001All right, I'm going to call the May 11th, 2026 board of directors for Northwest School District meeting to order. It is 601. Do I have a motion to adopt adopt the agenda? >> So move. >> Second. >> I am going to make an adjustment for item 4 A3. We're removing that person from the hires list. Any other amendments? All in favor of the amended >> agenda, please. >> All right. So, we will move on to Kathy talk about child nutrition. >> Hi. >> You join me. Sheila, you're so if I need to flip and split with me, it's fine. >> Hi everybody. My name's Kathy Alexander. I know most of you don't know everybody, but I know most of you. I'm the um school nut nutrition director for um uh Addison Northwest and also the
002Mount A school district. Um and it's a pleasure to be here tonight. Um I did bring um my my right and left hand and brain um with me uh the co-director um Erica Revelant director. Right. That's right. Assistant director. Well, they're kind of like my hod and our executive chef, Paul Pello. So, I'm not sure you guys have met um these two before and um I wanted them to be here with me because they might have some things to interject. Paul and Erica have both been involved with some projects this year. So, we'll kind of tag team on some of my presentation. Um I do want to start by saying I'm not sure if um this is public knowledge but this is my last board meeting and my last um few months weeks uh in
003this job. So, um it's been a great great great great experience. Um and it's been a huge honor to uh be at the helm of the child nutrition uh department for so long and I'm really um I don't know. I guess I'm a little like I'm in the stage of ah what am I doing? So, but it's it's been amazing. The people I work with are incredible. Um we don't know exactly what the next transition looks like. We're in some conversations about what that's going to be like. our the administration at Mount Abe and Addison Northwest are working really collaboratively, which I think is one of the beauties of our program is that we have really been successful um in a big way at having two two entities in two different districts work um super
004collaboratively to the benefit of um both departments and and ultimately kids because we've really created um some culture that around food um that transcends one district and moves into another and I think that's really really really cool and our administrators have just worked really really well together. So at the moment we're trying to uh figure out what the next um who who's going to be in a leadership role. I I do I have no doubt that Paul and Erica will be involved in some way, but um unfortunately I don't have any information for you, but you'll hear through through Sheila how things tease out. So, but and there will be good people at at the helmet and it things will move forward. We also have solid solid staff and um not that we haven't had
005our share of problems this year but um in general we really have we really have good foundation. >> Gonna be great. Um Carmen's here too. I wanted to just introduce her. Carmen is the uh she's the manager for the high school program. one of our strong leaders in our in our programs and we're super happy she's here because she just um supports our programs and just wanted to be here. I really really really appreciate it. Um so there's our whole team this year and this is going to be my end of the year report. Um and you can switch the slide. So I usually start with highlights just so that um you can sort of hear a little bit. Every year we have a little bit of a different focus whether there's something up um
006that we have to focus on because there's federal or state regulations or big changes or if it's just something we really feel like okay this year we're going to really dig into this. And this year we focus um on two things primarily. We we did a lot of team building with our with our in our individual schools to really um just try to help people uh be strong together and work out problems within their teams. And um we just decided that would be a really great focus this year. Um, and also we did as as we do in in different ways every year, we focused on some new menu items and gave our teams some uh license to come up with new things and try new things. >> You can switch Sheila. So the team
007building piece um we did uh some values work with our teams which was really fun. Um it was a step away from just talking about food and really talking about what grounds us in our work and in our lives. Um and that was really powerful because it helped people kind of understand how to inter interact with each other also with students with their school community. Um and and it was really good work. We had um a facilitator from Hunger-Free Vermont that came and did that work with us. And if you ever want to do a values workshop, I highly recommend this this work. It was really fun. >> Kathy, can I add something? >> Of course. So during this part, we came up with our core values and each of our school teams came up
