Madison’s school lunches have been awarded a rating of excellent. The report from the Director of Food Services, Diane Coleman, served food for thought on the topic of school lunch trends during the Board of Education meeting last week.
Food administrator Diane Coleman stated, “This has been my most challenging year, out of 21 years as Director of Food Service. As you know, you saw on TV, we have new regulations from the USDA, and the Ohio Department of Education and the government. And districts scrambled to meet these challenges. And they weren’t easy.” Coleman has been following the national scale effect of these federal laws, to help explain their own situation of loss in school lunches from the previous year.
Changes over the last year have been comparatively better, as Madison has risen to the challenges. One factor, Madison stands out one of three in Ohio.
Madison served 467,178 meals this year. Last year, Madison served 539,651, a loss of 72,473 meals in a year. “Which is huge,” Coleman said, “And students in the lower grades are not embracing the regulations.”
She noted that the district was not alone in the types of challenges it faced, adding that a school in the neighboring state of Indiana reported losses of $300,000 over children’s negative reaction to a changed menu.
A couple of changes made over the last few year served to minimize the damage. Madison had already altered their menu and removed a la carte options. Among items subtracted were chips and cheese and Gatorade constituting lunches. Coleman said, “Older students in the district are doing the best job with the regulations. The loss in meals is definitely from our younger people.”
In light of continuing adjustments, Coleman said. “There are challenges all over the country, there are school districts that dropped out of the national school lunch program, there’s just a lot of frustration out there. But I felt that we rose to the challenge and we were rated excellent and we did a good job, my staff did an excellent job, so I commend them.”
The bottom line? They’re making more foods from scratch, on cycle menus that change per season, and saving money. “We have income. I ordered a new oven for the new high school, an $8,000 oven that we have to have,” Coleman stated. “And the cash in our balance now is $414,561.” If the trend continues the next year, they will have to decide how to allocate the surplus money. The board thanked Coleman and her staff for a job well done.
Madison board unanimously approved $204,000 from the general fund to purchase new stadium lighting. With their new high school building in progress, Vaughn Electric is providing materials at-cost. Replacement will happen this season, before the new track is surfaced, because wiring requires digging up the track.
In a meeting which began with the approval of the track and artificial turf, news of a girls’ golf team was also welcomed. There are at least six players, and the board approved formation of the team. The district will also be adding a girl’s golf coach for the team.
