Schools’ nutrition addressing food waste

The Norwood School Committee met last week with the Facilities and School Nutrition department heads and discussed ongoing issues in both departments.

First up, Norwood Public Schools (NPS) Director of School Nutrition Jason Morency gave an update on the schools’ meal plans and issues around them. He said the good news is that they are running a profit for the district around $468,000 while still making the food more nutritious and appetizing for the students. He said the district has been working to actually cook more food onsite, rather than reheating pre-cooked, frozen food, which has gained more students participating in the program and fewer students not eating.

School Committee member Judith Bromley said she’s seen excess food being thrown out by staff, which she found concerning.

“What do you do to not throw it out so we don’t have so much food waste in Norwood?” she said.

“We use our production records to try to minimize as much as possible,” Morency said. “Some items can definitely be refurbished, like fresh apples, those can be taken and used the next day. Some items unfortunately we have to get rid of, [items] that were cooked. We do our best to minimize that as much as possible.”

“I’ve noticed a lot of food waste in the dumpsters, and with food insecurity right now and our current economic climate, it’s really concerning to me, because ultimately it’s taxpayer money that is paying for all this food and if there are families or students who are food insecure and need another snack or another meal, I want to make sure they have it. We know that is a critical component for them being able to learn and access their education.”

What happens to the food?

“Once a student takes it, we can’t grab it back and use it again,” he said. “But we definitely track and try to minimize as much as possible what is being cooked to meet those numbers while also cooking a meal for each student and having every item available to each student as well.”

Morency said he would get the full details to the committee. Area Director Elijah Norris said they have surprisingly little food waste each day, at least with the food that the staff have control over.

I think you might be surprised to find out how little food is thrown out, at least from the back-of-the house-end of it,” said Area Director Elijah Norris. “The production records we use, the cents-per-meal that we stick to. And at the high school, for instance, where we’re doing 700 meals per day, total food scraps for the entire day of product that we would not be able to use, doesn’t always even fill a five-gallon bucket. So I know that’s still something, but it’s usually the end of the head of a romaine lettuce and stuff like that.”

Norris said reimbursement requirements for school meals also share a burden, as they require students get a certain portion of fruits or vegetables that, as kids are wont to do, they may not want to eat.

“The bigger impact on waste or overproduction is partly due to regulations that the students have to take the three-to-five components in order for it to be a reimbursable meal,” he said. “The amount of fights the front-line associates get into over, ‘take an apple, take some broccoli, take some sort of fruit or vegetable,’ is a lot.”

But, Morency said, when the food gets to the students themselves, there the district has no control over it.

In the Facilities realm, Director Chris Folan said they are prepping for the Willett School to go from a Kindergarten central hub to one of many elementary schools. The shift came after NPS implemented an elementary school reorganization after a study suggested that overcrowding at the elementary schools would continue under the old model. The new model put the fifth grade in the newly-built Coakley Middle School and changed the Willett from the Willett Early Education Center to the Willett Elementary School.

Folan said the work is going well, though there is a busy schedule set for the summer.

“There is going to be a whole bunch of stuff going on at the Willett,” he said. “We have had several meetings and I know Superintendent (Timothy Luff) has had meetings and I’ve met with Vertex and Wakefield Movers who are coordinating the move with us. We have a good plan.”

Since the move also necessitates most of the kindergarten teachers at the Willett move to the surrounding elementary schools, Folan said they have delivered the moving materials for each classroom to each school for teachers to start moving their effects to their respective new classrooms.

“Will it be hectic? Absolutely,” he said. “We’re all geared up and ready to go and get the stuff moved down there. At the same time, we’re going to have a company come in and assist us with doing the classroom floors.”

Folan said the Willett will have brand new floors, assisted by retired custodians and a flooring company.

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“We’re going to empty all the classrooms and have a professional company come in and strip and wax all those floors,” he said.

On top of the move, Folan said there is a new water main being installed in the entire Westover Parkway neighborhood. Though he said there will be a temporary water service set up once school is out for the summer, and then the work for a new permanent service line will begin.

“They’re going to have to cut up some of the parking lot – right against the building in the back area where the dumpster is – to get in to get that new main done,” he said. “That’s going to be done very soon after school gets out, I would say the first or second week of July. And the roof is being replaced over there.”

Folan said the roof replacement is a complete removal and replacement, with abatement for asbestos glue that is in between the roof and the rest of the structure.

“All that’s going to be taken off, re-insulated, and a bigger hatch is going to be put in for ease of getting up and down to the roof easily,” he said. “And that’s all going to be going on at the same time.”

Folan added that the move-ins at all the other elementary schools will be assisted by Facilities Department staff wherever necessary.

Folan also gave an update on the Coakley Middle School, which is still going through growing pains. He said while there is a lot of work at the school, much of it is still covered by the original warranty on the building, so these new repairs won’t be costing the Town.

That work includes new epoxy in several of the bathrooms, which had been leaking, new lockers in the building to leave at least 100 per floor, and another re-sanding and re-coating of the gymnasium floor, which readers may remember had issues last year as well.