008with a team agreement based on whatever we learned that day. We took or five of us, we took five core values and made it into our team agreement. It's posted in two places in the cafeteria where we can see them and we I have referred back to those with the staff to see are we meeting these things that we said we wanted to and so it's a great reference point. It was a really it was a strong strong activity that was a great learning opportunity. >> Great. Thank you for doing it. >> Thanks for that. Yeah, >> of course. And I think that was true for other teams as well. Um we did had have some ups and downs this year with people leaving and it it was an important time to have some tools,
009something to fall back on. Um you know, it's funny even when I was I I don't know if you know this, but for 10 years I worked at Ferrisburg um in the kitchen with two other women and our joke was you know, you basically were kind of married. Like I spent more time with those women than I did with my husband and family sometimes. And so it's really important to you know work cooperatively. So this was a big focus for us this year and thanks for um bringing up every every team has a team agreement and I personally have reflected on it with them in different situations like remember our team your team agreement let's revisit that. So that was really good. You may switch please. Thank you. So we also did some learning. Um
010again kind of a team building thing. We had a really fun activity at the beginning of the year. We played mini golf together. Um but we did it we did it um with some child nutrition. Um you had as we went along playing mini golf, we did all these activities around child nutrition. So we we made it fun. This slide gives me a reason to say there are just I'm sure many of you know this already, but there are a lot of rules and regulations that our um staff have to follow. The the complexity of child nutrition is um it's it's pretty intense actually. So, it's a little it's it's quite a bit more than just having a menu and preparing food and serving it to kids. There's just a ton of detail about nutritional
011values and the way service is to be handled. And then of course there's lots of rules and regulations that have to do with the finances and how we manage um numbers and counts and a variety of things like that. So um and those rules are changing all the time like in education as well, right? So having um the opportunities like mini golf and things like that where we can make some of the learning and refreshing fun and also have time together um is important. So we had a lot of fun doing that. Thank you Shilling. Okay. Um the other big thing we did this year is we realized um the three of us kind of realized we our schools even though they're very interrelated and there's a lot of talk on on you know uh
012email and people do reach out to each other for a variety of things. our teams in all the schools, so eight schools around the two districts had not seen each other's kitchens or or really um spent time in each other's kitchens. And there's something about your, you know, your when you're cooking and that's your space, your kitchen is a really important place and and every kitchen has a variety of opportunities and challenges with equipment and space, etc., etc. So, we felt it would be a really good opportunity to do a Lego world. We called it the world tour of school kitchens. So, we got in a school bus um in January and we went, we spent five, four hours, something like that going to every single kitchen and every team had to give a presentation
013about their kitchen, what the challenges and opportunities were. They engaged in lots of conversation with other school people from other schools thinking about well what would a solution possibly be to this problem. It was it was really really fruitful. I think of all the trainings we've ever done which is a ton we do at least two to three a year. Um this was some of the some of the favorite. Would you agree with that car? >> Absolutely. opportunity to really see, you know, what we can appreciate about our own kitchen or the sacrifices that other kitchens are making. >> Yeah. Perspective from all of us. >> Exactly. And it was really great to share and and um get some ideas, tricks of the trade, that kind of thing. So, thank you. >> Okay. As I
014said, we also did some work around new menu items and a couple things that stand out um at Virgin's in especially in this district at Veren's elementary school. They started a whole program um mostly because they had gotten feedback last year doing some really good work with kids and listening to what kids wanted. They got some good feedback that they really wanted to be able to kind of customize their meal even at that at the elementary stage. We know that high schoolers want to do that and that's great and we try to do that as much as possible, but at the elementary schools we haven't done that. So Beth and her team um put together a you know a menu so that every month they had a make your own bowl situation. So instead of
