Ep 86 | Fueling Hungry Minds

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, a lot of times uh people are critiquing the menu options that we have, but it's important not only to have good, healthy food, but that students will eat it because food that goes uneaten is not benefiting anyone. And as we are all in uh with Escambia County Public Schools um and improving academics, nutrition is an important part of that. Good nutrition, breakfast, lunch has been shown to improve test scores. It's been shown to improve student attendance, and all those things come together to make the students of Escambia County successful.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. In between, remembering project deadlines, extracurricular activities, and doctor's appointments is, well, eating and sleeping. The latter comes whether we like it or not, but the former requires a little more planning. But do your kids' meals always have to rely on the flawless operation of your household? My next guest is here to share about some built-in support for hectic households. She's the director of School Food Services, and today she's going to share meal solutions you may not know you already had access to, including special diets and knowing what foods your kids are actually getting, bringing benefits for busy families, maximizing meal time, Jelena Davis. I'm so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Me too. This is exciting.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

It is exciting. You are also very exciting because you have a bachelor's in dietetics, a master's in nutrition and health promotion, and you're a registered dietitian. Yes, ma'am. That is a lot of consecutive years of school focused on one thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Yes, all on nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So why is nutrition so important to you?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Well, honestly, as a child, I struggled with my weight, and I never felt like I had good resources or information on how to make good decisions. And so it was very important to me in my career that I'd be able to impact children and having them have healthy practices and know what good eating looks like.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

That's major that you come from not only the educational perspective, but you have a personal story. So it it really informs the data with empathy and absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Absolutely. Even with my own children, I have a third grader and a sixth grader, and they have been brought up on the school lunch meal pattern and school breakfast pattern because I know it teaches portion control and what a balanced meal looks like.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

That's so cool. Now we both know that the 90s in general, music, fashion, it's coming back, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

All of it.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

But that 90s school lunch scene was rough.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

It was. Well, for a lot of reasons. Even health. It wasn't that great from a health standpoint. Um, and there were lots of negative opinions about it. But here we are providing healthier options for students, um, staying on trend with what students are looking for and making positive impacts on their nutrition, both for breakfast and lunch.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

You said looking at what students are looking for. Why does that matter?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Well, a lot of times uh people are critiquing the menu options that we have, but it's important not only to have good, healthy food, but that students will eat it because food that goes uneaten is not benefiting anyone. And as we are all in uh with Escambia County Public Schools and improving academics, nutrition is an important part of that. Good nutrition, breakfast, lunch has been shown to improve test scores. It's been shown to improve student attendance, and all those things come together to make the students of Escambia County successful.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Well, that makes sense that a hungry student is not going to perform well. No one does well when they're hangry. Absolutely. I read a statistic that the I think it was from the CDC, that one in 13 kids has a food allergy. One in 13. So, what kind of special diet options does the school offer?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

It's interesting that you say that we've continued to see an increase in the special diet needs of our students. And for us, it's simple. If a parent has a student that has a special dietary need, they take that note to the front office, it gets to the clinic, and then the note gets to us, and we are able to make the necessary modifications to either ensure that the student doesn't pick up the product or go purchase what's necessary to meet the student's dietary needs.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

There was a lot in what you just said there. I mean, there are some serious logistics, but and that was a very nice, neat sentence that you just said, but I feel like the logistics behind the execution of what you said.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Absolutely, it's way more complicated. Um, when we get the note, even in our computer system that the students are processed through, we're able to put that allergy alert in there. So the cashier serves as the last step to make sure that the student is not getting something that they're not supposed to have. We make special diet menus for every variation of peanut-free, gluten-free intolerances, all the things that um oftentimes come across. We are providing a menu for that. We have some students with diabetes, and all of our nutritional information is available online with our menus so you can see what all the menus have for both carbs, fats, sugars, um, anything that parents would be interested in.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

No way. Yes. Okay, so when a that's just so comprehensive, so different from the 90s nightmare of what was school lunch. When a parent is um needing to send a note to school, are there requirements around what that note says? Like some parents know that their kids have a peanut allergy without getting expensive testing done. Is that enough of a note or does it need to be signed off by a physician?

SPEAKER_00 5:42

That's a great question. So if it's something that you just don't want your child to pick up, then you give us a note and we're fine. If it's gonna cause us to alter our meal pattern, purchase special things like almond milk, um then we do need it from a doctor or medical authority where they say what the student cannot have and then what substitutions are acceptable in place of those items. And that is usually when we have to go shopping. But if it's just make sure my student doesn't pick up strawberries because she has a reaction, we can handle that really easily with a parent note.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

So on the logistical side, the note goes into the system and then that data is seen by the cash register person.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

As well as the cafeteria manager is made aware from the clinic.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Wow. Okay, so when a when a student is checking out and getting their meal, you know, the old school was like, I think we gave them paper money, gas. I know, I know. How does it work now?

