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Rescue Union Elementary food services outline procurement review, menu shifts and farm-to-school steps
Summary
Food service director Laura Knight told the board the district passed a procurement review with no findings, will host an administrative on-site review in early May, removed artificially dyed items ahead of state rules, and is expanding farm-to-school sourcing and menu pilots across elementary and middle schools.
Laura Knight, the district’s food service director, told the Rescue Union Elementary Board that district food operations are undergoing a multi-part review and a series of menu changes intended to expand fresh, locally sourced options and meet forthcoming state requirements.
"We are also under administrative review this year that occurs every 5 years... They've chosen Jackson Elementary. They're gonna come on May 6," Knight said, describing the on-site portion of a federal/state administrative review that will observe breakfast and lunch service and review production and paperwork. Knight told trustees a separate procurement review closed April 2 “with no findings.”
Knight reviewed per-site participation and staffing: Rescue Elementary serves about 140 breakfasts and 360 lunches a day; Green Valley about 140 breakfasts and 230 lunches; Jackson about 163 breakfasts and 231 lunches; Lakeview about 200 breakfasts and 222 lunches. She said the district introduced a before-school breakfast pilot at Lake Forest that is serving roughly 30 meals before school.
On menu changes, Knight said the district eliminated all items containing certain artificial food dyes "to get a jump on" a state measure cited in the meeting. "So we went ahead and just got a jump on that and removed everything," she said, adding that manufacturers have reformulated some products and favorites returned to menus by January.
Knight described pilots and new items that tested well with students: butter chicken curry, Italian- and Thai-inspired entrees, a barbecue rib sandwich and a breakfast croissant option. For middle schools she highlighted a popular charcuterie box and other successful entrees.
Knight also described farm-to-school efforts and local sourcing: the district has worked with Spork Foodhub and the Farmers Marketplace to bring produce (mandarins, cilantro and other items) from local Central Valley and nearby-El Dorado/Placer County farms. She said the district is exploring ways to use school-garden harvests in cafeterias while establishing food-safety protocols.
Other operational steps included new scan/pinpad ID cards to cut line times (piloted at Lake Forest and purchased for all elementary schools), and a staff-training approach that assigns a substitute to new hires for several days to avoid training while running service.
Trustees praised Knight’s first-year work implementing the reviews and multiple continuous-improvement projects. The board had no public comments on the item.
The board did not vote on policy changes at the meeting; Knight said some reviews and implementation steps will continue into the summer and may require follow-up reporting to the board.