015just serving pasta, the kids got a bowl of pasta and then they could put anything they wanted on top and there were a variety of sauces and that kind of thing. So we saw a lot of engagement from kids in that activity. So, they did a pasta bowl, a taco bowl, a salad bowl, and a ramen bowl. And all of those had different toppings. And the staff was super enthusiastic about it, and the kids were very enthusiastic about it. Um, and was a huge success. So, she's shared that with all of our other schools, and we'll I hope that next year we'll see that happening in other schools as well. the high school did a really similar thing here where Carmen um started a parfait bar for breakfast. So, seems like a small thing, but
016um logistics had to be worked out and a whole bunch of other stuff, but you were successful at making that happen. And again, a an opportunity for students to customize what they want to eat. And that's some of the direction that we're starting to take um with food. Um, did you want to add to anything I've said so far? >> Um, >> just want to give you a chance in case there's something I'm missing, which is entirely possible. >> Not yet. Okay. >> Um, we also spent some time, I think last year we talked to you a little bit about how we really wanted to do some centralized kitchen work. Um, and we actually got I think Paul's put together some um time for our uh some staff from from this kitchen and staff from
017Mount Kitchen actually came together and we hired people over vacations and they made um product for all the schools all the schools uh um to to share. Do you want to say anything about that? Um yeah, we we're trying to focus on the whole purpose of this and it's happen stance that it turns into a cost savings. I try not to drive it all with that, but the true driving force is the fact that we wanted to get away from kids tearing open cellophane, eating things that have more than five or six ingredients in them that we can't pronounce. So these are all wholesome whole grain items that we can put our name on and feed with pride for the kids. And I think in the two rounds that we did, we made over 3,000
018items uh baked goods. So that that and again that translates to a cost savings, too. So it's it's a win-win. It's just time consuming and and for us to do it more, it would just take a little more organization and repetition. This was our opportunity to sort of test run that and we did it twice. So now we have a really good idea of what's possible for a for and how many people does it take and how many what can they produce and then what's the delivery implications because now we have we had all that product in one place. So now we have to get it to schools and all of that. So um it was something we've been wanting to do for a while and we've taken a big step towards maybe having that
019happen more often. Um, and I do think it's really it's really good thing for kids to have homemade products, and that's really a goal that we're we're working towards. So, that was great effort. Okay, cool. Um, another project Paul worked really um deeply on was um I know this sounds weird, but we're always trying to do more with local food, right? And um and when you we do we do a little bit of local produce from our local farmers, but that is not um where the impact is to be perfectly honest with you. The impact is really with um bigger producers and protein proteins both financially for the growers and farmers, but also for the school. um we definitely get local vegetables um but it's just a much smaller quantity. So this year um especially
020since we we do do our local food incentive grant which I'll talk about in a minute um we and after some conversation and training that Paul and Eric and I had gotten when we went to Boston last year, we wanted to focus, believe it or not, on fish. Now, fish isn't exactly local, but we wanted to get fish that was as local as possible. Can you talk about the why we wanted to do that? >> Sure. Um, when you purchase fish, especially frozen, which is what a large portion of the schools get, fish sticks, hatock, fillets, things like that. Um, it'll say Atlantic hatock, Atlantic cod. But what's actually happening is caught in the Atlantic, put on a boat, and shipped over to China for processing. And there's once that happens, the um traceability becomes
021a little more murky. The product then finds its way on a plane back to the United States where it's had all that time for ice to penetrate the protein and you just get a really bad product that again we can't really trace. Um and it's not supporting our local fishers. uh the east coast, the northeast especially has um a dwindling industry because all the fish that is readily available to us um it's not on the American pallet and that's because kids aren't raised to eat and pollic and things like that. They're raised to eat salmon and tuna and St. Peter's fish or tilapia um which are all imported from everywhere else. Even aquacultured fish isn't necessarily clean or wild. So, we went with um Red's Best is a company that's right on the Boston Pier.
