Successful School Nutrition Programs

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The section of the site highlights schools that have been successful in moving to healthy foods in their school nutrition programs and in their snack machines.

Prior to 1997 the Apple Area School District was battling students who were carrying guns and threatening staff and students with violent behavior, and were dealing daily with expulsions, dropouts, drug violations, and suicides. 

Knowing something needed to be done, the District partnered with Natural Ovens, a private company, in 1997 to replace the district's cafeteria food with a selection of whole food dishes. Over the next few years, the problems the schools had been having started to decline while grades and attendance went up. For the full story click the link below. 

Link to the article on Appleton's Success Story

To what does Camden Hills attribute these significant changes? This past year MSAD#28 hired a new food service director, Mark Vogt, and a new kitchen manager for the high school, Susan Boivin. Both of these individuals are chefs and both are parents. These two individuals have shared their passion for healthy foods to make these positive changes.

Susan Boivin, the kitchen manager at the high school uses fresh produce and has eliminated the use of processed foods in the high school cafeteria. Her foods are made from ''scratch'' and many of her entree's are vegetarian, dairy and wheat free. When asked what the most important thing a school can do to make positive nutritional changes to the food service Susan says, ''schools need to hire a chef.'' Costs can be reduced and the food served is healthier, but schools need to hire someone who knows what to do with fresh herbs and left-overs to keep costs down and to reduce waste. According to Mark Vogt, the food service director, more changes are coming next year. Mark says that he is teaming up with the Botany teacher, Rob Lovell, to bring more organic foods into the high school cafeteria.

Currently Camden has one green house that is being used to grow greens and herbs for the cafeteria. The green house is small (15' x 30'), however, in the 2006-2007 school year the plan is to add a new larger green house and add another shortly thereafter.

According to Rob Lovell, the plan is to produce as much food for the high school cafeteria as necessary and to offer the excess to other districts. Next year, the greenhouse will produce tomatoes, greens and all the herbs the kitchen will need. Rob Lovell will consult with the kitchen manager, Susan Boivin, in planning what will be grown for use in the kitchen throughout the school year. Another exciting addition to the green house project is the proposed use of a windmill to supply the power for the greenhouse. By involving the students in these changes, students learn about sustainable living, healthy foods and proper nutrition.

Troy Howard Middle School (THMS) in Belfast integrates nutrition, organic gardening, and the Maine Learning Results. Don White, Agricultural Coordinator for THMS, helped build a 35' by 48' greenhouse at the school. The 4,000 lbs of food and flowers produced each year by the greenhouse are served in the school cafeteria, sold at a student-run farm stand, or donated to senior citizen organizations and local food pantries.

Steve Tanguay, the 7^th grade agriculture and Maine history teacher, heads up the program. He oversees the THMS Garden Company which is composed of the Seed Division, Garden Stand Division, and Compost Division. Middle school students take central roles in running all three companies. After apprenticing in each division, students decide which area they are most interested in and join that division. Students apply economics, math, science, and English skills as well as gardening and grant writing while working at the Garden Company. As with any 21^st century business, laptops and other technologies play an important role in the Garden Company.

The New York Times reported in an article about NYC schools that although NYC school teachers were among the highest paid in the country the students' test scores only ranked in the 35th percentile on the national level. In studying causes for this the NYC school system enlisted the help of Dr. Alexander Schauss to look at the nutrition habits of its students. In the four years of the study (1979-1983)after changing the general nutrition habits of the
students the test scores rose to well above the national average. The study and more about Dr. Schauss can be found on the following websites:

www.keepwell.com/hyperactive.htm

THE FEINGOLD PROGRAM

 The Feingold Association is a nonprofit organization with people of all walks of life dedicated to helping people better understand how diets can affect their health, behavior and learning. The website details the program, offers studies and success stories, and other resources and services. The site is user friendly and easily navigable.