Special thanks to The Times Record for sharing this article, written by staff reporter Darcie Moore, with the Maine DOE for publication.
Mary Booth, the full-time school health coordinator for SAD 75, was recognized by the American School Health Association as the 2012 School Health Coordinator of the Year.
Continue reading “SAD 75 health coordinator receives national honor”
The Maine DOE nutrition staff has provided training to all local northern Aroostook County directors and some local staff regarding the new meal pattern.
Continue reading “Maine DOE nutrition staff provides training in Aroostook County”
At Mount Desert Elementary School, students and staff took Maine’s annual Harvest Lunch Week very seriously by incorporating local ingredients into their lunch menu five days in a row, with some produce from as nearby as the school’s own backyard.
For this year’s Harvest Lunch Week, held September 24 through 28, Mount Desert celebrated a harvest-related theme each day.
Students in grades K-8 worked in the kitchen with school cook Linda Mailhot to learn more about Maine-made produce and the importance of using local ingredients. “It’s like the whole school’s in and out of here all the time,” Mailhot said. “Everybody gets into the meals—even the teachers.”
Continue reading “From garden to table at Mount Desert Elem.”
Thanks to the Houlton Pioneer Times for sharing the following article, written by staff writer Joseph Cyr.
HOULTON — Sometimes the best lessons are not taught in the classroom.
Such was the case for a group of Houlton Elementary School [students] in Lauren Fitzpatrick’s second-grade class Sept. 20, as the students journeyed to a field in Hodgdon to pick fresh corn for the school.
“(Dale) Flewelling and I have done some gardening projects with the kids in the past,” Fitzpatrick said. “We see a real excitement and ownership in the gardening project when kids have a direct connection. They get excited to put the seeds in the ground and watch them grow.”
Continue reading “Houlton students harvest 400 ears of corn”
During Harvest Lunch Week, schools statewide are encouraged to incorporate Maine-made ingredients into their lunch menus. But at the Brooklin School in Hancock County, Harvest Lunch Week is nothing out of the ordinary – cook Lori Boyce serves local food every day of the year.
Instead of consuming instant mashed potatoes or from-the-box desserts, Brooklin students eat potatoes they dug up in the school’s garden and pumpkin bars baked with gourds they grew themselves.
Boyce makes nearly all her food from scratch, which is difficult yet feasible at a K-8 elementary with a 46-student enrollment for 2012-13.
Continue reading “Harvest Lunch Week a trend at Brooklin School”
With the start of a new school year, districts are busy collecting school meal benefit information. There are three methods through which students may be approved for school meal benefits.
The Maine School Nutrition Association annually honors school nutrition professionals who have achieved 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and more years of service.
Continue reading “Seeking school nutrition professionals with 20+ years service”
There are many changes happening in school nutrition this year worth noting. School Food Authorities have the opportunity to receive an additional six cents per reimbursable lunch if they adhere to the new meal pattern and receive certification by the state. The additional reimbursement will become available to all certified SFAs Oct. 1, 2012.
Continue reading “New nutrition guidelines offer additional lunch reimbursement”
Teachers at The REAL School, a public alternative and special education school in Falmouth, started an agriculture and culinary arts program this past year, utilizing adventure- and project-based service learning practices to enhance the school lunch program with locally grown produce. This brief video by Wisconsin PBS documents the school’s approach and the inspirational results.
Continue reading “Students start culinary program to better school lunch”
The final rule, “Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs” was published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) on January 26, 2012. This final rule updates the meal patterns and nutrition standards for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Continue reading “Maine schools to implement new nutrition rule”
Maine DOE Newsroom 