agreed. “Giving kids a little more control over their eating then leads to better choices.” Amy also shared that she works with each grade once per week. Sarah Rosow responded, “I’d like to pick Amy's brain a little more in terms of the scope and sequence, and also just learning how she works in every grade level every week and how she manages that because I’d like to move toward that model.”
Everyone gained new ideas from this gathering, and it was clear at the end of the event that everyone had so much more expertise to share and so many more questions to discuss. In response, Food Connects looks forward to hosting more Cross-Pollination for Garden Coordinator events for our member schools throughout this school year.
Expanding Farm to School Throughout Windham County
Chroma Technology Supports Growth of Farm to School in the WNESU
Chroma Technology is growing Farm to School programs across the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) this school year by being the lead Farm to School donor for Food Connects, a Brattleboro-based non-profit serving schools in Windham County.
The Food Connects Farm to School program focuses on the “Three C’s” of Farm to School—classrooms, cafeterias, and communities. The generosity of Chroma Technology allows Food Connects to continue and strengthen its work in the WNESU. “We are incredibly grateful for the support that Chroma Technology is providing us this year,” says Sheila Humphreys, Food Connects Farm to School Coach. “Their dedication to Farm to School initiatives in our community ensures that more students can access locally grown food and can experience engaging Farm to School curriculum.”
“One of Chroma's core values is to be an active and caring member of our community,” says Newell Lessell, CEO of Chroma Technology. “Chroma supports Food Connects’s Farm to School program because helping develop healthy eating habits through education and access to nutritious, locally farmed food is good for children’s health, supports Vermont farmers, and builds healthy communities.”
So how do these funds impact schools and, more importantly, the students in the WNESU?
School Food
Bellows Falls Union High School students, and other students throughout the district, saw lots of local food throughout the summer through the Farm to School Cafe’s summer meal box initiative. This program provided students and their families with fresh, nutritious food throughout the summer, regardless of their financial circumstances. As part of Vermont Act 67 and the local food purchasing incentive, students will begin to see more local food on their trays this school year. The Food Connects Farm to School team is working hard to help school nutrition programs navigate this new incentive, in conjunction with offering Vermont grown and made foods through its Food Hub.
School Gardens
School gardens are an essential tool for hands-on and outdoor learning. Westminster Center School is a shining example of how school gardens can be done right. In May, the entire school participated in their Garden Day—a day where students plant seeds and seedlings in the school garden. As students harvest the final fruits of their labor, the garden continues to see an increase in infrastructure. Most notably, a frost-proof water spigot, a chicken coop, a small outdoor prep station, fire pits for outdoor cooking this winter, and blueberry bushes. Food Connects provided the school grant support, marketing materials, and hands-on support in the garden—and looks forward to supporting future garden projects, including the annual Farm and Field day later this month.
Farm to School Teams
Food Connects works with Farm to School teams throughout the region. This task is essential to help develop, guide, and implement Farm to School action plans, provide curriculum and grants support, and create materials and marketing for these programs. Central Elementary School formed a new Farm to School team this year that is participating in the Northeast Farm to School Institute. This school year, the school plans to expand its gardening and do more hands-on cooking in the classrooms, including monthly taste tests organized by the 2nd grade. Food Connects looks forward to working with Central’s Farm to School team to help bring in best practices for gardening and cooking with kids.
Grafton Elementary School is also deepening its Farm to School programming this year, with plans to add new grow labs, a hydroponic fish tank, and cooking tools, including a new oven to make it easier to teach cooking to students. Food Connects will continue to support these new initiatives through coaching and curriculum resources.
The Farm to School Year in Review
Mixing bowls full of tropical fruits and veggies, hot plates frying up potatoes, and new foods abound (think tamarind, hibiscus, and cassava). This past June, Green Street School’s sixth-grade French class prepped mango and avocado salad from Seychelles alongside a hearty Haitian riz colle, in addition to 9 other dishes and drinks to celebrate six years of learning about French language and culture.
