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Monticello nutrition services reports growth in participation after first year of self-operation
Summary
The district’s nutrition services director reported higher meal participation across all school levels, equipment upgrades, staffing numbers, and program changes after the first year of self-operation.
Monticello Public School District’s newly self-operated nutrition services program reported increased student participation, equipment upgrades and new program investments during a year-end review presented Monday by Director of Nutrition Services Laura Wacker Hansen.
Wacker Hansen said the program operated meal service at seven school sites with 39 staff members and, as of the previous Friday, had served 168,385 breakfasts and 448,553 lunches during the school year. She presented participation rates as the program’s primary health metric: elementary breakfast participation averaged 40% (up 4 percentage points), middle school breakfast 32% (up 2 points), and high school breakfast 18% (up 3 points). Lunch participation rose at all levels — elementary averaged 74%, middle school 83%, and high school 64%.
Program changes and investments: Wacker Hansen described equipment reviews and upgrades across kitchens, including new serving lines and a dish machine at Pinewood, and repairs to ovens, coolers and freezers. The district purchased a new delivery van and ergonomic delivery carts to improve meal delivery quality at off-site locations such as the workforce center and nature-based program. She also said the program built a recipe and ingredient database from scratch after transitioning to self-operation.
Wacker Hansen said the program prioritized higher-quality proteins, more fresh produce and expanded student choice, and used real-time sales data to adapt menus quickly to student preferences. She described staff training, productivity and an outside operational assessment by CECO as part of a multi-year roadmap for program improvement. "The staff has been so excited, so supportive, and they just love the students in our district," Wacker Hansen said.
School board members and student representatives praised the changes and offered anecdotal examples of student response, including a popular "chicken tender Thursdays" remark from a student. Board members noted events such as district-wide Thanksgiving meals and elementary "kids choice" days where students helped design menus.
Next steps: Wacker Hansen said needs assessments and maintenance plans will guide purchases over the summer and in future years to support the program’s roadmap.