022It's owned by a fisherman. Uh he buys the fish, processes it all, and manufactures fish sticks for schools in on purpose um with whole grain ingredients. the hatock fillets um are all I mean the product is beautiful and we get it you know it's three steps from the ocean which is pretty hard to get in most restaurants in Vermont let alone school so we do it in large quantities we'll we'll buy a lot of poundage at once and split it up across the districts and um we've had some great success stories with kids that are iffy about eating it to you know really transitioning there even for lunch. It's really great to see here. >> It's a great source of protein that we want to promote anyway. So anyway, we felt like it was a
023big success. It took forever to figure out like it doesn't seems like oh what's the big deal but it was a really big deal because we couldn't afford to pay you know we couldn't there were there are people coming up here with that product but they also tack on like exorbitant transportation fees when the product is being brought here. So, um, Paul ended up working with a company called Food Hub called Food Connect who really wanted to work with us and worked out a deal and so we are we are not spending more money on a much better product and kids are eating it and we feel really good about it. So, um, so it it's um there there are now a couple of more local proteins on our menus. All of our ground beef
024is local. It's coming locally. We don't buy ground beef from our our uh distributor. Um and that's a really really really big deal. And now all of this fish is going to come from Maine or Boston or where >> Gulf of Maine. So that feels like a great accomplishment. I feel good about that. Um and we're working now, we were working with uh Harvey Smith. You may remember for years he was our main distributor for beef. um but he can't they could not manage the volume. I guess that's a good thing for us. >> Um so we're now working with um Vermont Livestock and Slaughter right here in Ferrisburg and they've been really great to work with, really reliable and um a great relationship with them. And now we're actually transitioning to beef patties, which
025is going to be a big deal for us because we do, you know, hamburgers are kind of a big deal and to have a local burger would be really great. So that's our next our next frontier there, local product. Um, any questions so far? You talk about numbers now. Anything I left out food wise or projects? Okay. Um, so just to kind of for those of you who haven't been to one to my presentation, I want to talk a little bit about um sort of how we get funded and we still get funded through federal and state funds primarily. You'll see in addition to your contribution to the program um uh but I'll go over that in a minute. But we do still even though we have universal school meals and it's been very successful
026in Vermont. It is and it we don't require applications anymore. Um we still determine eligibility in each school through a method called um community eligibility using information we get from the state about kids who are directly certified for free or reduced meals. So, and that that kids who are directly certified are kids who get SNAP benefits or WIC or um or homeless uh or migrant students, those kinds of things. So, we get a list and then we determine eligibility based on that. Um and uh there's also some conversion factors and things like that. So, this is where we're at right now. It changes every year. In parentheses is what it was last year. So Ferrisburg's uh free and reduced percentages or elig eligibility has gone down a tad. This really has to do with enrollment.
027So as enrollment changes, these things change. We saw a big change in um Virgin's elementary and Virginia's high school. That had to do with uh changing the configuration of the schools and bringing the sixth graders over here. So the enrollment numbers changed. Um, and that's what that's kind of what we're seeing now. So, 36% now at Virgin's high school as of April 1st or April 30th, I can't remember. No, it's April 1st. And we saw a big jump at Ven, but again, that is has to do with that transition of kids moving over. Um, it still means we're we're eligible for community eligibility. All kids eat for free. It adds the Northwest, but these are our current numbers in our schools and they will we we watch this monthly and we can we have opportunities
028to actually change the status with the state every April um for the following year. So yeah. Okay. Any questions about that? A little brief little thing. We still do that. The other number that we watch really carefully of course is meal participation. We want to know um our kids eating our meals and how are we doing and what's happening and are we are we doing okay. So um in parentheses again is the change uh is what how it went up or down. So and I have a comparison between FY25 and 26. So we had some change uh negative change in breakfast at FCES and BUES. Um mostly it had to do with moving u move moving at Virginia's elementary moving the breakfast into the cafeteria. So I think that's where that um drop 5% drop
