Cornwall Central School District

Portion Size – is regulated by the USDA through the School Nutrition program. The following detailed information on calories and portion size has also been added to our district website under Food Service.

Meal Pattern Chart

School Lunch Options – as requests have been made over the years, our Director of Food Service has responded by including those items where possible as options for students/staff. Our menu and offerings are also regulated by the NYS Child Nutrition program.

Financials

• The School Lunch Program is intended to be a self-sustaining program that is funded through sales, federal and state reimbursements, surplus food, and catering. With the rising minimum wage and food cost increasing, it has posed a challenge to the school lunch fund to continue to be self-sufficient.
• The school district must cover any negative lunch account balances at the end of the school year through a transfer to school lunch. If the program were to see a decrease in reimbursable meals, it would decrease the total revenue and could necessitate a subsidy from the district’s annual program budget which would directly impact the funds available for instruction and facilities maintenance/capital project work.

 Food Quality/Preparation

• Staff are continuing to review sales records to help inform the amount of food prepared each day in an effort to mitigate waste and contain overall food cost.
• They are also judiciously monitoring what is accepted at delivery and served to students to ensure the food is safe for students to eat.
• Food is stored at the appropriate temperature and if not it is properly disposed of. Student and staff safety are the focus when questioning whether to dispose of or use an item.

For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government has issued new nutrition standards for meals served to America’s schoolchildren, based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This school year our school lunches will have a new look with many more healthy choices for your child every day! For more information on the Dietary Guidelines, click here to visit ChooseMyPlate.

Students will be offered 5 components to their meal at the price set for school lunch this fall:

• Milk
• Fruit
• Vegetable
• Grain
• Protein

Each student will be able to choose 3, 4 or 5 of these components- however, one must be a fruit or vegetable.

• Milk choices offered
  • 1% unflavored
  • Skim, flavored
  • Skim, unflavored
• Fruit and Vegetable offerings will be increased
  • Elementary and Middle School students will be offered ½ cup fruit AND ½ cup vegetable minimum
  • High School students will be offered 1 cup of fruit and 1 cup of vegetable minimum
  • Students must take at least 1 choice of fruit or vegetable daily with their meal choice to be charged the meal price

Students refusing both the fruit and vegetable component must be charged a la carte prices for the items on their tray

Affects students at all levels K-12:

• 5 Vegetable groups now must be offered once each week
  • Dark Green
  • Red/Orange
  • Legumes (Dried Beans & peas)
  • Starchy
  • Other as defined in 2010 Dietary guidelines