Tewksbury highlights school-lunch outreach and expands composting program

Tewksbury School Committee on Oct. 15 heard a presentation from district food and nutrition staff on National School Lunch Week activities and the district's two-year composting program, which the operations supervisor said has diverted more than 53,000 pounds of food waste.

The presentation, led by Food and Nutrition Services Director Deborah Mudford and Operations Supervisor Caitlin New, described menu events for National School Lunch Week, a Junior Kitchen Explorer hands-on program planned for January, an "adopt-a-cow" partnership with Discover Dairy, and a composting partnership with Black Earth Compost that currently serves all six district schools.

The district emphasized student engagement as the goal: National School Lunch Week menus introduced global flavors and included classroom materials, a "passport" sticker activity at elementary schools and raffle prizes for students who tried new meals. The Junior Kitchen Explorer program will bring small groups of students into school kitchens for age-appropriate lessons in food safety and nutrition, the presenters said.

Behind the scenes, Caitlin New described the district's composting procedures. "Since we began this program two years ago, the total estimated weight diverted was 53,280 pounds just from Tewksbury Schools," she said. New said the district uses one- to two-bin collection at each school loading dock; Black Earth picks up bins weekly and turns the material into compost for local gardens.

Staff gave additional impact figures from Black Earth's portal: roughly 2,293 gallons of gasoline avoided, an estimated 6,989 seedlings supported, and about 53,029 miles of vehicle driving offset. New said the program began with a standard operating procedure, staff training and a gradual expansion; she described ongoing plans for a staff visit to Black Earth's facility for professional development.

Committee members asked whether the district could share the program's impact data with families and whether there were costs to the program. New said a Black Earth flyer and QR code exist that the district can distribute; the QR code can also generate credits for the school's program when families sign up with Black Earth. "If we begin to compost at home, there's a QR code that will also allow them to give us money back into our program," New said, describing an example credit for the program. She also said she did not have full details on household fees and deferred to Mudford for precise cost information.

Superintendent Terry Regan and committee members praised the food-services staff for reducing other waste streams in cafeterias, including replacing single-use foam and plastics with reusable trays where logistics allow. Committee members asked staff to follow up on whether district policy or state rules require any changes to how composting or additional waste bins are sited at school properties.

The presenters said next steps include sharing the Black Earth flyer and QR code in the district newsletter, continuing monthly taste tests tied to Massachusetts' harvest-of-the-month, piloting Junior Kitchen Explorer field trips in January and expanding the composting program as operations capacity allows.

The district identified Black Earth Compost and Discover Dairy as community partners for the programs. Staff stressed that some operational details (for example, exact household costs for outside pickup) remain to be confirmed and will be reported back to the committee.