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Watch New Paltz News from March 27, 2009. Mathew Swerdloff and Jim O'Dowd are interviewed on our local cable access channel. The discussion is regarding the Healthy Food Healthy Kids initiative in our school district. This portion starts at 30 minutes in.

Video
March 2009 Update:

At the March 4 Board of Education meeting Superintendent Rice restored the $7,000 cut from the budget to support the healthy foods initiative and added an additional $3,000 to the budget line.  This is a great step in the right direction.  Those of us concerned with what is served  to the students of the New Paltz Schools take this as a sign that the district has renewed it's commitment to the recommendations of the Nutrition Task Force of December 2007.  We agree, and are grateful for the action of the Superintendent and Board.  At the same meeting Mathew presented 243 signatures to the Board asking for this increase of funds and continued efforts to move forward with the Task Force Recommendations.  We think the District has shown that it is listening to it's constituents, as they have said they would.  However, our work is not done.  We still have a long way to go to reach the goal of serving fresh, real, cooked food to our students.  Let's hope this is the beginning of systemic change. 

February 2009 Update:

It is hard to believe it has been three years since Healthy Foods/ Healthy Kids (HFHK) formed and began working on improving the food served in our schools. Sometimes we feel like we have made real progress and other times we feel like we are spinning our wheels.   It seems that whenever we present an idea or option, the District's response is to point out an obstacle, a reason why the District can not make the change. The reasons presented are numerous: too costly, no vendors, not enough staff, poor kitchen equipment, no recipes, state and federal regulations, etc.  Yes of course, these are real obstacles—and we have always acknowledged that-- but still the process has often been frustrating. Despite this we still hold fast to the view that many of these obstacles can be overcome if we all keep our eye on the prize of providing healthier food for our children.


At our HFHK Steering Committee meeting we agreed to make a significant effort over the next two months to encourage the Board to support positive changes.  The research has been presented, the data has been shared; we provided vendor lists, recipes, and menus. 

It’s time for substantive change! It’s time for the District to embrace whole-heartedly the cause of children’s health, nutrition and disease prevention and join with us in a proactive full court press to meet the challenges of bringing healthy food to our children.

We believe the task of improving the food served at New Paltz Central School District is the shared responsibility of the school board, the administration, faculty, parents and the community. The $7,000 budget cut from food service needs to be restored and the Recommendations of the Nutrition Task Force need to be not only adopted but embraced.


This is where you come in.  WE NEED YOUR HELP!


At this point you can do one thing that will help enormously.  Sign our petition. We want to present THREE HUNDRED signatures to the Board of Education before they approve the final budget in April.  Please visit our online petition and submit your name. Please send this link  to friends who might be willing to take a minute and help.  They do not need to be parents of New Paltz students, just district residents concerned about the food served to our children.


It will take only a minute and can make a real difference. Please do NOT donate after completing the petition-that goes to iPetitions, not HFHK.

Sign the Petition:  http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ntfnow/

 
Mathew Swerdloff
James O'Dowd
Alysa Sullivan
Ellen Marshall
Donna Brooks
 
HFHK Steering Committee

Nutrition Task Force Presents Recommendations to New Paltz BOE.

On December 12, 2007, Mike Swigart, the BOE member and chair of the Nutrition Task Force presented the group's recommendations to the Board of Education. After working on the effort for almost a year, the Task Force created a workable document that outlines a path to improved school food in four phases. The plan calls for a reduction of artificial colorants, preservatives, highly processed foods, and trans fats. It calls for the addition of whole grains, fresh vegetables, more "from scratch" cooking, and greater variety in foods served. Read the full report here with references.

What Now?

While enormous progress has been made, now is not the time to become complacent. With the presentation of the recommendations to the Board, the onus is now on the District to begin to implement changes. We hope that the Board and administrations move forward with Phase 1 of the plan this school year.

Our Mission

We are a group of parents, educators, and community members working for a School Meal Program for our children which is nutritious, delicious, educationally beneficial, economically sustainable, and community based. We will use accepted USDA and ADA nutritional recommendations as our guidelines. We believe that good nutrition is an essential part of our children's physical and educational development and that the community based school system has a primary responsibility to foster good nutrition and nutritional awareness in all aspects of its operation. We will work to develop and implement policies and guidelines, recipes and menus, curricular aids, and procurement and purchasing procedures which will facilitate these goals. We will work as willing, good faith partners with the Education Officials in our community towards these goals but reserve the right of dissent should Administrative goals differ from our stated mission

Drafted November 30, 2005
Revised January 24, 2006

How You Can Help

We are a grassroots, community based group of concerned citizens, and invite you to join us. Our mission, as stated above, is to improve the quality of food served in our schools. Please subscribe to our email discussion list to be kept informed. Attend meetings to share your thoughts and input. We welcome any and all involvement.

To subscribe to our electronic discussion group, complete our online form below:

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They are doing it in NYC, why not in New Paltz?

"In the NYC public schools, artificial colors and sweeteners were eliminated some years ago, as was meat taken mechanically from the bone. More recently, the district eliminated whole milk and now offers only 1 percent and skim milk options. Flavored milk other than skim chocolate have also been eliminated. It has shifted to all trans fat-free oil and trans fat-free french fries and last year began serving only whole wheat bread and rolls."

Read more...

From the top...

"The link between nutrition and learning is well documented. Healthy eating patterns are essential for students to achieve their full academic potential, full physical and mental growth, and lifelong health and well-being. Healthy eating is demonstrably linked to reduced risk for mortality and development of many chronic diseases as adults. Schools have a responsibility to help students and staff establish and maintain lifelong, healthy eating patterns. Well-planned and well-implemented school nutrition programs have been shown to positively influence students' eating habits."

-from the National Association of State Boards of Education


“Committed to improving the quality and variety of foods served in our schools.”