Schools

Lunchtime Report Card: FCPS Releases Results of School Food Study

An independent firm studied the healthiness and freshness of schools' food—find how the district scored.

By Jennifer van der Kleut

In February of this year, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) hired the independent firm Prismatic Services to study the district's current food offerings for students, and "suggest innovative approaches to prepare and serve nutritious, fresh foods for school lunches and breakfasts, and reduce the use of processed foods and artificial additives and preservatives."


At its Nov. 11 meeting, Prismatic presented a report of their findings to the school board.

The report praised 12 current practices of the district, and presented 28 recommendations for improvements to the district's food plans and offerings. 

Some of the major highlights of those recommendations included:

  • Providing more information on nutrition, additives, and preservatives, and improving online data for parents on student food choices.
  • Increasing the rotation of the menu cycle to include more variety in meal choices.
  • Adopting ideas from the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, a program of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition program that is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  • Adopting new policies for local purchasing, lunch start times, vending machines, additives and preservatives, and fresh fruit and vegetable bars.
  • Improving cafeteria reports, financial analysis, and participation analysis.
  • Adding supervisory staff and trainer positions.

Some of the things FCPS was praised for included:

  • Maintaining a reserve fund.
  • Increasing locally purchased produce.
  • Providing free meals to reduced-price eligible students.
  • Operating safe and sanitary kitchens.
  • Removing ice cream vending machines.
  • Supporting nutrition education.
  • Using a central warehouse for dry and frozen items.

The report was based on onsite visits; surveys of high school students, parents, cafeteria staff, and school staff members and administrators; internal assessments; and peer data and best practices from other school districts.

FCPS said in a statement that staff will be analyzing the financial impact of implementing the study's recommendations, and drafting possible timelines for implementation, to present to the school board in a January meeting.


PATCH WANTS TO KNOW - What do you think of your child's school's food offerings? Tell us which school your child attends and what you think of the food offerings there in the comments below.


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