By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
As classes begin again across the Carbon School District, many students find themselves relying on school lunch to get themselves through the day. This is where district Nutrition Specialist Tonya Jones comes in. Jones joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss the district’s child nutrition program and other ways the CSD encourages students to eat healthy.
“With the Child Nutrition Program, we always offer five components, which are your meats or meat alternatives, milk, fruits, vegetables and grains. So they get that offered every single meal,” said Jones. “So it’s perfect for getting the total nutrition for them.”
She added,” They have it figured out so that we have exactly all the components and the nutrition that the student needs to survive daily. So it’s perfect. We have weekly and daily requirements. So you won’t get a better nutritious meal than school lunch.”
Changing gears, Jones spoke on the free and reduced lunch program, which this year will see reduced students also receiving free lunches: “So for the reduced students, they’ve waived the fee for meals for lunch. So anybody who applies and receives reduced status will also receive a free lunch. Breakfast is still 30 cents, but the lunch meal is waived for this year.”
At the elementary level, the district wants to encourage students to try a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. To aid in this, the district has implemented the ‘Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Elementary Program’. Jones explained the purpose behind the program,” The ‘Fresh Fruit and Vegetable’ program is a great opportunity to teach students to try different fruits and vegetables. Twice a week, we bring in different fruits or vegetables and allow all the students to try them. And so this is a program for all the elementaries. We have been doing it for several years, and it’s just great.”
Another resource offered to help parents and students navigate the world of nutrition is the CSD’s nutrition website. “If you just go to the Carbon School District website and go to nutrition and our department, it has everything on there. And we’ve put in a lot of links so that when you go to apply, it’s very, very simple. And if you need help, there are also other links there. So it just makes it a one-shop place. Just go and push the button, and it takes you right to where you need to go.”
Closing our conversation, Jones stated,” Just remember that school lunch is very healthy for the students.”
For more information, visit carbonschoolmenus.com.