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Now most of our transactions are done electronically. So we have a website, myschoolbucks.com, where parents can put money on their student accounts. And what that helps with is when students come through the line, you can't really tell the difference between a free student and one that's full pay because they are all processed the same. We do still have the ability to take money, but we don't take as much cash as in years past.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

That's key because when I went to school, the free lunch kids had a different line. Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Now we're all in it together and no one knows the difference. Um, another thing that's nice about MySchoolBucks and online is all the transactions show up. So parents are able to see what their students are selecting. If they have questions about how much money's been spent, where did it go, they can see all of that on myschobucks.com.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

And is that this is a really specific question, but is it mobile friendly? Yes, there is an app for that. Um wait, an actual app for it.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

There's an actual app so that you can um put money on your students' account and monitor transactions.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

That is so different than what we have. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Well, even we have students that use it because students today have money, they work, and they're able to put money on their own accounts from the app and their lunch account.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

So it's very convenient for everybody. That really is. Other than lunch, what meals are offered?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

So the majority of our schools offer breakfast and lunch. We provide snack at many schools across the district, and we have two schools, Weiss and Pine Forest, that participate in the supper program, and we provide meals during the summer.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Whoa. Okay. So talk to me about the supper program. That's not something I'd ever heard about.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So the supper program is under the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and it is at schools where the students are typically there later into the evening. It allows us to provide um five components similar to a lunch. So snack is just two items. The supper program has all five as if it were lunchtime.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

And what about breakfast?

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Breakfast is typically four items. So we try to offer a grain, uh, some type of meat or meat alternate, which could be yogurt, fruit, and milk.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

When you say these meals when they have two components and you know, very techie words I'm using. Oh, I know. You are speaking a little bit of a different language. So can you give us examples of what these meals actually consist of? Like if this were a menu at a restaurant, what would it look like?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Yes. So um today at the elementary school, they're having chicken carbonara, which is your pasta, a white sauce, broccoli. They're getting garlic bread with that. They'll have one to two fruits depending on the grade level. They'll have two vegetables offered and milk.

unknown 9:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

As an example.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Okay, and that is a lunch. Can give me an example of some dinners and some breakfast.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Okay, so your supper will look very similar to lunch. That example would be the same. Um, but at breakfast, it may be cereal, yogurt, fruit, milk. We have a hot breakfast at some of our schools, so they might get a sausage biscuit or a chicken biscuit that they can have and fruit and milk.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Okay. Wow, that's really incredible. And some do the parent, do the students get to choose the meals?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

That's a great question. So students have to take a minimum three out of the five items that we offer in a lunch. Um, so they have to take a fruit or vegetable, but then the entree, how many fruits, how many vegetables, and if they get a milk is at their discretion. A lot of times we have parents that are upset because they feel like their student didn't get enough food and you know they're still hungry. And when I asked what they got, I said they didn't get everything. They just could have had all of these other options. Um, and I know a lot of students don't love vegetables, but even me personally, once I got into school food service and were exposed to more vegetables, I started eating them. And so this is an opportunity for kids to try things that maybe they're not exposed to at home and really expand their palate.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Well, and that goes back to what I said in the intro is so many parents are just stretched thin, stretched thin. And the idea of, oh, we're gonna try this vegetable and that vegetable and finding said vegetables, because you know, there's sometimes only so many varieties at the grocery store. It's usually one type of thing there, and then cooking it in a way that you know the the kid will want to eat it. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

It's a lot. And for busy families, sometimes this the children have to make their own lunches, and who knows how balanced it's gonna be, or you want your child to have a hot lunch, but what if they don't have microwaves in their cafeteria? So what do you send that would still they'd want to eat it? Well, with our lunches, it's a hot lunch, and you know it's gonna have fruits and vegetables and all the things that you would want your child to have to feel full and make it through the day.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

So, how would a parent enroll for food services for their kid?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

So if you believe that you qualify for a free or reduced lunch, we do have applications available um online, myschoolappps.com. Otherwise, every student that's enrolled in the school is able to participate and they'll just um either put money on the account, bring cash, and pick up a breakfast or lunch.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Okay, so if the family doesn't qualify for free or reduced lunch, they would just go to that website you mentioned earlier.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Myschoolbucks.com. They could put money on the account if they don't want to send the money with their student. Um, another thing that's nice is here in Escambia County, about 45 of our schools are all free. And some parents may not realize that, but you can send your student, they can have free breakfast and lunch at the majority of the schools here in Escambia County.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

