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Osseo board hears expansion of summer meals program serving 43 sites
Summary
School nutrition leaders told the Osseo Area Schools board the district is serving summer meals at 43 sites this year — up from 10 school sites in 2019 — including partnerships with Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center and three new sites added for 2025.
Acting Chair Thomas Brooks called for a presentation from the district’s nutrition services team, which described a multi‑partner summer food program that staff said has more than doubled since 2019.
"So our summer programming this year has been in officially in session since the, I think, June 10," said Melanie Gates, a coordinator in Nutrition Services, as the team outlined operations and new partnerships. Director of Food and Nutrition Services Jeff Ansroy told the board the district now serves meals at 14 ISD sites supporting district programs and at a variety of community sites in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center.
The presenters said the district provides meals at 43 sites this summer, including three new sites; partners include the Salvation Army and local programs such as I Strive Hmong. Staff emphasized regulatory constraints for summer service: meal times must be pre‑registered with the Minnesota Department of Education and meals must be eaten on site for reimbursement. "If they would happen to show up and do an audit and they see a student come in at 08:10 and we give them a breakfast, we cannot get reimbursement for that breakfast," Colleen Fairbanks said when describing MDE rules.
Board members asked how families learn about open sites and were told the district uses multiple channels — school communications, partner databases and apps such as No Kid Hungry and the state listing — and partners do targeted outreach to parks and apartment buildings. The presentation also outlined meal accountability practices: daily meal‑count sheets that are retained for three years plus the current year and operational site visits, some performed three times per summer.
Superintendent Dr. Kim Heil reminded the board that free summer meals are available through Aug. 14 for children 18 and under and pointed listeners to the district website for site lists and times. The board thanked the nutrition team for the program's growth and culturally responsive menu work.
