507.9D - Nutrition Guidelines for All Foods Available on Campus - Appendix D

School Meals

Meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs will:

• be appealing and attractive to children;
• be served in clean and pleasant settings;
• meet, at a minimum, nutrition requirements established by local, state and federal law:
• offer a variety of fruits and vegetables;
• serve only low-fat (1%) and fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives (as defined by the USDA); and,
• ensure that half of the served grains are whole grain.

The school will:

• set guidelines for eating fruits and vegetables;
• set guidelines for  receiving extra portions; and
• share information about the nutritional content of meals with parents and students.  (The information could be made available on menus, a web site, on cafeteria menu boards, placards or other point-of-purchase materials.)

 

Breakfast

To ensure that all children have breakfast, either at home or at school, in order to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn, schools will:

• operate the breakfast program, to the extent possible;
• arrange bus schedules and utilize methods to serve breakfasts that encourage participation, including serving breakfast in the classroom, “grab-and-go” breakfasts or breakfast during morning break or recess, to the extent possible;
• notify parents and students of the availability of the School Breakfast Program, where available; and,
• encourage parents to provide a healthy breakfast for their children through newsletter articles, take-home materials or other means.

 

Free and Reduced-Priced Meals

The school district will make every effort to eliminate any social stigma attached to, and prevent the overt identification of, students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.  Toward this end, the school district may:

• utilize electronic identification and payment systems; and
• promote the availability of meals to all students.

 

Qualification of Food Service Staff

Qualified nutrition professionals will administer the meal programs.  As part of the school district’s responsibility to operate a food service program, the school district will:

• provide continuing professional development for all nutrition professionals; and,
• provide staff development programs that include appropriate certification and/or training programs for child nutrition directors, nutrition managers and cafeteria workers, according to their levels of responsibility.

 

Celebrations

The school will evaluate their celebrations practices that involve food during the school day.  The school district will disseminate a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers.