It's been a couple of months since my last update, and I wanted to let you in on some fun events coming up this Spring as well as updates on our monthly Chef in the Classroom and Farmer's Choice vegetable in the cafeteria.
First the updates:
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our Chef in the Classroom program for the months of January, February and March. It's not clear why. I was told it was a budget issue. But when I was offered an anonymous emergency donation to keep the program going, Maggie Davis said it was more of a scheduling conflict rather than a financial constraint. It's disappointing, I know, but we will be in full swing again beginning April.
Some good news: Our cafeteria will be getting a salad bar! Food service director, Cindy Miozzi filled out a grant application and won! We were very excited to hear this wonderful news at the Wellness meeting on Monday. We should be expecting it any day now. With our new salad bar, I am hoping that next year we will be able to fill it with lots of local vegetables!
Chocolate milk controversy: A couple of weeks ago, I was alerted to the fact that the chocolate milk our children are drinking in school contains high fructose corn syrup. This was shocking news to many parents, especially those of children who drink two or more a day. We all know how foods high in sugars affect children's behavior and ability to concentrate. And the consumption of high fructose corn syrup is attributed to the rising epidemic of childhood obesity.
I brought this issue up at the Wellness meeting on Monday, and Maggie Davis asked Cindy to call the school's milk distributor and ask them to switch to a different brand of chocolate milk that doesn't contain HFCS. I have no idea if we will be able to make the change immediately (we may have to wait until the contract expires at the end of the school year). However, if enough parents come out and voice their concerns to Maggie Davis or Dr. Villanti, there will be swifter action. Make your voices heard and start calling!
Have you read the most recent edition of Horizons Newsletter? The front page article is all about our Farm to School program. Please check it out!
Now for the fun stuff to come:
The week of April 4th is Haldane's Eco Week. This week will be filled with activities related to outdoor exploration, recycling, composting, gardening and farm to school. Dr. Villanti hopes that sometime during this week will see the official "ribbon cutting" ceremony of Haldane's new Garden. We are currently looking into getting some local farmers to come to the school and help the teachers get started in the garden.
Eco Night will be on Friday, April 8th, and it will have a Farm to Table theme. Our chef Mark Gandara and his wife Sunny will be giving two 45 minute cooking sessions in the Home Ec room. The theme will be cooking local and in season. It will be a surprise what they will come up with. The Cold Spring Farmers' Market will also be present that evening. We will have tables set up at the entrance to the Home Ec room with samples from the market and a digital frame displaying photos of Madura Farms where all of our Farmer's Choice vegetables are grown. We will be asking families to bring in light, finger foods and small tastings of recipes using local ingredients for people to sample. (Think apples, eggs, milk, cheese, carrots, greens, etc.)
If anyone is interested in being part of the planning of these events, you can come to the next Environmental meeting on Wednesday, March 16th at 3:15 in the Merritt building.
That's all for now.
***Don't forget to come to the Garden meeting at the Butterfield Library next Wednesday, February 16th at 6 pm. Learn about the progress that has been made and the plans that lay ahead. We will be serving homemade soups and babysitting will be available.
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