Is summer already over?  One of my favorite activities during the summer is taking a vacation, especially if it's with family.  For the first time in two years my family was able to get together for a week and have lots of fun in the mountains.  It really helps me prepare for a new school year.  I hope everyone got to take some time with family. 

There are several things I want to share with you concerning your child's School Nutrition.  First and foremost, we continue to improve our menu and develop healthy options.  I am excited about this because students are getting into eating healthy foods and last year we increased participation which shows us that this is now a growing trend.  It is so rewarding to see students choose healthy foods and accept them.  Another trend is that we are seeing more students choosing Gluten free (GF) options.  We are committed to making this a legitimate choice.  There is much that goes into bringing gluten free options including sourcing foods, but most important is training staff to handle these GF options correctly.  Please understand that we are setting goals to have more GF options on the menu.

As we continue to increase the quality of our food, increased costs are a natural occurrence.  Many of you have noticed that food has risen substantially in the grocery store.  The same is true for us.   Additionally, we have recognized the hard work and dedication of our staff with wage increases.  It has become necessary for us to raise our lunch price by 10 cents per meal ($.10).  We hope that you will recognize that this increase is necessary and we have put a lot of time and effort into keeping that increase minimal. 

With the expansion of nutritious offerings, we have developed a new, from scratch, fresh fruit smoothie.  We will be rolling it out to the elementary schools once a week as an option to purchase.  I want you all to know that this is a product that uses 100% fruit and lowfat yogurt in the mix.  It is a very clean label and in my book is a great healthy snack.  The price will be $1.25 and is 8 oz. in size.  We have showcased these at several community events and our open house over the past few months and they were a huge hit at each event.  We hope you will have your student try them and give us feedback on your vote for these smoothies.

Thank you so much for your continued support of our program.  We wouldn't be successful without your support.  As always, my email is a click away (bdcraig@dcsdk12.org) if you have a question or concern.  I love to hear success stories as well!

Welcome back to a new year (2015-16)

Brent D Craig

Director

Nutrition Services