Back in October of 2020, this would have seemed impossible. Thanks to dedicated educators throughout the region and Food Connects support, Farm to School scenes like this cooking experience continued throughout the year and helped provide normalcy to an otherwise challenging year.
Many educators saw Farm to School as a means to get students out of the classroom. “Gardening time was an absolute highlight of the day for me and my students,” reflected Molly Stoner, a 4th-grade teacher at Dummerston School. “Students would run out and check for sprouting/growth in their milk jug greenhouses the second they got to school. Later in the spring, adding compost to beds, planting and watering the seed they sown, taking home sprouts enriched us all and kept us grounded in all the potential of our beautiful Vermont land."
This spring, Dummerston planted 12 apple trees donated by Scott Farm Orchard. Many other school gardens expanded as well. For example, Grafton Elementary School added a pumpkin patch to their school garden. Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls expanded its urban growing space and plans to develop a more robust Farm to School program that emphasizes community connections.
For those feeding our students, the year never let up. Born out of the pandemic, our Who Feeds Our Kids series celebrated the school nutrition professionals who remain the backbone of the school community. Responding to rising food insecurity, they sent out weekend and school break food boxes. With local food from the Food Connects Food Hub highlighted, the food boxes provided another layer of support for families experiencing food insecurity. We’re excited to see the expanded service stay for years to come.
Food Connects’ flexible support helped schools maintain their programs and respond quickly to new obstacles; when our network schools couldn’t find COVID-19 cooking guidelines, we researched CDC recommendations to create a protocol for educators to follow. We put together 800 sprouting kits for students during the doldrums of late winter, adding some greenery to classrooms and anticipation for more planting come spring.
“It’s the creativity and flexibility that we saw throughout the pandemic that is going to help us spring forward next year,” says Conor Floyd, Food Connects Farm to School Program Manager. “We’re excited to continue working alongside our school partners to develop new programming opportunities.”
Who Feeds Our Kids: A Year of Reflection
As we reflect on the anniversary of the statewide school closures that resulted in overnight changes for families and school staff, Food Connects celebrates School Nutrition Professionals. These school lunch heroes stepped up every day to ensure our community remained fed. What a challenging year this has been for everyone working in school kitchens!
Last spring, while teachers, students, and families were making the difficult shift to remote learning, School Nutrition Professionals continued to work in person in school kitchens, making thousands of meals for youth in our community. They faced the anxiety of working in person while so many others were sheltering at home, the fear that they or their loved ones might be infected, or that they would spread the virus in their workplace. Steve Napoli is the head custodian at Putney Central School and was part of the core team working in the kitchen to get meals out in those early days. Napoli commented that it felt “eerie” at the start, but knowing they had to get meals out to take care of the community was essential.
Food Connects conducted a series of interviews last spring with School Nutrition Professionals and other school staff working in kitchens in Windham County schools. We wanted to learn more about the effects of the pandemic on their work and how they were coping with challenges such as consolidating efforts into centralized kitchens, making the switch to unitized meals, managing childcare as working parents, and keeping spirits up during challenging times. Their responses inspired us.
Many changes needed to happen quickly when school kitchens made the switch to delivering meals remotely. According to Steve Hed, Food Service Director at Putney Central School, “The whole meal preparation system changed. It got crunched into a shorter period of time.” Along with the crunch of preparing meals in time to be delivered to families by bus, the packaging requirements shifted as well. Ariane Lavoie, also of Putney Central School, said it best: “Less kids, more packaging!”
Schools with salad bars like Putney Central and Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls noticed a difference. Erica Frank, Site Manager at Central School, said, “We got a salad bar going in 2019, and it really took off. We had so many options, and it was so fun. It helped the kids try new things, and we don’t have that this year.” On the other hand, eliminating the salad bar simplified food prep, which helped free up kitchen staff to meet additional individual packaging requirements.
