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Indiana Nutrition Newsletter Keeping Schools ‘IN’ the Know

If you know of a

nutrition-related or

Food Service success

story, please click

here.

Issue 2019-2 Spring 2019

In this issue:

DeKalb County Central United School District Implements New Cycle Menus

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Continued Story 2

NSBW Celebration at LaPorte Community Schools

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Universal

Breakfast at

Warren Central High School

4

Helping Ninjas at

Carmel Clay

Schools

5

Director’s Corner 5

Continued on page 2

Shorter Cycle Menus are a Win-Win!

By Charita Bundick, Dietetic Intern and Student at Ball State University

New lunch menus at DeKalb County Central United School District have

recently been implemented, and everyone is happy with the results!

In January, the district went from a six-week cycle menu to a three-week

cycle for elementary and middle schools, while lunches at the high school

are now on a two-week cycle rotation.

The elementary students’ choice of entrées has increased from two to

three - two hot and one cold entrée. Ashlee Baron, Director of Food

Service for DeKalb County Central United School District, says the

changes are working great. Baron stated, “We were worried at first that

the kids would grow tired of the repeat food items, but because they have

so many choices per day they’re actually enjoying being able to have the

things that they like more often.”

Before implementing the changes district wide, the shorter cycle menus

were pilot tested at one elementary school in December. Baron credits her

staff and says they are the reason the new changes work. “They were

huge problem solvers with their line setup,” stated Baron. Items were

Photo: DeKalb Middle School lunch option features Build-a-Burger,

Romaine Side Salad, and Seasoned Potato Wedges.

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Continued from page 1

reconfigured into smaller pans to allow more

room for the entrées and sides to fit. Training

was an adjustment in the beginning. “Once

they understood the new menus and order

guide setup, they loved it,” said Baron. The

cafeteria manager and her staff worked

through the kinks and showed Baron and her

team where improvements needed to be

made. They were able to use that feedback

and implemented the shorter cycle menus in

January.

Parents are happy about the changes too.

There had been concerns about the length of

time it might take elementary students to go

through the serving line, but everything is

running smoothly.

The middle school has five serving lines while

the high school has six lines. Both the middle

school and high school have a salad bar and

grab-and-go items. There are plenty of entrée

options for students to choose from. Popular

items include Orange Chicken and Breakfast

for Lunch. Food service sometimes uses the

same product in different ways. For example,

Chicken Alfredo offered at the elementary and

middle schools is changed to Chicken Milano

at the high school by adding vegetables and

mushrooms.

Baron says inventory is now more

manageable and helps with cost control. The

food service department is able to track what

the kids do and don’t like. “We already have

some changes we’re going to implement in

August of next year based on what we were

serving this year,” stated Baron.

To promote the shorter cycle menus, Baron

and the DeKalb County School District used

Twitter. Baron stated, “I use twitter daily for

food service promotions. Our school district

would post it on our other social media sites and

the website too.”

Baron highly recommends shorter cycle menus.

Baron says the new menus make things run a lot

smoother, and she is now able to use her time to

focus on other tasks. Three-week cycle menus

have now been implemented for all the school

district’s meal programming, including Head Start,

Vended CACFP Meals, and the Summer Food

Service Program.

Photo: Banana-grams are a fun way to create

conversations and provide morning inspiration

to students.

Photo: Fresh fruit and vegetable bars are available daily at all grade

levels for students at DeKalb County Central United School District.

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LaPorte Community School Corporation Celebrates National School Breakfast Week and Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

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Universal Breakfast is Universally Appreciated at Warren Central High School

By Suzette Hartmann, School Nutrition Specialist

The food service staff at Warren Central High School (MSD of Warren

Township) in Indianapolis have been working to increase school

breakfast participation. In April of 2017, the food service department

began offering breakfast at no charge to all the high school students.

Breakfast grants have also been helpful in supporting the breakfast

program at the high school. Chartwells is the Food Service

Management Company for Warren Township, and Haley Quade is their

Resident Dietitian. Quade wrote two different breakfast grants at about

the same time for the high school. In the fall of 2017, both grants were

awarded - $4,000 from Share Our Strength and $2,100 from Action for

Healthy Kids. By combining the monetary awards from these grants

with some additional funds, a much needed breakfast cart was

purchased. But this was no ordinary cart. Quade worked with a

representative of the company to custom design the cart. In February

of 2018, all of Quade’s efforts paid off when the school received the

cart.