029came from. We were expecting it but it's a seems like a better situation for kids and and students. So, um, we're going to live with live with where it is now. And at FCS, I think we were, um, we had an idea why that was. Do you remember what it was? >> That was a slight drop. >> Yeah. Um, we're thinking that we have some new requirements coming this year for um, sugar. Um, the amount of sugars that are in breakfast. It's actually not a sugar that's in all foods and stuff like that. But breakfast items are a hard thing because they're mainly packaged items. It's hard to um you know get things that aren't super sure. That's what kids want. Breakfast sour. Like it's you know more of a treat than it is you
030know good protein or something like that. Again why Paul was um we're working on the >> the central kitchen so that we can make these products that are not as as sweet. Um but yeah, so we had to kind of get away from some of the products that we were using. There was some uh sugar sugary cereals that were a little bit higher that we've taken back. So kids, you know, they're like, "Oh, you know, it's hard to, you know, have maybe a cinnamon toast crunch every week and now you have a Cheerios option." Um which is great and I think I think it's going to take years to get used to it again. It's a good thing, but that is the new new federal regulations are looking at sugar and it's a pretty low
031actually, especially at breakfast. So, that that is some of why we thought um that transition was there. And then at Ven's, we saw some creative options now for kids to do some customizing and do some different things. So, we did see an increase in breakfast and we're really happy to have seen a huge increase at Ferrisburg in meals. uh for lunch and and a slight increase at the other schools and that's always always what we're looking for. >> So great. Thank you. >> Can I ask how how are these tally in terms of um do students sign in? >> Oh, good question. How do we tally that? We keep a count. So, we have to count every single meal that we serve. Um we also have to count it at the point of service. Um,
032so we know that we've served what's called a reimburseable meal. So every meal has to meet of a a state reg federal regulations. Um, and we have to confirm by counting the meal and looking at it that they've gotten everything they're supposed to get. And so we have count sheets. Um, we used to use point of sale in all of our schools. Now it's pretty much the high schools that are using point of sale. And for our elementary schools, we're actually doing tallies on official tally sheets where we count each meal as it's served. It's a very important part of our work and very important to the federal government. We can't we're not even allowed if kids do sign up in the morning at elementary schools, we're not allowed to use that number to um
033to account for meals that are served. and that meal served tally sheet ends up being the uh documentation for reimbursement later in the month. >> Is there a possibility of a student not receiving breakfast from home and also not receiving breakfast at school or not opting for breakfast at school? >> Not receiving breakfast at home. Is there a possibility? >> Or not bringing breakfast from home. The percent of students that weren't eating >> Yeah. >> breakfast at school. Well, I guess I would say um our breakfast is offered in the elementary schools right at the front door or or they come to the cafeteria and then if they haven't gotten it, there's breakfast opportunities at the front door and in the office and that's well publicized throughout the school. So if a student doesn't take
034the initiative to come get breakfast from any of those points where they can do that, I think our st our teachers are well aware of the fact that that the food is available to kids and would and will and have sent kids down for breakfast when they need it. So I think the likelihood of um an elementary student not having a breakfast when needed is very very very very low. Yeah. And I think elementary high school students, I couldn't exactly say that because they're making their own choices about whether they want to eat or not, but we encourage it and try to be there, right? I I can say that, you know, we might say breakfast is open from 7:40 till 9:00 a.m. However, if a student comes in after 9:00 a.m. and needs breakfast,
035we don't tell them they can't get it. We'll find something for them. Yeah. >> So, if they are hungry, they will get food. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, of course. That's great. Thanks for ask um so of course we have to look at um financials all the time. So we're looking at our eligibility, we're looking at the participation and then we're looking at our financial status and um just for ease it's it's helpful to see what the ratios are. So where is our money coming from and where is it going? Um, so for revenue, uh, most of our revenue, as you can see, is state and federal funding through reimbursements. So this is a big shift with universal meals. There's no column now, no little part of the pie that is
036from families. This is all state and federal money. And um, the eligibility, the eligibility that I showed you earlier is what determines how much the state puts in and how much the feds put in. So that's based on um our eligibility percentages. Um and then 25% in green is from you. So thank you very very very very very very very much. Um, this I will show you in about one minute a flyer that will help convince you that it is 100% impossible for us to sustain this program without your generous support and investment in students health in our schools. Um, there are a few other columns up there and they are from catering. We do we do cater as much as possible. Um we get uh we get grants, we get rebates from our distributor.
