Board certifies district Healthy Food Certification for 2025–26, allows limited event exceptions

The Windsor Locks Board of Education voted unanimously March 27 to certify the district’s Healthy Food Certification (HFC) under C.G.S. Section 10-215f for the period July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. Patricia Proctor, the district’s director of operations and finance, told the board the statute requires local boards participating in the National School Lunch Program to determine whether foods sold separately from reimbursable meals meet Connecticut Nutrition Standards.

"The Healthy Food Certification (HFC) statute (C.G.S. Section 10-215f) requires that every year, local boards of education or governing authorities (BOE) for public schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) must determine and certify whether all food items sold to students separately from reimbursable meals will or will not meet the Connecticut Nutrition Standards (CNS)," Ms. Proctor said during the presentation. The board’s motion to certify the district’s compliance was moved by G. Guyette, seconded by L. Cutler, and passed unanimously.

Separately, the board approved a motion permitting the sale of food items that do not meet the Connecticut Nutrition Standards only if three conditions are met: the sale is connected with an event that occurs after the regular school day (for example, games or plays), the sale takes place at the location of the event, and the items are not sold from a vending machine or school store. The board’s motion clarifies that ‘‘event’’ excludes routine practices or meetings and that the regular school day is defined as midnight before to 30 minutes after the official school day.

The action follows district staff work to finalize administration of school meals and ancillary food sales. The board also discussed a forthcoming food service RFP (see separate article) that will determine the vendor delivering reimbursable meals under the NSLP.