The new cart helped food service add another location for students to

quickly select a breakfast in the morning. Now the high school has a

total of five locations to pick up breakfast – carts at three locations in

the halls near school entrances and two breakfast lines in different

areas of the cafeteria. Students have the option of eating breakfast in

the cafeteria or in their classrooms. Students have 15 minutes in the

morning to select a breakfast and get to class on time, so the food service department is working hard to make breakfast as

accessible as possible. All the breakfast items are “Grab and Go” to keep things moving fast. Hot breakfast sandwiches are being

added to the menu. Future goals for Quade include increasing the number of menu choices and finding a way to give students

more time for breakfast.

At the beginning of this school year, breakfast was advertised to students during registration. It continues to be marketed to

students during school announcements, through social media, and in newsletters.

Quade recently wrote a third grant and received funding from Share Our Strength to purchase television screens for the cafeteria.

The televisions will be used to get the word out about breakfast by displaying the

menus, communicating the location of the carts, and reminding students that breakfast

is free for all students. Quade stated, “We are excited to promote breakfast any way

we can, and grants have been very helpful.”

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Director’s Corner - By Julie Sutton

Sharmela Snell is back at the Indiana

Department of Education! Previously she

was a field specialist for the School Nutrition

Programs in central Indiana. Sharmela

moved to Miami with her husband, but they

decided they couldn’t stay away! She is back

working with us in a different role as

Resource Management Specialist with our

finance division. Sharmela will primarily

assist with the resource management

component of the Administrative Review, but

she will also work with a variety of other

school finance topics. Her contact

information is ssnell@doe.in.gov and

317-232-6697.

Please join us in welcoming Sharmela.

We are excited to have her back!

Helping Ninjas

Build Café Organic Garden

By Maggie Schabel, Child Nutrition Specialist

College Wood Elementary (CWE) Helping Ninjas are

kicking off an organic school garden!

In spring of 2018, the Helping Ninjas applied for a

grant to help with farm to school initiatives. The grant

funded the Helping Ninjas “Green Community

Outreach Project” - a project to benefit CWE, the

CWE Green Team, the Carmel Clay School (CCS)

community and Plots to Plates. This project enabled

the CWE students to have the opportunity to learn

about organic gardening, composting, sustainability,

and promote awareness and educate their school

community. The Helping Ninjas learned gardening

skills by planting vegetables and herbs at the CCS

Plots to Plates Community Gardens and shared the

harvest with faculty and staff, the community, and

Second Helpings - a local food rescue pantry.

This project inspired the Helping Ninjas to build an

organic garden on their own school soil with the

intention of using all food grown in the school

cafeteria. Permission was granted by the

administration, and ground was broken for three

raised garden beds! A local Carmel Home Depot Store

generously supplied materials for one of the garden

beds.

After building the raised beds and planting the seeds,

the students were ready to host a ribbon cutting

ceremony to celebrate the CWE café organic garden.

On April 22, 2019, the school corporation’s

superintendent, assistant superintendent, food service

director, dietitian, principal, cafeteria manager, and

parents were present for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

CWE’s Cafeteria Manager, Susan McCord, is thrilled

to be serving herbs and vegetables grown in the

organic garden. She has plans to make homemade

pesto to serve on the salad bar. Currently, McCord is

working with their dietitian on a homemade hearty

tomato soup recipe that she will feature as part of a

reimbursable meal in the fall!

Congrats to the CWE Helping Ninjas! For more

information on Helping Ninjas, Inc. click here.

Photos of Café Organic Garden ribbon cutting ceremony at

College Wood Elementary School on April 22, 2019.

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This is a publication of the Indiana Department of Education

Office of School and Community Nutrition

http://www.doe.in.gov/nutrition

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English. To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, (AD-3027) found online at: http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20250-9410;

(2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Indiana Department of Education Non-Discrimination Statement It is the policy of the Indiana Department of Education not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability, in its programs, activities, including access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups, or employment policies as required by the Indiana Civil Rights Laws (I.C. 22-9-1), Title VI and VII (Civil Rights Act of 1964), the Equal Pay Act of 1973, Title IX (Educational Amendments), Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 USCS § 12101,et.seq.).

Inquiries regarding compliance by the Indiana Department of Education with Title IX and other civil rights laws may be directed to the Title IX Coordinator, Indiana Department of Education, 115 West Washington Street, Sixth Floor – Suite 600, Indianapolis, IN 46204, legal@doe.in.gov or by telephone to (317) 232-6676 or the Director of the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, 111 North Canal Street, Suite 1053, Chicago, IL, 60606-7204 (312) 886-8434. For further information on notice of non-discrimination, visit http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contactus.cfm.