HOW WE ACTED TO MAKE SURE KIDS GOT ENOUGH TO EAT
Running the second largest secondary school district nutrition program in California during a pandemic — impacted by supply and staffing shortages — has had its challenges and its wins. The last two years stretched everyone across the nation and world, but despite many challenges, here in the Sweetwater Union High School District, located in Chula Vista, the seventh-largest city in Southern California, we successfully served 8.74 million meals to our students.
During the pandemic, Congress provided relief by passing special child nutrition waivers, which allowed schools more flexibility in service and meal preparation, in addition to reducing the administrative paperwork that comes with distributing meals to millions of students. We are hopeful Congress will extend the waivers that expire this week as the food supply chain is still experiencing challenges.
Last year in California, the Healthy School Meals for All legislation was passed. This means the state will cover the cost of two nutritious meals each day for all children beginning in the 2022-23 school year. Just as every child receives a textbook, each will receive a meal as well with hopes to reduce hunger and remove stigma for students in accessing meals. It is my dream that this becomes a national initiative. Our children are worth it!
Securing food during the pandemic was a main objective for our team and continues to be a focus as we move into the 2022-23 school year. When the supply chains are disrupted, we experience spikes in pricing and product availability may be affected. In addition to school districts, our industry partners were also impacted with labor and supply shortages from which they have yet to fully recover. We saw unprecedented fluctuations in product availability. One example is spicy chicken patties, a staple amongst our student population. That product was disrupted due to a shortage in the spices necessary in the recipe, as well as a chicken shortage impacted by the bird flu.
Districts across the country are facing challenges in keeping their programs viable as we “return to normal,” when the world and the supply chain continues to experience unprecedented challenges. As of today, we are experiencing the impact of grain shortages in the global supply chain. The result is increased costs for a key component of our meal pattern, as well as a shortage of products available to serve. Meal pattern flexibility would be extremely helpful for this specific challenge. Congressional support and understanding will assist in
Securing food during the pandemic was a main objective for our team at Sweetwater Union High School District.
facilitating healthy nutritious meals to our students. It is good news that the Senate has just passed the Keep Kids Fed Act, which extends free meals for kids during summer school and waives the cost for reduced price students in the upcoming school year. Additional funding is provided as well.
In the Sweetwater Union High School District, we will continue to look for creative ways to ensure we have enough food as pressure mounts on the food system. This school year, we purchased truckloads of food to ensure we had supplies for our meal program and we contracted with local cold storage facilities to hold product. Our proactive planning placed our district in a position to receive and hold volumes of food and to provide consistent service to our students.
Fiscal challenges are always present in nutrition services programs, and as program directors and personnel, the campaign to feed our students is personal. We are optimistic as we move forward and navigate to recovery from the global pandemic, that all entities will come together to feed our students and help them thrive, as our future depends on it. It is exciting to know that the Biden administration has announced a major conference addressing school nutrition in the fall.
It is my hope our leaders will consider attending in solidarity for the future of our students. And I’m glad groups like the National Farm to School Network are encouraging everyone to carefully consider who is at the table when it comes to shaping the future of school meals.
There is no better way to unify than around a lunch table. And, in a country as great as America, there should be no barriers for students to learning. Those include at the lunch table.