If we are aware of menu changes before a given day, we will post those changes here, on this part of our web page.

Posted January 21st, 2010:

The Menu on Friday, Jan. 22, at all schools, will not change from what is printed.

Here is a link to the Hawk-i website where you can apply online for health insurance for your children.  The Administration Building also has the form to fill out.

FARM TO SCHOOL

Iowa Farmer Today will be publishing a story about our Farm to School program!!  It came out right before Christmas, around Dec. 22nd. There is a link to the article below.  Take a look!  There is also a lovely photo of Ruth Duritsa and Wanda Standridge, taken while they volunteered to clean Bagge Strawberries back in June.  The strawberries were then frozen and served in August. 

Attached below are the minutes from our meeting on Oct. 26th. 

Last summer we learned that we will be part of a grant that UNI's Center for Energy and Environmental Education (Kamyar Enshayan) was awarded to help three schools (Price Lab, Waterloo, and Independence) in our area implement and maintain healthier school meals while serving locally grown produce.  We are one of those schools!  Yay!  We just learned that the person chosen to assist the three schools is Andrea Rissing.  She was at our meeting on the 26th and was given a lot of great feedback from our members about what we'd like to accomplish.  We learned that the grant may cover a paid staff member to help talk to the kids about and help take care of our school garden!

Micki Sand-Cohen let us know that more of the 1st grade teachers were interested in having a garden outside of their classroom!  We will try like crazy to make that happen!!  We are planning a meeting with the Buchanan County Extension to discuss how they can help us with our school gardens and with a gardening club for students. 

Our Iowa growing season is mostly over, but some of our farmer contacts still have some cold weather crops available.  We are planning to serve baked potatoes in January and use some of our frozen Sweetcorn and Zucchini in January as well.  :-)

If you have any questions, know of anyone interested in being a part of our chapter, or would like to be included in our e-mail updates, please contact me, Kelly Crossley, at 334-7423  or e-mail me:  kduritsa@independence.k12.ia.us

Please, share with us your ideas and your passion for the health of our students as well as the health of our earth!

Thank you!

-Kelly Crossley, Food Service Director, updated January 14th, 2010

 Due to an increasing number of subs carrying a negative balance, we are no longer making new lunch accounts for any new substitute teachers.  If a sub already has an account and is keeping up with payments, they can continue to charge to it.  All subs who have a negative balance on their account will be asked to pay cash for any meals or individual items until their account has been paid in full.

All new subs will be asked to pay cash for any item they would like to purchase at breakfast or lunch.  A full adult meal is $2.75 and a full adult breakfast is $1.45.  At most schools, adults can purchase meal items, a la carte.  Each school has slightly different offerings and prices so please ask the kind ladies in the kitchen how much a single item is there. 

Thank you for your understanding!  :-)

Any questions can be directed to Kelly Crossley, 319-334-7423 or kduritsa@independence.k12.ia.us

I hope to fill this new section with updates regarding news from our state and federal government's work on nutrition legislation, information that may help your child live a healthier life and also how parents can help demonstrate a healthy lifestyle!  Please let me know if you'd like to see something posted here! 

Thanks!  -Kelly