SCHOOL FOOD & NUTRITION HAS NEW POLICY
AND NEW WEBSITE
(August 2017) Are you aware that the Wellness Policy for the Brookline Schools has been updated? As part of addressing the food and nutrition guidelines, parents, students, and faculty and staff have been invited to over the past months to contribute to the vision of a healthful school culture including school meals, foods throughout school, and food literacy.
For the most recent information, check out Public Schools of Brookline's new FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM website.
AND NEW WEBSITE
(August 2017) Are you aware that the Wellness Policy for the Brookline Schools has been updated? As part of addressing the food and nutrition guidelines, parents, students, and faculty and staff have been invited to over the past months to contribute to the vision of a healthful school culture including school meals, foods throughout school, and food literacy.
For the most recent information, check out Public Schools of Brookline's new FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM website.
PLANNING A SCHOOL CELEBRATION?
If you're planning any kind of celebration or special event at school involving Brookline students, the Wellness Committee has guidelines for planning consistent with town recommendations. Check it out!
If you're planning any kind of celebration or special event at school involving Brookline students, the Wellness Committee has guidelines for planning consistent with town recommendations. Check it out!
Bountiful Brookline Celebrates National Food Day
(Sept. 2016) On Oct. 25, 2-5 p.m., Bountiful Brookline celebrated "National Food Day" with a screening of "Just Eat It" followed by a panel discussion at the Lincoln School. summer film series focuses on a variety of food oriented documentaries, with locally-sourced snacks on hand as well. Check it out!
Also, on Oct. 22, the "One for Me...One for the Brookline Food Pantry" drive and the "Real Food Scavenger Hunt," were held at the Centre St. Brookline Farmers' Market. The Lawrence School held its own special Food Day Festival. With the help of local food purveyors, including Brookline businesses The Fireplace, Clear Flour Bakery, the Olive Connection, Cutty’s, Temptations, and Rifrullo, as well as Boston’s ChopChop cooking magazine for kids, the event raised food awareness among hundreds of students, families, and school staff. Over two hundred students and their families got to taste, touch and identify fresh fruits and vegetables, enter and judge a recipe contest, sample new cafeteria items by Brookline Food Services Director Alden Cadwell, try handcrafted breads, savory entrees, and fresh fruits and vegetables, and learn lots about the food they eat through games and activities. Learning stations addressed cooking around allergies by Lawrence parent and chef Dawn Ludwig, growing your own food and container gardening by Lawrence parent Shi Yin Foo, and eating greener and more sustainably. The festival also highlighted local and regional food sourcing by stationing the Fresh Truck (a retrofitted school bus market bringing produce to food deserts) in front of the school, and featuring recipe contest prizes from regional fresh produce consolidators Farmers to You (from Vermont) and Boston Organics.
SAVE THE DATE! DEC. 11 WELLNESS SUMMIT
WHAT ARE BROOKLINE KIDS UP TO THESE DAYS?
Did you know that among Brookline adolescents alcohol and marijuana use is down, but reports of overwhelming stress and anxiety are up – 82% among 9th-12th graders, 79% among 7th-8th graders. On Dec. 11, 12:30 - 2:30 pm in Brookline High School’s MLK Room, key results of the Brookline Public School’s latest Student Health Survey will be revealed as part of a community-wide Wellness Summit. You’ll find out just what Brookline adolescents are up to these days and have an opportunity to brainstorm school and community strategies for addressing some of the most pressing concerns. Save the date! And for more information, go to http://dec11wellnesssummit.eventbrite.com.
Guidelines for Brookline Food Pantry
In collaboration with the Brookline Food Pantry, the Brookline Department of Public Health has developed guidelines for donating foods. The Brookline Food Pantry welcomes food donations and aims to provide healthy and nutritious foods. Often people are interested in donating to the food pantry, but are uncertain about the types of foods accepted, expiration dates, and which products are most helpful for patrons of the food pantry. Check out the handy, one-page "Healthy Donations Guidelines."
Food Literacy in Schools
Food Justice Activist and Wellness Committee member Bettina Neuefeind challenges us to think about ways that we can connect the classroom to the cafeteria in ways that boost food literacy in our schools. Recently, she talked at the 431 Project Summit in Pittsfield, VT. The 431 Project (http://www.the431project.com.) is an action incubator driven by a group of passionate thought leaders committed to effecting change and making healthy the new normal for the next generation. Watch her talk here...
(Sept. 2016) On Oct. 25, 2-5 p.m., Bountiful Brookline celebrated "National Food Day" with a screening of "Just Eat It" followed by a panel discussion at the Lincoln School. summer film series focuses on a variety of food oriented documentaries, with locally-sourced snacks on hand as well. Check it out!
Also, on Oct. 22, the "One for Me...One for the Brookline Food Pantry" drive and the "Real Food Scavenger Hunt," were held at the Centre St. Brookline Farmers' Market. The Lawrence School held its own special Food Day Festival. With the help of local food purveyors, including Brookline businesses The Fireplace, Clear Flour Bakery, the Olive Connection, Cutty’s, Temptations, and Rifrullo, as well as Boston’s ChopChop cooking magazine for kids, the event raised food awareness among hundreds of students, families, and school staff. Over two hundred students and their families got to taste, touch and identify fresh fruits and vegetables, enter and judge a recipe contest, sample new cafeteria items by Brookline Food Services Director Alden Cadwell, try handcrafted breads, savory entrees, and fresh fruits and vegetables, and learn lots about the food they eat through games and activities. Learning stations addressed cooking around allergies by Lawrence parent and chef Dawn Ludwig, growing your own food and container gardening by Lawrence parent Shi Yin Foo, and eating greener and more sustainably. The festival also highlighted local and regional food sourcing by stationing the Fresh Truck (a retrofitted school bus market bringing produce to food deserts) in front of the school, and featuring recipe contest prizes from regional fresh produce consolidators Farmers to You (from Vermont) and Boston Organics.
