A million pounds of local, regional and organic food has been served to San Diego Unified students during the past three years.
Since
2010, the one million pounds has included apples from Julian, certified
organic blackberries and other healthy fruits and vegetables grown in
San Diego and California, brought fresh to Kids' Choice Cafés in
elementary schools and SanDi Coast Cafés at middle and high schools.
"What
this means is that our kids are eating the freshest and best food we
can give them," said Gary Petill, Food Services Director. "There's
nothing better in the world than what our partners, the farmers of
California, grow in the local sunshine."
Over the three
years, the amount of locally grown items on your school's lunch menu has
gone from less than two percent to more than 15 percent. The program
began in 2010 when the District participated in a federal grant
allocated to the County of San Diego. The grant is gone but the fresh
choices remain.
"We try for a very diverse menu on our
salad bar," said Petill. "Many of our customers eat in our restaurants
every day of the week -- some twice a day. We have to keep them happy
and the local produce helps us do that."
This school year,
nearly 600,000 pounds -- nearly $250,000 worth -- of produce has been
purchased from local farms, including some that are in the city of San
Diego, said Vanessa Zajfen, the District's Farm to School Specialist.
Menu items this year included Organic Kabocha Squash from Suzie's Farm
in South Bay, Organic Persimmons grown by Sahu Sub-Tropicals in
Fallbrook and Rainbow; and tofu from the San Diego Soy Dairy.
The
farm-to-school program builds on a tradition of healthy and tasty
lunches at the District. This is the tenth school year that San Diego
Unified has had salad bars in elementary schools; the seniors that will
graduate from high school in a next week have grown up with salad bars
in their schools. These students have learned to make positive, healthy
choices by having salad bars in their schools. Every day, they can
choose a variety of fruits and vegetables – load up on one or another
today, change up with something else tomorrow. But it's all healthy,
said Petill.
This isn't costing taxpayers any extra; it's all
done within the amount provided by the federal government's school lunch
subsidy and what students pay for lunch: $2 elementary, $2.50 middle
and high school. And 61 percent of the district's students are low
income and receive free or reduced-priced lunches.
For more
information on the district's Food Services Program, contact Petill at
gpetill@sandi.net. There's also more information on the
Farm To School website.
Principal
Fabiola Bagula has received the 2013 Visionary Award from the San Diego
César E. Chávez Commemoration Committee. The certificate commends her
for her strong leadership, compassion, integrity and justice in the
community.
The
team, a fixture at competitions for the last 13 years, received awards
in the Elementary Small Open class at the April 27 event.
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