45 schools. How many schools total? About 56. What? That really is most of them. It's most of them. Do you think parents know this? I I'm trying to get the word out.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Where are we passing up this free food? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Yeah, exactly. Because with public school, I feel like you want to take advantage of as much of the freeness as possible before, you know, air quotes real adult life hits.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yes. And with our lunches, we offer two to three entrees a day, sometimes four at the high school. So your student is likely to find something that they would eat and have an opportunity to try other things.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

That's much different than, you know, I only have my example of my high school. So sorry, listeners, that you have to hear about my life so much, but uh it was a package deal. We couldn't customize our meal. And so that's really different. So for parents who might be, you know, close to my age as well, maybe that's something that they don't understand either, is that you're not talking about, hey kiddo, would you like menu A or menu B? They really have the opportunity to choose um, you know, so many items from each category of food on their plate.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Correct. And our schools are self-serve, so that even makes students feel more comfortable trying things because they're putting their things on their plate as if they were going down a buffet, so they're not being forced to take things.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

That is very different. And that's for at all the schools. Yes. Wow, this is so exciting.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

You'll have to come visit.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

I will. I'll be an honorary student for the day. We talked about how keep parents can keep an eye on food for their kids. Is there anything else about that that we should know about as far as um parent intervention or monitoring?

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Yeah, so I would recommend parents look at the menu and also look at what their students are selecting in MySchoolBox. Um, because if you have an opinion about what you would prefer your student to take, it's a great opportunity for everyone to talk about it and be on the same page. Um, parents also have the ability to restrict a la carte. So a la carte are items that we offer outside of the traditional meal program. And if they only want their student to purchase a la carte certain days a week or only spend X amount of money on it, they have the ability to control that in MySQL as well. What are a la carte examples? Uminoes. I think we you and I talked about in your childhood having pizza and those type things. So we have dominoes that come into some of our schools. We have ice cream, we have chips, we have popcorn that students can pay extra for. Uh, some parents don't care if their students buy a ton, others are like only on Fridays. And so having access to my school books, seeing what your student purchases really helps facilitate those conversations.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Birthday party food. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

There's an idea. If you're having a party, you can um buy ice cream for the class and then we will sell it to you if we're in the classroom.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Oh my gosh, and then you don't have to clean up. Yes. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

If anyone is interested in that, they could just contact their cafeteria manager.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

I love that. Seeing what your student is purchasing and what they also have available to purchase, I think uh gives the parents more ability to create um some incentives and boundaries also because food for you know, we're we're animals at our core, right? So we are all incentivized by food. So that can really help boost um school performance, I would imagine. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Absolutely. They could say, if you get an A, you can buy an ice cream today.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

You have been doing this a while, obviously. What do you see parents misunderstand the most about the school food program?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

I think that some parents believe everything we offer is unhealthy. And it's just not true. We do have guidelines that we have to follow. We have sodium restrictions, we have calorie restrictions, um, certain colors of vegetables that we have to offer each week. We have to have a red orange, a dark green. So it's very specific what we have to do, and we are evaluated on those menus. And also the students play a role in selecting the things that they believe are the healthiest options, but making sure that we have things that students want. Our products are not always like the products that you see on the shelf. So we have Pop Tarts, but they're whole grain rich, which isn't necessarily available in the grocery store. Same thing with like our pizza crust and our rolls. We serve brown rice, not white rice. And maybe we don't always market it the way that the parent would expect to see it, but we again have to make sure that students will be interested and want to participate with us. Um, and then the other thing being the portion sizes and how much students can take, not realizing that if they took everything we offer, the student would be full. Some days my tray is full and I can't even finish it, and I only take what students are allowed to take just to gauge what we're offering. And it's a lot of food.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, again, to your point about being able to see everything on the app would allow parents to um remove the mystery behind the assumption that it's all unhealthy. Are portions also disclosed? Yeah, nutritional information. All of that. That is so helpful. If you have a student with type 2 diabetes and you're trying to have a protein-heavy carb low approach, that is so major because there's a lot of sneaky carbs in some sneaky carbs.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Anything else that you want to share before we wrap up? Um, the only thing is if any of this sounds interesting to someone, if people want to make a difference in the lives of students, um, we're looking for an opportunity where you can work when your kids are in school, we're always hiring in school food service. You can be a permanent employee or a substitute on call as needed. Um, no nights, no weekends. So come by and see us.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

How would a parent look into that information?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Um, if you go to the school district website under careers, you can see all the job postings that we have. But for us, there is a short skills quiz that we offer, and so come by our office at 42 East Tahar and we can give you the quiz and give all of the details.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing this. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Ascambia County Public Schools.