SAVE THE DATE! DEC. 11 WELLNESS SUMMIT
WHAT ARE BROOKLINE KIDS UP TO THESE DAYS?
Did you know that among Brookline adolescents alcohol and marijuana use is down, but reports of overwhelming stress and anxiety are up – 82% among 9th-12th graders, 79% among 7th-8th graders. On Dec. 11, 12:30 - 2:30 pm in Brookline High School’s MLK Room, key results of the Brookline Public School’s latest Student Health Survey will be revealed as part of a community-wide Wellness Summit. You’ll find out just what Brookline adolescents are up to these days and have an opportunity to brainstorm school and community strategies for addressing some of the most pressing concerns. Save the date! And for more information, go to http://dec11wellnesssummit.eventbrite.com.
Guidelines for Brookline Food Pantry
In collaboration with the Brookline Food Pantry, the Brookline Department of Public Health has developed guidelines for donating foods. The Brookline Food Pantry welcomes food donations and aims to provide healthy and nutritious foods. Often people are interested in donating to the food pantry, but are uncertain about the types of foods accepted, expiration dates, and which products are most helpful for patrons of the food pantry. Check out the handy, one-page "Healthy Donations Guidelines."
Food Literacy in Schools
Food Justice Activist and Wellness Committee member Bettina Neuefeind challenges us to think about ways that we can connect the classroom to the cafeteria in ways that boost food literacy in our schools. Recently, she talked at the 431 Project Summit in Pittsfield, VT. The 431 Project (http://www.the431project.com.) is an action incubator driven by a group of passionate thought leaders committed to effecting change and making healthy the new normal for the next generation. Watch her talk here...
Guidelines for Brookline Food Pantry
In collaboration with the Brookline Food Pantry, the Brookline Department of Public Health has developed guidelines for donating foods. The Brookline Food Pantry welcomes food donations and aims to provide healthy and nutritious foods. Often people are interested in donating to the food pantry, but are uncertain about the types of foods accepted, expiration dates, and which products are most helpful for patrons of the food pantry. Check out the handy, one-page "Healthy Donations Guidelines."
Heath School Parent Speaker Series Kick Off Event: February 25, 2015 with "FED UP"
Are you a parent who is concerned about the excessive amounts of sugar in processed foods served to your children or the epidemic rise in pediatric obesity in America today? On Feb. 25 at the Lincoln School parents were invited to view the acclaimed 2014 documentary FED UP and to discuss impressions and concerns in a follow-up Q&A with the Director of the Brookline Food Services, Chef Alden Caldwell. For more information about this eye-opening documentary that will change the way you eat forever (produced by Katie Couric, Laurie David, and directed by Stephanie Soechtig), see www.fedupmovie.com
Food Literacy in Schools
Food Justice Activist and Wellness Committee member Bettina Neuefeind challenges us to think about ways that we can connect the classroom to the cafeteria in ways that boost food literacy in our schools. Recently, she talked at the 431 Project Summit in Pittsfield, VT. The 431 Project (http://www.the431project.com.) is an action incubator driven by a group of passionate thought leaders committed to effecting change and making healthy the new normal for the next generation. Watch her talk here...
Food Justice Activist and Wellness Committee member Bettina Neuefeind challenges us to think about ways that we can connect the classroom to the cafeteria in ways that boost food literacy in our schools. Recently, she talked at the 431 Project Summit in Pittsfield, VT. The 431 Project (http://www.the431project.com.) is an action incubator driven by a group of passionate thought leaders committed to effecting change and making healthy the new normal for the next generation. Watch her talk here...
The Food Services program aims to provide healthy, tasty, high-quality, sustainable, affordable meals to the students and staff of the Brookline Public Schools. We serve breakfast and lunch at all nine schools in the district. As part of the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program, we follow guidelines set by the USDA regulating what qualifies as a healthy breakfast and lunch. We cook meals from scratch, using real food, and we are continually looking for ways to improve our school meals.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FOOD SERVICES, CLICK HERE.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FOOD SERVICES, CLICK HERE.
N E W S N E W S N E W S
Fall 2014 -- Last year was the best year for participation in the Food Services program. However, the breakfast program needs better participation and exposure. It is available at 7:30 am to anyone at all the K-12 schools. Food Services director Alden Cadwell is meeting with interested committee members to devise ways to encourage parents to eat breakfast with their kids, publicize program and menus. Another focus of Food Services is to get as many greens as possible into school menus. The salad bar at BHS is extremely successful at BHS, and care is taken to limit germ spread. Monster energy drinks were available and caused concern, but will be discontinued. Cadwell and parent Bettina Neuefeind have formed a School Food Subcommittee to investigate new Wellness Policy Standards on school nutrition, which are more stringent and need monitoring for enforcement, and explore developing a district policy. The committee’s next meeting will be December 11, 8 a.m. at Town Hall. The first course of action will be to determine actual food practices throughout all schools in the district, and, while that study is in progress, to think about what a next iteration of the Local School Wellness Policy might include. |
Do you know about the"Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen?" Check out this one-page shopper's guide to fruits and vegetables, part of Brookline's Food Day.
And check out the Brookline Department of Public Health's Food Day 2014 Newsletter for tips, info and recipes. LOOKING FOR HEALTHY SNACKS? Check out this nifty, printable list of healthy snacks and nutritional ideas for maximizing your child's health. |