Coronavirus Relief Funding Helps Schools Pivot

2020 was the year of quick pivots and short deadlines. This was especially true for school nutrition programs that went from self-serve salad bars, to home delivery using district busses, to “unitized” (individual) meals for physically-distanced students in classrooms. This task hasn’t been easy, nor has it been cheap. School nutrition programs have needed new equipment, more storage capacity, and much more packaging.

Most schools in our region have started using Oliver trays (a “fully integrated meal packaging system”) to streamline an otherwise very tedious process. WNESU recently received an automated sealer, further speeding up the process of packaging the hundreds of meals that leave their kitchen daily. 

Thanks to the CARES Act funding provided by Congress back in March, funds were made available to states to support the costs associated with making big programmatic changes. Food Connects worked closely with Ali West (Brattleboro Regional Food Service Director, Fresh Picks Cafe) to identify the needs of all the schools in the Windham Southeast School District and apply for the funding. 

In the central kitchens at Academy School and Brattleboro Union High School, the school nutrition programs were able to add additional refrigeration capacity. This will give them more flexibility when ordering fresh produce, as well as when making and storing bulk meals. Putney Central School’s nutrition program used the funding to purchase a mini-van to distribute meals. Transportation is another new bottleneck in programs’ operations. Having a dedicated vehicle for delivering meals to distribution sites and for transporting supplies will help ensure meals can get out on time. 

In Guilford, new mobile waste sorting stations will make classroom meals a little more manageable while still making it easy for students to recycle and compost their leftovers. They also used some reimbursement funds to help pay for the new outdoor gear that was purchased for students and the materials used in building their outdoor learning structures. Lastly, Academy School is expanding its capacity to cook outdoors with students by installing fire pits around the campus. 

Each of these purchases goes a little way in helping schools operate during these difficult times. Here at Food Connects, we’re excited to see the new equipment put to good use in 2021 as we continue to support the evolving needs of schools. 

Compost is Brewing at Riverside Middle School

Vermonters welcomed a new Food Scraps Ban on July 1st of this year requiring that all peels, apple cores and plate scraps be composted instead of thrown into the trash. 

Led by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) teacher Becca Osborne, the Riverside Middle School Farm to School team has been planning their compost system since before the pandemic. Despite the challenges of this school year, the Riverside community came together to team up and get composting underway.

Students of the Community Engineering Class, taught by Cliff Weyer, worked diligently to construct these insulated tumblers. The two JORA brand tumblers are insulated with thick foam so that even in a cold Vermont winter, they can maintain the temperatures needed to break down food scraps and brown material. 

Throughout the winter, 6th graders in the STEAM class will bring food scraps and wood pellets to compost a few times a week. The two tumblers now live in Greenie’s Garden and will be brewing compost for the spring planting season. 

Cafeterias Unknown: Talking Trash with the Leland & Gray Environmental Action Force

What’s one of the best ways to ensure Farm to School becomes an integral part of school culture? Welcome students as partners and leaders in the movement. It’s always a goal when introducing Farm to School and is a big focus of our upcoming Farm to School Conference. The keynote address and one of the workshops are all about engaging students. 

Because of all this, I quickly accepted the offer from the Leland & Gray Environmental Action Force (LEAF) to join them for lunch the Friday before winter break. I was excited to hear what they’ve been working on and to share some ideas for tackling food waste in their school. 

Before meeting with advisors, Mary and Chris, and the students, I swung by the cafeteria to grab lunch and chat with Food Service Director Chris Parker. I was recently a judge for the local Junior Iron Chef competition and we caught up on the regional teams that will be headed to the statewide competition next month. The recently renovated cafeteria was bustling with students getting made-to-order sandwiches, making their own salads, and the main entree for the day.

With my plate loaded up with a BBQ Chicken Sandwich, corn salad, and more veggies from the salad bar, I headed back up to Mary’s classroom for the LEAF meeting. By the time I got there, they were already deep in discussion but were happy to backtrack for me. 

So, what’s LEAF been up to at Leland & Gray? They’ve been deeply involved in climate change activism in their community and statewide. Students traveled to Brattleboro and Burlington for panel discussions and protests. Regularly, you’ll find students outside with signs during lunch, raising awareness of climate change issues locally and keeping it on people’s minds. The group also manages the school’s compost system and has been supporting sustainable school practices such as buying reusable utensils for the cafeteria. 

The group was also receptive to the idea of digger deeper into food waste reduction. A lot of the strategies proposed in Food Connects’ recent grant focused on working with Food Service Directors, but engaging with student groups is arguably the best way to shift school culture. LEAF is going to start with a food waste audit to measure how much food waste is leaving the cafeteria and then evaluate what the best next step is. 

We also talked about the upcoming Farm to School Conference and the group was excited to join. Mary, Chris, and a group of LEAF members decided to sign up. Having an engaged student presence at the conference and in the workshops will benefit everyone in the room! Students are often a stakeholder group that is absent in Farm to School conversations but can add depth to school partnerships when they’re involved. 

We had covered a lot of ground in a small amount of time. Abruptly, the bell rang and ended our conversation. I looked down at my plate, I had taken one bite of my sandwich! Luckily, I didn’t have a class to get to and Mary let me finish lunch in her classroom. The impossibility of a 25-minute school lunch becomes clear when you have experienced it for yourself. 

Leave class, get to the cafeteria, chat with a friend, wait in line, get your food, find a table, socialize and eat your lunch (without cramming!) all in 25-minutes—good luck! 

But, that’s a topic for another time.