The challenge of finding foods that could be pre-packaged easily and travel well allowed schools to try out new recipes. Steve Hed reported that they’re trying new things in the kitchen, “like a gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad with garbanzo beans for protein, and all kinds of veggies.” They also added a Peruvian recipe for black bean and rice burritos, both of which have been “a big hit.”
With the switch to Universal Meals for all students, Food Service Directors’ paperwork has decreased. However, last spring, developing the meal delivery system added a brand new challenge to the job, including mapping out routes to efficiently deliver food to families throughout the school district.
When asked what kept them going, School Nutrition Professionals spoke passionately about community food security needs and the importance of feeding their students. The physical act of going to work helped keep their spirits up as well. “It keeps me going to have something to do every day when I wake up in the morning, someplace to go,” said Linda Griffin, who works in all 3 Brattleboro elementary schools. “I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. Having this job has definitely saved me from going stir crazy.”
Thinking about their biggest challenges, most spoke about missing the students. Academy School’s lead cook, Jasmine Star Nightingale, summed it up perfectly, with tears in her eyes, saying, “My biggest challenge is not seeing the children. It is very painful. They're all just wonderful kids, and just seeing them smiling every day...I miss that!”
Many changes happened quickly, and it was a challenge to adjust. Lori Reynolds normally works at Dummerston School, serving meals to 80-100 students each day. When schools closed, Reynolds started reporting to work daily in the centralized kitchen at Academy School, where meals were being prepared and packaged for multiple schools in WSESD. She was in charge of the alternative meals—approximately 28 daily orders for gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and/or vegan meals. “I'm learning new things, which is a little bit challenging for me, but I’m doing it!” said Reynolds. She paid acute attention to detail to fulfill these orders, which she said “got my brain going very quickly” first thing in the morning.
Another challenge for School Nutrition Professionals with children was managing childcare and supporting remote learning while working in the kitchen during the day. Jill Harnish from Oak Grove School described the challenges faced by many working parents, saying, “It’s hard because my youngest is a senior this year, and he’s in special education. He’s got homework to do, so when I leave work, I have to go home and help him with his homework because he won’t do it when I’m not there.”
Community support helped keep everyone going, both in the form of additional school staff and community volunteers coming in to help the kitchens and in community expressions of gratitude for the invaluable work of School Nutrition Professionals. Nancy Gagnon is the office clerk at Putney Central School. When schools closed, she began working in the kitchen regularly, helping prep food and pack meals. When asked about community support, she responded by saying, “One of the biggest things the community is doing is showing appreciation for the effort that this whole team of people have provided. We've been getting some feedback from families...it buoys you and makes you really feel like your efforts are being appreciated. There’s a back and forth, connecting with families and knowing that they're happy with the food they're getting, and you feel happy that you're doing it.”
Many people mentioned the satisfaction they get from knowing that they are feeding children who need it, and they are proud of the quality of the food they make. Mary Beth Peterson is a kindergarten paraeducator at Putney Central School, and she helped out regularly in the school kitchen during the spring when her students were fully remote. Working in the school kitchen gave her a new perspective, and she proudly stated, “The quality of the food and the personalization that our food service staff put into what they do is phenomenal. The quality of the food is WOW; I can't believe it! The diversity and the kid-friendly food, it's quality stuff.” Thristan Coke from Bellows Falls Union High School said, “I am a firm believer that kids must be fed, no matter what. What’s going on is not their fault, and they shouldn't be punished for anything. So I take pride in that...I know what my kid is like when he’s hungry; I can’t imagine anybody else’s, so I am happy to feed them.”
We also asked what brought these folks joy in their lives and what they were grateful for. Jess Boucher of Dummerston School shared that some of her joy comes from “seeing smiling kids, happy kids, and when the kids tell me they like the food and how good of a job I’m doing.” On the topic of gratitude, people were universally grateful for their families, health, and jobs. Erica Frank from Central School spoke specifically about her appreciation for her co-workers, saying, “I’m grateful for the team who comes together at this time to make it work, no drama and just getting the job done. People coming together and bringing lots of different skill sets has been really nice.”