037Um uh we do a little bit of adult sales and student sales as well. So we are trying to make money whenever we can. Um but um that's not our, you know, we're not in the business of making money. We're in the business of feeding kids. So, um, as far as expenses go, you'll see 41% in blue, um, is wages and 19% is benefits. So, that's the bulk of our expenses. Um, and 36% in food, which actually went down by 7% from last year relative to all the other expenses. our food costs pretty much the actual cost stayed the same which I reviewed that and found it to be a miracle because we are seeing about an 11% in costs um but uh but we didn't overall spend that much more this year and and
038it relative to all our other expenses it was a little bit less. So that's how that pie works. Other of the smaller expenses are equipment, dues and fees, repairs and maintenance, those kinds of things. But it's a pretty simple picture. It's labor and food to get food to kids and the income comes from the state, federal government, and from Any questions about that? I don't want to skip over that. Okay. I'm actually going to give you all a copy of this because um this is you wanna I'm giving you a copy so that you can spread this around. Um this is an infographic that's been circulated by some of our colleagues um nationally and it just really sums up kind of the financial picture for school nutrition. we get uh from the federal government right
039now, it's going to go up a little bit, but not much. $4.70 per meal. Um that's less than a latte, just FYI. >> And that meal includes a half a cup of vegetables, a half a cup of fruit. It has to include, >> this is not even optional. half cup of fruit, half a cup of ve vegetable, a minimum of 2 ounces of protein, and 2 ounces of grain and an 8 oz milk. So, all of those things have to be in there. And then that doesn't include all the other stuff that goes with it and the supplies that it takes to make the to put the meal on. So, that's just food. Um, and then there's the labor that goes into it. So, um, this pays for that 470 has to pay for the
040food and everything else that we're we're doing. Um, so I we're just finding this is helpful for people to see the stark realities of child nutrition um, right now. Do you have anything you'd like to add, Stephen? >> Yeah. Yeah, I I think I I this is a a good starting point for me. I'm a career chef. This is uh my second for school nutrition and and the more times and and the deeper I get into it, the more I see that the participation end is kind of lacking from other uh school staff or employees. if like three teachers made it part of their habit to come in and have a lunch, you know, a couple times extra a week, >> make a significance impact in our program. And I think that if more educators
041and faculty and staff knew that maybe that would change, shift the tide a little more. The um the problem we're having, I think, is there's a lot of disconnect. food is looked at like an amenity and not as an integral part of like the education process too. A well-fed child is a great learner. And I think with this, you know, explanation and and a little more continued education, maybe more people would be a little bit likely to participate in a food program. And I think that will be a ongoing goal for us um as we move forward is to continue to um build um integrate our school nutrition programs into the school, encourage staff to participate as much as possible in various schools. We have good staff participation. Um but it does take a lot
042of effort to draw people in and it will all of that does benefit the bottom line. Sorry, >> I'm sorry. I'll add it's very much up to the principles to carry that back. >> I think that the the strongest participations we have in the schools are the ones with the most active principles, the ones that sit down in the cafeterias and eat students, the ones that are okay with telling the teachers, you need to participate and do the count sheet so the kids can have a salad bar. You know, things like that that actually happen. We've had great success in other schools or with strong participation like that. So that's great. So, >> and also our um our lunches are only $6 for adults, >> which is way less than anywhere else around. So, >>
043and it's going to be a great great deal. >> Carmen, >> what >> you always say? What do you always say? >> That we're the best restaurant in town. >> Thank you, Carmen. >> And um $60 for an adult is extremely cheap when when the right the price has been $5 for how many years and went up a dollar. And I will honestly tell you, there were a couple staff members I heard say, "It's $6." I'm thinking, " $6 anything for $6. We got the best deal going." >> And we really are like trying to provide something that's culinarily exceptional um for not much money. So anyway, that's the um you know, take that and spread that around. And if you have do you have any questions about that? Pretty clear. Um, I have a
044couple more slides. I think maybe not too many. Oh, yes. I did want to mention we did get our local food incentive grant. Again, this is a grant offered by the state where we are reimbursed uh based on the number of meals that we served if we reach a percentage of local foods relative to our total food cost. Um, which we have to account for and it's not for nothing. we do a lot of leg work and pro to prove it. Um, but it's a great program because it's a true incentive program that the state engages in and and really helps us uh incentivize buying locally and that's why we spend a lot of money on protein. Um, and it we get it really helps uh reduce the cost. So, this year we got $18,000.
