Child Nutrition reports improved menus, grants and student hiring; breakfast participation recovering

Cassie Davidson, Yakima School District’s director of Child Nutrition, told the board on March 17 that the department is on track to complete its Eat Real comprehensive certification by September after a January pre-audit and that recent menu changes have reduced added sugars and improved nutrition benchmarks.

Davidson said the district currently has four students employed through the nutrition program and plans to hire more; those students receive training in meal prep, knife and food safety, dishwashing and serving. She described the initiative as aligned with the district strategic plan’s career-readiness goal.

Participation trends: Davidson presented multi-year meal counts and explained that a pilot shift to a 'second chance' breakfast model reduced elementary breakfast participation from roughly 79.9% to about 52%. After returning to breakfast-in-classroom in January, participation recovered to about 62.2% and rose further to 64.6% in February, indicating renewed uptake.

Grants and equipment: Davidson said the Child Nutrition department has received four grants so far, including a two-year farm-to-school grant totaling $148,000 to help the district purchase locally grown product; the Healthy Meals Healthy Schools award will pay for large kitchen equipment at Davis High School and Robertson; and a chef grant with OSPI allowed testing two new menu items with positive student reception. She noted a 90%–92% take rate on menu trials and said selected recipes may appear in the USDA recipe book.

Board questions: Board members asked about student shift schedules (many students work four-hour shifts; some return to school midday), the only cereal served being Kix to reduce sugar, and whether federal USDA funding has declined (Davidson said funding has been steady). Davidson and board members also discussed adult participation and special menu days, such as fresh salmon being served recently.

What to watch: staff indicated the final Eat Real assessment is scheduled for September and that grant-funded equipment will be deployed to support meal preparation and increased scratch cooking across secondary schools.