We are grateful for these unsung heroes in our community who nourish children in our community each day. The complete series of interviews can be found here: https://www.foodconnects.org/news-2/tag/Who+Feeds+Our+Kids
Who Feeds Our Kids: Erica Frank
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
ERICA FRANK
Erica is the School Nutrition Site Manager at Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls where she is starting her second year. We sat down with Erica in September to learn more about her work and how things have shifted since March. Here are some highlights from our conversation:
Michelle Pinter-Petrillo (MPP): How long have you been working in food service?
“ Knowing that people needed the food and we could still make them food kept me going.”
Erica Frank (EF): I’ve been working in food service for close to 14 years. I was a baker for many years and I went back to school for my degree in nutrition, I got out of food service for a number of years and worked as a counselor, and then got back into food when I took this job last year.
MPP: How has COVID-19 impacted what you are doing?
EF: We don’t get to do as much variety with the kids, which is really hard. I first came back for breakfast and I could only give them certain things. We can no longer give them the choices and that’s really tough.
We got a salad bar going last year and it really took off. We had so many options and it was so fun. It helped the kids try new things and we just don’t have that this year.
I loved having the kids be able to come in and say to them “Oh hey, try this I know you usually like that but we don’t have that today, you should try this!”
Students have to have the right components to make a meal so sometimes I have to chase after them and say you have to take milk or another side. They get all of the components now on their plate but they don’t get to choose it and I think that makes a difference.
When I take out the compost I can see “oh wow that’s a whole apple in there,” but I can’t see who ate what and help them make a different choice the next time which I used to be able to do in the cafeteria.
MPP: What has kept you going during this time?
EF: When the schools shut down in March, I was able to have enough child care so I could work even though I have two young kids. Knowing that people needed the food and we could still make them food kept me going. And we make good food here. I’m very proud of the food we make. We were even able to open it to not just kids in the school but to the community and that made it nice to come into work and feel proud about feeding our community.
I have a 1st grader and a 2-year old. I’ve gotten lots of support from friends and family to help watch the kids. And I got them into daycare—the two-year-old is in daycare for the first time this year. We are still figuring it out but we still need help.
MPP: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?
EF: Dealing with all of the changes like the limited meal offerings, that really is a struggle for me. It’s been hard feeling that the kids aren’t getting the nutrition education I know they could get. But another thing to get me through it is that, hopefully, it is short term. We are pretty good at tackling things as they come on and tackling them as a team. We’ve been working with the teachers, and have navigated how schools are different now.
We have breakfast items at school so I can put together however many bags with the different items and drop them off at each classroom. In the mornings the teachers take their meal counts to see who wants lunch. I come here (BFHS) after my breakfast shift and help them finish any meals for school. After, I pack up insulated bags with all of my meals and bring them back to the school before lunch; I figure out what classroom needs what and I pack it up. I make sure there is milk, all the components, silverware. There are lots of logistics. We are serving 40 meals for breakfast and lunch. We want to make sure that any kid can have breakfast now that it is universal, the teachers have been pretty good at making sure to let kids know it’s not going to cost them anything. They can keep some items for later on cause that’s a big thing too. When kids would come out of breakfast last year you know they were keeping a few things to have for a snack later. Our enrollment for the school is about 60 for each pod, 60 Monday/Tuesday and 60 Thurday/Friday.
MPP: What does the community do to make you feel supported?
EF: We get a pretty good response for our food which helps—you know that people are enjoying the food that you’re offering. We have families that are thanking us at pickup and others who email, reaching out for delivery and to say thanks. But I miss seeing the kids.
MPP: What advice do you have for someone interested in working in food service?