045Um, and uh those are all our local our big local producers. Can we make a switch, please? I'm almost done. We just finished our healthy meals incentive grant. That was a big grant we got. It was two-year grant. We finished it this year with a tilt skillet at Virgin's Elementary School. I feel like it was something I've been trying to do for a long time and it's great way to go out having a tilt skillet in a school. Um, and also they got a new steamer, which was a big big big thing, long time coming. So, we did a lot. We had a $130,000 grant. We really really outfitted our kitchens. Well, everybody has good good equipment. And that grant is now over. Um, may change. Um, our summer meals program, just a report on
046that. We had a really robust summer meals program last year. We're doing these meal kits for kids, which you may have heard about. Maybe you've even gotten them. I hope so. They're open for anyone who has children. Um the meal kits are for any child 18 and under. Each box of food contains enough food for seven breakfasts and seven lunches. Um last year we didn't Erica pointed out this is actually incorrect. We didn't do 28,000 meal kits, but we did the we did 4,000 meal kits, which meant we served it was 28,000 meals in those kits, but still 4,000 meals in five weeks was a lot. Um, but just cross out the kids. And we we worked with the American Legion and distributed there if any of you came to that. And it was amazing
047and great. And we're doing it again this year. we have just put in our application and we'll be back there um doing that again. And then Carmen has been running the uh the program where kids eat as part of the after the summer program. And um last year they did 5,000 lunches and 2600 breakfast with that program. Um in just those five weeks we are serving kids all summer long which is great. may switch. Almost done. And next, so what's next? So we, you know, you've gotten a little sprinkling of some of the things we want to do. Um, we'll have there'll be new administration and new ideas. Um, I think we do really want to work with schools. We want to work with principles. We want to build that school culture a little bit
048more. Um, cafeterias are still kind of a place that we want to make some improvements for kids. um continue to do staff development and support program planning. Um we're going to continue working on trying to reduce costs with some of the initiatives you heard about today. Um more scratch cooking and efficiencies always. That's just always going to be on the table. Um we'd love to build more revenue with adult meals and other sales opportunities. in Mount Abe. We took on another another preschool this year, which is always a um there's a whole there's a whole thing now. We can we can actually serve pre preschools through the national school lunch program because of universal prek. So, we're going to be looking at that in Addison Northwest. It's a little complicated, but um it's been working
049really well for the Beamman School is now providing meals to Bristol Family Center um and once we work out deliveries and stuff like that, but um that there's some opportunities here to work potentially with Victory Baptist Preschool. So, we're going to be pursuing that next year. Little extra income work um working with the community as well. um summer meals, we'll still do that. And again, always trying to do student engagement activities so that we're involved in listening and being responsive. >> I think my last slide is questions. >> Oh, so perfect. Yes. >> Related to engagement. I just last year remembered that you did like taste test. >> Yes. A brought you one last I had one one meeting that I had to zoom in. So, I'm >> very sad. But I really missed out
050too. I know. Everyone was like, "Oh, this is so good." >> So, sorry. Anyway, I did wonder if you were going to continue that or if any of that happens this year. >> Yeah, we did a little bit of taste testing this year in various schools with some new recipes. Um, Veren's did a did it a couple times. Ferrisburg did a few things. Barsburg just actually did a really interesting one with um uh with mushrooms. They they were um a cat clear who does blue what's her company blue house mushrooms and Paul went over and made this amazing mushroom >> what was it mushroom turnovers >> tried to make it approachable puff pastry you know >> so the kids got to see all the mushrooms and what they look like and then Paul made this
