Dawson County School NUTRITION PROGRAM

Dawson County School Nutrition program continues to feed children nutritious and delicious food during both breakfast and lunch. This coming school year, one of the goals for the School Nutrition Department will be to increase breakfast participation. This will be done in several ways.

In the middle, junior, and high school, the cafeterias were awarded a breakfast grant to increase breakfast participation by offering different yogurt-based fruit smoothies. The junior high school did a pilot program at the end of the school year and saw a twenty-five percent increase in participation at breakfast. The fruit smoothies are a complete breakfast, offering the recommended amount of fruit, dairy, and grain. Starting this school year, fruit smoothies will be available in grades six through 12.

Research shows that students who regularly eat breakfast are more likely to meet all their vitamin and mineral needs, are less likely to be overweight, have lower cholesterol, have better school attendance, and perform better on standardized tests. Breakfast meals rich in dairy, fruit, and aholegrain give children the nutrition needed to improve concentration and cognition. Enjoying a wellbalanced breakfast just makes good sense.

Dawson County School Nutrition always offers several breakfast options for all students from pre-k to the twelfth grade. It makes great economic sense too.

Breakfast is offered to students for only $1.50. If your child qualifies for reduced pricing, then the cost is only 30-cents. Make sure your student is nutritionally “fueled up” and ready to learn by having them visit the breakfast line every day when they come to school; and do not forget about the delicious grab-n-go fruit smoothies available in grades 6-12.

This past year and continuing into the new school year, the nutrition department will continue its partnership with the CTAE department’s student worker and CBI programs.

The School Nutrition program was blessed to have so many students willing to help and learn in the school kitchens. Mr. Terry Haymond, Culinary Arts teacher at Dawson County Career Academy is instrumental in scheduling and mentoring his Culinary Arts students in assisting in various kitchens in the district.

The school nutrition program is also grateful to Mrs. Charnley and her staff for mentoring CBI students to assist and learn valuable job skills in the kitchens. Both of these groups are very beneficial to the students and staff and were a joy to have in the program.

The Dawson County School Nutrition Program will again offer families the opportunity to apply for free or reduced meal pricing.

This year, the school meals application is made available through the district website and is even easier to complete. Parents wishing to complete the application online need to visit www. dawsoncountyschools.org and click on the School Meals Application button on the main page of the Dawson County Schools website.

The school meals application and eligibility guidelines can also be found by going to the My School Apps website at www.myschoolapps.com, putting in the zip code of the school your student attends (30534), and choosing “Dawson County” when prompted.

Dawson County School Nutrition knows its customers’ tastes and regularly tries out new menu items through taste tests and customer surveys. DCS employees work hard to maintain freshness and provide only the best ingredients in the school meal recipes.

Again, this year, Dawson County Middle, Dawson County Jr. High, and Dawson County High School will all provide customers with a fullservice salad bar. The salad bars are stocked with market fresh produce to even include some schoolraised produce from the Kilough Elementary greenhouse. Every month, menus are posted on the district website.

Parents are able to view menus of fresh selections and then go to www.myschoolbucks.com and pre-pay for student meals. The process is fast, easy, and allows for students not to have a need to bring money to school for meals. If a student has a special dietary concern or food allergy, parents can contact the school nutrition office or the school nurse to request an individualized meal plan.

Dawson County School Nutrition is here for its students and parents. All kitchens are inspected twice a year by the Department of Public Health and received near perfect scores on their kitchen inspections.

All kitchen managers and assistant managers are Servsafe certified and undergo yearly training to ensure Dawson County students only consume the very best food. If you have a question or concern, please call the Nutrition office.