EF: Look at the overall picture of the job. Sometimes it is very monotonous, where you’re just scooping beans. It might not be very glamorous but if you look in the long run, knowing that you’re feeding people is always a nice feeling and a good thing to keep in mind. There is so much food service opportunity. The idea of mass meals, the amount of logistics, it's a lot tougher than people think but it is very rewarding.
MPP: What brings you joy?
EF: Knowing that I’m serving up local food, and good quality food. We try to do a lot of local foods. We get some pre-made stuff but we still try to get good quality stuff and we actually read the ingredients. I knew Harley did that when I came on, which is part of the reason I came on. Last year, having the ability to make food from scratch and having the ability to actually make homemade food for kids brought me a lot of joy.
I am grateful for the food quality. I’m grateful for the team who comes together at this time to make it work, no drama and just getting the job done. People coming together and bringing lots of different skill sets have been really nice. We’ve made it work and we’ll continue to make it work.
Cafeterias Unknown: Central Elementary
Shortly after I started working at Food Connects last month, I saw “Cafeteria’s Unknown” pop-up on my list of projects. After a quick explanation, I was drawn right into the project. Eat a meal at each of the over 25 schools Food Connects works with? Not only could I share all the amazing things taking place in cafeterias with our community, but it was a great way for me to get to know all the schools I’m working with.
Breakfast after the Bell, salad bars, Universal Meals, new menu items, local ingredients—there’s a lot happening in our schools’ cafeterias. I’m excited to get the inside scoop on it all while also trying some delicious food.
-Conor
A student and I weigh our options at the new salad bar Harley built over the summer.
Visit any of the cafeterias in the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union and you’ll notice a lot of changes. Last year, Harley Sterling took over as the district’s Food Service Director and transitioned the district to independently operated cafeterias. It’s Harley’s goal to get more local food on the menu, better support his staff, and increase meal quality district-wide.
Earlier this month, we visited Central Elementary in Bellows Falls. Sheila, Food Connects’ Farm to School Program Coordinator, made the trip with me to share a meal and introduce me to Harley. While he was tied-up at another school, we snuck into the line in between 3rd and 2nd grade. We got our trays and headed for the entrees—chicken patties and roasted potatoes. At the salad bar, there was a wide selection of leafy greens, fresh veggies, and protein-packed sides.
With loaded trays, Sheila and I grabbed our seats in the middle of a table and immediately started talking food with our new 3rd grade friends. Owen and a few of his friends shared with us their favorite foods—there were many chicken patty fans. Owen was a strong proponent of Taco Day. Just as we were getting into the finer details of the salad bar, Harley arrived.
Luckily, Sheila remembered to snap a photo of my lunch before I dug in. It looks like I’ll need to work on my presentation during my next lunch photo shoot.
Harley spends most of his time in the Central Elementary cafeteria. As we ate, he explained the balance he’s trying to strike between filling the menu with new, healthier foods and making sure kids still eat lunch. My lunch tray stood as the perfect example: chicken patty may not be the healthiest protein option there is, but it’s a familiar item that most kids like. From there, students can start trying new items at their own pace. My salad was topped with fresh, crisp red peppers and tofu. The Asian rice salad was new to me and delicious as well. Harley and his team have been working hard to build the trust with their students so that participation stays high as they introduce new items in the cafeteria.
Harley and Erica, the School Nutrition Site Manager, holding up a banner Sheila and I dropped off.
And, it looks like it’s working! As we spoke, a girl next to us was eating her way through a small pile of peppers. Harley explained that many foods we may not think of as new or exotic are foreign to some students. “Tacos,” Harley said, “are one of those foods that have required a reintroduction for some students.” At the mention of his favorite lunch, Owen’s eyes lit up and he reminds me that tacos are his favorite.
Before we can dive back into our conversation, it’s time for a quick birthday celebration and then lunch is over—I forgot how short school lunch is!