LITTLETON — Superintendent Kelly Clenchy is proud to announce that Littleton Public Schools received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award for improving the nutritional quality of its school meals.
Awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in collaboration with Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK), the District received the Innovation in the Cultural Diversity of School Meals Award for work in creating an inclusive school lunch menu. The menu encourages all students to feel welcome in the cafeteria and entices them to try something new and nutritious.
Healthy school meals are an essential part of the school environment and a proven tool for improving a child’s health, growth, development, and educational outcomes. The Recognition Awards spotlight innovative practices, student and community engagement activities, and strategies schools have used to provide meals that are consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Littleton schools have added culturally inspired dishes such as chana masala, chicken tikka masala, confetti fried rice, mandarin fruit salad, and crispy tofu.
Students are given samples of these new lunch items a few weeks before items are menued to gauge interest. Once the new item has been approved and put on the monthly menu, elementary-level students are given “I tried it!” stickers for sampling new items.
“We congratulate Littleton Public Schools on this important achievement,” said Rob Bisceglie, Executive Officer & President for Action for Healthy Kids. “The HMI Recognition Awards are an opportunity to showcase innovative school nutrition practices that provide children with access to nutritious school meals.”
“One of America’s best opportunities to improve child health is by supporting schools in providing tasty and nutritious meals is,” said Cindy Long, administrator of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “This Recognition Award highlights the remarkable achievements Littleton Public Schools has made in offering nutritious meals that students enjoy, and we look forward to them sharing their best practices to help other schools follow in their footsteps.”
“The Nutrition Staff at Littleton Public Schools have been busy these last three years since school meals have been free in Massachusetts. Students are eating with us in record numbers, and we have a great opportunity to diversify their palates in a way that school lunches have never been able to achieve. To better represent the diversity of our population, we have increased our offerings of vegetarian, Indian and Asian cuisine. Through training programs such as the John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition in Framingham, staff are creating culturally relevant meals that are nutritious and delicious,” said Littleton Food Service Director Leah Botko.
As an award recipient, Littleton Public Schools will receive national and local recognition and travel stipends to attend a national Healthy Meals Summit (HMI) in Las Vegas. Food Service Director Botko has also been invited to School Nutrition Association’s Annual Nutrition Conference in Boston, where she will present on a panel to other Food Service Directors across America about the positive changes Littleton has been implementing.
More information about the HMI Recognition Awards can be found at www.healthymealsincentives.org/recognition-awards/.