Creston School Board members approved a new food service software during the regularly scheduled meeting Monday. The software will help food service employees save time and stay compliant with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
Health-e Meal Planner Pro, the interactive software, is approved by United States Department of Agriculture. The software allows for nutritional data of specific ingredients and recipes, and reports that show if the school menu is compliant with federal mandates.
“There are strict guidelines that we do have now with the Healthy Kid Act, and we are required to have a nutrient analysis and meet all kinds of standards all year long so we are able to keep our federal funding,” said Nora Sprague, Creston School District food service director. “That’s difficult to do just on paper. This software will allow us to plug in our recipes. It does a lot of the work for us.”
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is a reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act signed into law in 1966 by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. It sets new nutrition standards for schools across the nation, and allows schools funding for child nutrition and free lunch programs.
Also, the Healthy Kids Act is an Iowa law that will establish physical activity and health guidelines for Iowa school districts to follow separate from the federal government.
The software is web-based, Sprague said, so it can interact with the federal government’s online information. It can also be used to upload menus to the Creston School District website for parents and children to see what items will be available on which days.
“Also, if your child has any allergies, you can put (type) in peanuts, eggs, beef, and it’s going to highlight every single item that has any of those products in it,” Sprague said.
The cost for the software will be $4,001, with a renewal cost of $3,700 per year. The cost will come out of the district’s food service fund. Currently, there are no grants or federal funds available for the program.
“I think for the information that is needed for the nutrition for the schools anymore, for us to meet our criteria, we have to go to this step,” said Billie Jo Green, Creston School District business manager, “because of the regulations set by the state and the Feds on the in-school nutrition programs.”
Green also said it could help the food service in the process of their reporting and meeting the guidelines. The food service could change, then, because the program will be able to calculate if any guidelines are not being met.
“Especially for those children with food allergies, I think it’ll be more of a tool that their parents can use,” Green said.
Creston food service currently attempts to utilize USDA-approved recipes for school lunches because all analysis on the food has been done. For the school to use a different recipe for a meal, all ingredients and instructions must be listed and sent in for analysis.
“They (the software company) already have all of the USDA recipes in their system,” Sprague said. “We’re kind of limited. You hate to give the same stuff over and over.”
If schools do not meet requirements for food nutrition, food service funds can be taken away.
Other approvals
Creston School Board members also approved several contracts and other items during the meeting.
Board members approved nine students from Corning, East Union and Orient-Macksburg schools to open enroll into Creston School District. The students will attend Creston starting in August.
A continuation agreement to renew the district’s Ethernet services was approved by board members during the meeting. The contract will be effective July 1 and run for 36 months. Charges will be $200 for installation, and $1,421 for a monthly charge.
School board members approved co-op agreements with Orient-Macksburg School District for the following extracurricular activities: football, wrestling, boys’ and girls’ golf, boys’ and girls’ tennis, bowling, and marching, jazz and concert bands.
Jeff Bevins requested approval for a girls’ track trip to Maryville, Mo., in April. The board approved the out-of-state activity trip.
In other school board news:
• Jesus Rodriguez resigned from his positions as kindergarten through 12th-grade English as a second language teacher, kindergarten through sixth-grade physical education instructor and head boys’ soccer coach. Meg Haines resigned as Peppers coach.
• Mallory Peterson was contracted as high school math teacher. Ryan McKim was contracted as part-time science and part-time at-risk instructor.
• Hawkeye 10 senior academic award winners are: from Creston/O-M wrestling: Alex Fargo, Tayler Pettit and manager Tanner Webb; wrestling cheer squad: Jenna Shepherd; girls’ basketball: Maria Mostek, Brenna Baker and Natalie Mostek; and boys’ basketball: Sam Hartsock, Jay Wolfe and Jake Miller.
• Creston/O-M placed fourth at state wrestling duals Feb. 18; Creston/O-M placed second at state individual wrestling tournament; and place winners include: Chase Shiltz, first place, Spencer Wray, second place, Wyatt Thompson, fourth place, Seth Maitlen, fourth place, and Kadon Hulett, sixth place.
• Creston girls’ bowling placed third at state bowling. Ashley Knipfer placed third individually. Blake Eddy, member of the Creston boys’ bowling team, placed individually as well.