Grant to aid USD 250 students with snacks

Pittsburg USD 250 elementary school students will continue to receive fresh produce for mid-morning and afternoon snacks this year.

Thanks to a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program worth more than $80,000, the district’s elementary schools will be able to provide their students with healthy alternatives to packaged snack foods such as cookies and chips, which often are high in sugar, sodium and saturated fat, among others.

The FFVP grant comes on the heels of a mounting national movement aiming to get school districts to serve healthier foods to their students in an effort to combat childhood obesity and related health risks. It will allow the district to participate in the program for the second year in a row.

According to Kelly Horn, director of nutritional services for USD 250, the federal program is an important catalyst for change in efforts to combat childhood obesity, by helping children learn more healthful eating habits.

“The FFVP is an effective and creative way of introducing fresh fruits and vegetables as healthy snack options,” Horn said.

The FFVP began in 2002 as a Congress-authorized pilot project. The success of the program led to the enactment of legislation in 2004 to expand the FFVP and to make it a permanent program under the National School Lunch Act. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers the FFVP at the federal level. At the state level, it is administered by the Kansas State Department of Education, Child Nutrition Wellness.

To implement the program, the USD 250 will receive a total of $81,510 for the 2010-2011 school year, money that will be divided among the district’s four elementary schools — George Nettels, Lakeside, Meadowlark and Westside.

The money will be distributed based on each school’s student population, and amounts to about $55 per student per year, based on pre-enrollment projections.

Horn said the program has been success in its first year, and so far has been a hit with students and teachers.

“It’s been very positive,” Horn said, adding that the between-meal snacks used to be primarily the responsibility of teachers and parents. “Previously each school was different. Many teachers bought their own snacks and some weren’t healthy. We heard about the grant and thought it would be great.”

Horn said the district had initially intended only for kindergarten classes to receive money for the program. But the government had a surprise for her.

“They sent money for every student,” Horn said. “Now the parents don’t have to provide anything, the teachers don’t have to provide anything.”

Only elementary schools are eligible to be selected for the FFVP, and they must operate within National School Lunch Program guidelines, submit an application for participation, and have 50 percent or more of their students eligible for free/reduced price meals. The total enrollment of all schools selected must result in a per-student allocation of $50-$75 per year, and the fresh produce must be provided separately from lunch and breakfast.

There was a brief adjustment period, which Horn described as minor nuisance.

“We weren’t sure at first ... because of the logistics of getting the snacks and all,” Horn said, adding that student helpers would retrieve the snacks from the cafeteria and take them back to their classrooms. “But once we got worked out it went really well.”

Additionally, the selected schools receive reimbursement for the cost of making it available to students, which Horn said helps in a different way.

“Any money left over goes back into the pot for next year,” Horn said. “Last year we used it to purchase two refrigeration units (for extra storage for the produce).”

The program also aims to expose students to produce they might not otherwise experience.

That means teachers get some leeway when choosing the produce they want to serve.

“We’ll try new fruits and vegetables, and we might sneak some things in that we maybe haven’t had before,” Horn said.

She said that so far, teachers had introduced their students to different types of pears and apples, as well as various peppers and other vegetables. Of course, not all produce is priced equally, so expensive and exotic fruits like papaya or mango may wind up as rare treats.

“The grant doesn’t cover everything,” Horn said, “so we’ll have to look at the cost.”