Lacy Elliott
Clear Creek ISD
Child Nutrition Asst. Director
In 2012, preventing hunger among school-aged children continues to be a main goal of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and Clear Creek ISD. In order to address the health issues of a new generation, a new focus has been placed on reducing childhood obesity. In December of 2010, Congress approved what has resulted in the most drastic change in school lunch guidelines in 30 years. The guidelines will most likely be mandatory for the 2012-2013 school year.
By increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains offered to students, school meals will be aligned with the 2005, “Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” In addition, the proposed guidelines also set specific, age-based calorie requirements, allow only fat-free and low-fat milk to be offered, and aim to reduce the amount of sodium and saturated fat in meals.
In anticipation of the upcoming guidelines, CCISD implemented several changes at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. A few of these changes include offering all whole-grain items on our elementary menus, offering only fat-free or low-fat milk, and placing a variety of dark green and orange vegetables on our menus.
During the fall 2011 semester, six CCISD schools participated in a pilot program with Baylor College of Medicine to study the impact of the proposed guidelines. Based on the success observed in these schools, we are implementing additional changes in each CCISD school in order to extend the benefits to all students.
When students line up in the cafeteria on January 4, 2012, they can choose more servings of fruits and vegetables at breakfast and lunch. Under the old guidelines, at breakfast, students could only select one fruit at breakfast while under the new guidelines students can choose two fruits. At lunch, students may now select two different fruits and two different vegetables instead of two servings of fruit and/or vegetables. We are pleased to be able to offer these additional selections to students with no change in breakfast or lunch prices.
It is an exciting time in CCISD cafeterias! We invite parents to join us for breakfast and lunch to experience all of these new changes with your child.
For more information about meal program changes in CCISD, visit the Child Nutrition Department’s webpage.
http://www2.ccisd.net/Departments/ChildNutritionDepartment.aspx
For more information about the proposed guideline changes to the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs visit USDA’s School Meals webpage. http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/