Taos nutrition staff push more scratch‑made meals, but board raises breakfast and portion concerns

Taos Municipal Schools operations staff updated the board on student‑nutrition work on March 4, including efforts to expand scratch‑made cooking, target menus based on student surveys, and broaden summer‑food and after‑school snack programs.

Operations staff said surveys at the middle school and high school have produced menu preferences (salad and certain hot items were popular) and that nutrition supervisors are exploring direct commodity purchasing to reduce costs. The district reported meeting the state’s 50 percent scratch‑cooked threshold and set a goal of 65 percent the following year, with a longer‑term aspiration to reach 75–80 percent as staffing permits.

Board members raised questions about breakfast portion sizes and the timing limitations imposed by federal/state meal rules. Secretary Truhill told staff that many students arrive hungry and asked whether additional in‑school or between‑meal snacks could be provided without jeopardizing federal reimbursement rules. District staff explained that meal pattern and timing rules constrain changes to portion sizes paid by federal funding but noted community‑school pantries and the nurse’s office as stopgaps that provide snacks when students report hunger.

Additional topics included classroom taste‑testing and garden programs to familiarize younger students with vegetables (staff said garden‑based tasting is already part of some preK–elementary programming), recruitment of part‑time summer cooks to expand meal capacity, and planning for the summer meal program at three sites. Nutrition staff said they will share the recent student survey results and a strategic plan for program sustainability with the board.

No formal board action was taken; staff were asked to provide the survey data and a program financial plan at a future meeting.