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Food service director: lunches up, breakfast participation lags; community dinners and taste tests aim to boost uptake
Summary
Courtney Kerr, the district's on-site food service director, credited student engagement and school partnerships for improved lunch participation but said breakfast remains a challenge; she highlighted community dinners (380 meals served during a SNAP funding gap), farm-to-school demos and a POS rollout to improve meal counts.
Courtney Kerr, the district's on-site food service director with SFP, presented a summary of meal participation and student engagement initiatives, telling the board that breakfast remains the primary area of concern while lunch participation has improved.
"Breakfast, we are struggling in breakfast and that is our area of focus," Kerr said, describing "second chance" breakfast options, grab-and-go bags and other incentives being piloted. She said the district also implemented a district-wide point-of-sale system to ensure accurate counting and claiming.
Kerr described community-focused efforts including taste-testing events, a farmer's market for elementary students to try exotic fruit, a partnership with a visiting chef to teach middle-school students about growing vegetables, and a themed "Taste of the African Diaspora" event using the CTE culinary program. She told the board the district served 380 community dinners during a period of federal SNAP funding disruption.
Board members thanked Kerr for the report and praised employee engagement and the lack of fiscal findings in recent audits; one board member noted the community dinners were controversial for some families but were well received by those who attended.
Kerr said the food-service team is pursuing grants and local partnerships to address equipment and infrastructure needs at middle and high school levels and to sustain programming. The presentation included staff-recognition highlights and examples of student feedback used to tailor menus and outreach.
The board asked follow-up questions about breakfast options and outreach; Kerr and the chair discussed communication methods (text, email, Peachjar) used to inform families about free breakfast and lunch availability.
