USDA Gets First Hand Look at Good Work of DMPS Food & Nutrition
Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture visited Brubaker Elementary School for a first hand look at the work of DMPS Food & Nutrition.
The surest way to a child’s mind is through their stomach.
That’s what research shows and that’s the idea behind the expanded role schools have taken on in the lives of underprivileged children nationwide. Besides the traditional “three R’s” 37 schools plus four early learning centers at DMPS now also provide two squares and a snack at no cost to students and their families.
Brubaker is the largest elementary school in the district, serving a student population in excess of 700 in more ways than ever before. Now in its second year offering free meals to all students through the nationwide Community Eligibility Provision, it was the site this morning of a visit by representatives of the United States Department of Agriculture which administers the program and provided the school with a grant for the purchase of necessary equipment. Dropping in for the breakfast shift like a trio of restaurant critics were:
- Darlene Sanchez, Special Nutrition Programs Division Director, USDA Food and Nutrition Service
- David Von Behren, Public Affairs Director, USDA Food and Nutrition Service
- Ann Feilmann, Chief, Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services, Iowa Department of Education
They were accompanied by DMPS Nutrition Services Director Sandy Huisman and Nutrition Specialist Amanda Miller. What they saw was a clockwork operation that sends an average of 575 kids per day off to their classrooms to eat breakfast in small groups before getting to work. Principal Mark Adams told the visitors that besides the nutritional importance of what amounts to first period at Brubaker, there is also a social component.
“It’s turned out to be an opportunity for students to get to know each other better and form friendships, too,” Adams said.
Courtney Neppl coordinates the cafeteria operation at Brubaker and she makes tap-dancing along the fine line between bureaucratic efficiency and personal customer service look easy. She’s been at Brubaker for six years. Both of her kids attended there before moving on to East High and Hoyt Middle schools. Once she and her staff have set up the two morning chow lines she positions herself at the end of one of them with a clipboard. Promptly at 8:15 the thundering herd descends on the cafeteria. In an orderly procession the kids line up, grab their blue canvas bags and fill them with a carton of milk, a warm pre-packaged waffle and either a carton of orange juice or a pouch of sliced apples. Or both, but they have to select at least one of the fruity options.
The process moves at a fast clip; everyone’s used to it. Neppl has to check every bag to make sure there’s OJ or apples and check off each student on her clipboard, all while also managing to greet the “customers.”
“Good morning, gentlemen,” she says with a smile. “Hey, was yesterday your birthday? Happy belated birthday!”
In roughly 20 minutes almost 600 kids are in and out, off to their classrooms to munch and chat. Like a Swiss watch.
The staff keep track of trends to pick up on what’s getting eaten and what’s not. Brubaker is part of the Food Rescue program, too, whereby untouched packaged foods find their way into the “No Thank You” bin for recycling. Neppl pointed out the sliced apples as an example of improved efficiency.
“We found out that lots of kids will eat sliced apples who won’t eat them whole,” she said. “So we changed the way we serve them.” Like any popular restaurant would.
According to the USDA, in the first year of nationwide CEP implementation, more than 14,000 schools in high-poverty areas offered nutritious meals at no cost to more than 6.8 million students. An evaluation of schools that implemented CEP found those schools experienced average increases in participation of 9 percent in school breakfast and 5 percent in school lunch. Research has shown that students who consume breakfast make greater strides on standardized tests, pay attention and behave better in class, and are less frequently tardy, absent or visiting the nurse’s office.
They were back in the cafeteria at lunchtime for Friday’s menu of Italian pizza boats or beefburgers; sweet potato puffs; mixed spring salad and pineapples or bananas. Before the students leave for the day they get a healthy afternoon vegetable snack, too.
It all makes sense. To go a long way requires a lot of fuel. So it’s all you care to eat, mind and body both. No wonder the critics were all smiles.
