Diana Flores, executive director of School Nutrition, Central Kitchen and Distribution Services, presented the districts central kitchen operations and highlighted the shift toward freshly prepared meals.

Flores said the central kitchen now prepares a significant portion of the menu on site, ranging from roasted vegetable batches to seasoned ground beef and fresh romaine lettuce sourced from local farms. Staff described a production process that yields thousands of servings per batch, a routing and cold‑chain flow that supports 9 distribution routes and roughly half a million fresh meals served from the central kitchen.

Board members applauded the quality and cultural variety of menu options and said better food can positively affect attendance, behavior and learning. The board noted plans for a district survey of students and families to assess satisfaction and to guide menu development.

Why it matters: For many students the school meal may be their primary daily meal; the central kitchen represents an operational change that aims to improve nutrition, local sourcing and student experience.

Provenance: Presentation and kitchen video ran at 01:46:27 and included staff explanations of batch sizes, processing steps and distribution routes.