Charles County Public SchoolsOffice of Fiscal Services

Feeding the Future

Food And Nutrition Services

Crystal Richardson and William Kreuter

Charles County Public

Schools

Food And Nutrition

Services (FNS)

Overview of Food and Nutrition

Summer Program Results

Free Breakfast

Farm to School Week

Other FNS Developments

Food and Nutrition Services Administers Numerous State and Federal Programs

School Year

•National School Lunch Program

•National School Breakfast program

•Maryland Meals for Achievement

•Three-year-old Program

•After-school snacks

•At-Risk Supper ProgramPartnerships

•LifeStyles of Maryland

•Charles County Sheriff’s Office

•Charles County Parks & Recreation

•Charles County Department of Social Services

•Children’s Aid Society

•AlphaBestSummer Programs

•Summer Feeding

•Mobile Meals

•Lunch On Us

Community Outreach

•Meals on Wheels

•Head Start

•Senior Centers

Summer Meals Program

“Lunch On Us”

The Summer Meals Program served 20,817 meals to adults and children. This is a decrease of 104 meals from 2018.

While meals served for CCPS-sponsored summer programs remained steady and meals served at our open sites increased by more than 50 percent, we experienced a notable decrease at our mobile meal sites in 2019. This was a statewide trend.

CCPS provided 213 meals at 13 sites throughout the county on July 5, a holiday for most with the help of LifeStyles and CCPS Operations staff to those that might otherwise have gone four days without meals.

16453 1

8647

23329

18795

18493

11566

7948 9379

8016

12373

4887

3928 5337

3749

2340

6771 8

595

6585

6493

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Total Childrens Meals Served

Meals at Open Sites

Meals at Mobile Sites

Meals at CCPS Programs

Total Breakfast By School Year

Increases in breakfast over the last 10 years peaked at 1.8 million annually in 2017. These increases were mainly due to allowing students to eat breakfast in the classroom. At Malcolm Elementary School, where the principal has moved breakfast back into the classroom this year, the number of breakfasts sold has increased 51 percent.

In the last two school years we have seen a decrease in breakfast of 102,000 meals from the peak on an annual basis. This equals about 567 less breakfasts each school day.

Our percentage of FARMs students increased from 25 percent in SY09 to 36.4 percent in SY19.

During the same time frame, enrollment increased by 1,444 students and two new schools.

529,920 550,894

734,789

947,994

1,312,357

1,417,847

1,568,849

1,767,346

1,846,418 1,804,950

1,744,410

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

2,000,000

SY 09 SY 10 SY 11 SY 12 SY 13 SY 14 SY 15 SY 16 SY17 SY18 SY19

“Back To Breakfast”Free Breakfast for All CCPS Students

We served free breakfast to all students the first week of school.

Free breakfast will be provided again the week students return from winter break.

This is to re-introduce the option to eat breakfast at school to students who don’t normally eat before coming to school.

Busy Summer

Opened Billingsley Elementary School, re-opened Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School, and helped move Eva Turner Elementary School to the Transition School.

Promoted three elementary school managers, one high school manager and hired three new assistant managers

Staffing remains a challenge; we are working closely with Human Resources to fill our 58 vacancies.

Two FNS Job Fairs were held this summer. The fairs were advertised on the school system’s Facebook and Twitter; the turnout was outstanding.

We are exploring different avenues to attract staff.

CCPS installed digital signs as a pilot in three schools. The signs allow students to see what is available in each serving line and what is included in a reimbursable meal.

We are working to “step up” our presentation with a goal of making our food and cafeterias resemble retail operations that better appeal to students. We also hired a culinary trainer to train staff in the areas of preparation and presentation.

Busy Summer

Mary H. Matula Elementary School

La Plata High School

Mattawoman Middle School

Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week.Sept. 30 – Oct. 4, 2019

Served hot dogs, chicken and pork produced in Maryland and beef raised in Maryland. Also featured corn on the cob, broccoli, apples, peaches, watermelon and tomatoes grown in Maryland and neighboring states.

Students were taught the name and location of the farm where the product was grown. Students who ate a homegrown meal received a sticker to show their support.

Menu was more expensive than normal weeks during the school year. The value of showing students the availability of locally grown and produced products outweighs the increased cost for one week.

What is local? Local is food that is grown, harvested or processed within a 250-mile radius, or a one-day round trip for the trucking company.

Farm to School at J.C. Parks Elementary School

Developments inFood and Nutrition Services Revised lunch menu, eliminated the least popular items and

replaced them with items that match current trends in what kids are eating.

Included the four most popular items on the menu for a week at a time. This change helps to reduce waste.

As a direct result of Homegrown School Lunch week, we have replaced frozen corn with fresh corn on the cob twice monthly.

Two high schools – Thomas Stone and Henry E. Lackey –were added to the Maryland Meals for Achievement (MMFA) program. MMFA is a program provided through the Maryland State Department of Education and it reimburses FNS for paid and reduced students, allowing all students to eat breakfast for free each day. Only schools with FARMS rates above 40 percent are eligible. These schools already operate on a kiosk model of service and allow students to eat in the classroom. The only change is that all students eat free breakfast. CCPS now has 17 MMFA schools since adding Lackey and Stone in the spring and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer Elementary School in September.

House Bill 315

Maryland Cares for Kids

Act

House Bill 315 amended Maryland law regarding standards and administration of a subsidized meal program as follows and went into effect July 1, 2018.

The State is responsible for reimbursing a county Board of Education for the student’s cost of a reduced price breakfast and lunch.

Beginning in SY2020, the cost to students will decrease by 10 cents each school year as the state picks up this amount. Beginning with fiscal year 2023, a county Board may not charge a student who is eligible for a reduced price lunch for any portion of the cost of the meal.