BY LOREEN BERLIN: The Garden Grove Unified School District has the distinction of being considered one of the largest restaurants around – and it's all healthy – according to Director of Food Services Agnes Lally, MS, who credits her staff with making her job easier.<\/p>\n

Lally refers to the 360 Food Services workers as her 360 entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BY LOREEN BERLIN: The Garden Grove Unified School District has the distinction of being considered one of the largest restaurants around – and it's all healthy – according to Director of Food Services Agnes Lally, MS, who credits her staff with making her job easier.<\/p>\n

Lally refers to the 360 Food Services workers as her 360 entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

The district incorporates food-learning into the school's curriculum throughout the year and they also have some school gardens at elementary school sites that help educate children by tying into the student's lessons and academic content.<\/p>\n

Children have the opportunity to visit the school garden site and harvest tomatoes and lettuce that they take back to the school; wash it and add it to their own school salad bar, thereby learning about produce while getting to eat it too.<\/p>\n

Other salad items mostly come from Oxnard, Central California and Santa Barbara where a lot of California's and the nation's food is grown.<\/p>\n

The district serves breakfast and lunch and an afternoon snack, along with a Summer Meal Program that helps fight hunger.<\/p>\n

Lead Food Services person Erin Stanley helps with the school breakfasts.<\/p>\n

 "My favorite part is seeing how the lunch participation goes up as the school year progresses, because children learn about the food," she said. "And, the children also want to visit with me and share what's going on in their lives."<\/p>\n

The school district has 66 percent of students who qualify for free and\/or reduced-rate meals. Out of 45,577 students enrolled in the 2014-2015 school year, 30,000 were qualified. At the reduced rate, breakfast is 30 cents and lunch is 40-cents. Regular lunch costs are $1.50 in elementary schools, $2 in intermediate and $2.50 at the high school level.<\/p>\n

"We are the best price in town for lunch," said Lally.<\/p>\n

"I get my energy from the kids; they are so enthusiastic about our food program," said Lally.<\/p>\n

Stanley said she came up with an idea to heighten student's interest in school lunches by offering "Fast Passes" on Fridays.<\/p>\n

"Each teacher receives two Fast Passes for students they see doing well and those students get to go to the head of the food line and tell why they received the fast pass," said Stanley.<\/p>\n

"Erin goes above and beyond," said Lally. "The men and women I work with are amazing.'<\/p>\n

"I try as often as I can to sit with the children and be a role-model for eating, showing them how they can use fruits in different ways and then they want to copy what I've shown them," said Stanley. "I have made a taco salad to give them a different angle of how to use a taco shell and they get a hand stamp for making good food choices," said Stanley.<\/p>\n

Lally said she keeps abreast of what outside restaurants are offering and what might interest their students and works to make those items healthy, using whole-grains in producing pizza from "Domino's Pizza," served with a green salad, fresh fruit, juice, milk and a whole grain chocolate chip cookie.<\/p>\n

This year, they are starting to work with "Pick Up Stix" and the GGUSD Food Service Department is also bringing out the grill to make their own whole grain pancakes with sausage links and a barbecue of hamburgers and hot dogs served with an assortment of fruits and vegetables, juice, milk and a whole grain chocolate chip cookie.<\/p>\n

The menus are actually chosen by student taste-testers in elementary, intermediate and high school. From the taste-testing, the most popular menu items are chosen.<\/p>\n

The district has two grants through the USDA, which includes a Fresh Fruits and Vegetables program three-times a week, offering students an opportunity to taste-test new food items some of which have included the dragon fruit and a variety of bell peppers, so they can learn to enjoy what might be new to them and learn how to eat the foods.<\/p>\n

Second Harvest of the Month is also a grant program that is integrated with what the schools are teaching.<\/p>\n

 "Nutrition is very critical for our students and so we teach nutrition in our classrooms and also hold classes for the parents so they can teach their children at home," said Lally. "Our campus catering is our trademark."<\/p>\n

Reading through the GGUSD food menu might make you want to go back to school just for the food.<\/p>\n

In high school, the last two years, there has been a "Cook up Change" where culinary students who are part of the ROP Program work with a local chef to come up with a recipe that meets the school's healthy food guidelines; it's a county-wide competition and the winning team gets a trip to Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

During a previous year, the District's "After School Snack" won top honors in the sampling contest.<\/p>\n

Also, there's a "Nutrition Educator Contest" where teachers\/educators can enter to win prize money that goes back to their school.<\/p>\n

For information, visit Eatsmart2besmart.org and for questions, e-mail Southemcsna@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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