051like amazing like gourmet mushroom thing and they were going nuts over it. It was very cool. We saw the full spectrum of mushroom tasters. The why did you trick me with dirt and paper and then I want kind of the representation. >> So yeah, lots of those kind of opportunities. Yeah. >> It's hard to do it. Um we'd love to be doing it on a regular basis and then you know but then there's the daily challenges with staff being out and things happening. So, but it's definitely in people's minds and and it's part of the routine as much as possible. >> And actually, I would throw in that I would invite any of you who might want to be part of that if you'd like to jump in and come help us with a taste
052testing in any of the school contacts, the managers. >> Yeah. >> And we would love to have you come in and help us out on that. >> Yep. >> Always have extra hairnets and aprons. >> Always. Always. >> Any other questions? Thank you for that comments or >> not. Not a question, a comment. I just want to say thank you for all you've done. I mean, I hear from my kids how different the meals are than they used to be. Um, high praise from my 10-year-old on a regular basis. >> Oh my gosh, that makes us very happy. >> Thank you. And I I think that this is going to miss you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> I agree. I think we're all going to miss you. >> Yeah. >> Um, on your pie
053chart slide, you had indicated FY26 the $20,000 deficit cost blade. >> Yes. Sorry, I didn't mention that, did I? I was supposed to. >> Thank you for pointing that out. I do appreciate it. Um, yes. I always like right around March and April, I sit down with the business manager and try to project how we're going to do. And I really never know. And I I think last year I said 12,000 that we were going to be um in the hole and I think we came out closer to even but I I can't remember right now. But this year it is looking right. I sat with Stephanie and we went through it and it's looking like around $20,000. Um I it's hard to predict though as we go into the end of the year because
054we slow way down on spending. So if we keep spending what we've spent, that's what's going to happen. So, my guess is that's the highest deficit we would have, but um it's important for me to let you know that. And thank you for I I put it in the slides so that I would tell you and I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have other questions about that? >> Yeah. Um, is that kind of projecting forward any federal or state cuts or anything that's been discussed or >> No, it really has to do with um salaries going up that we have absolutely no control over. Insurance going up um that we also have no control over. As I said, sometimes we we worry about food spending, but that's something we can control. And so we usually
055tell our staff even though we're seeing 11% increase in various items, we try to be frugal, efficient, um, and careful with our food expenses. So it really, um, we also had we had a ex big expense with some preventative maintenance this year that we didn't anticipate um, and some things going wrong with equipment. So, those are things in generally that account for that $20,000 deficit, additional salaries, additional um insurance, and some equipment expenses that we didn't foresee, but it's not food, which is actually shocked me. I thought it was going to be more about food expense. Can I ask although just on that same slide um I guess I wasn't paying attention. >> Um and I some of the slides are talking about all all the schools across both districts. >> No, they're all this
056is just Addison Northwest. >> Oh, okay. >> Uhhuh. >> Yeah. We came up. >> Can I Is it okay to ask how we're doing in comparison? Yes. Um, as mount name, we we generally are very similar, although the districts are bigger. So, um, I'll be reporting to them that their deficit's going to be closer, if I'm right, to about 40 to $50,000. Just it's two more schools. >> Yeah. It's just the way things went this year. People got We had some big salary increases um last year, correct? >> Well, especially in Mount A. >> Yeah. Especially in Mount A. Yeah. Um and so we we don't >> Sorry Patrick if you're watching right but yeah so it's very similar but it's fair to ask is it similar and it and it is we see some
057similar trends in our program. Um but I mean I think the good news is we do watch that pretty carefully. Um and we do what we can to mitigate those kinds of things. Um, but there's only so much we can actually do. >> That answer your question. But just so you know, there's no there's never any co-mingling of funding. We sort of watch trends. We do we as a staff, we do watch trends across the districts and school. We compare schools. We look at, you know, how are schools performing relative to each other. Um, and then we do training and support in response to that, right? If we see that participation in one school is lower, we'll help them out. Same with funding and that kind of stuff. And Paul actually did a deep dive
058into some um food costing and how how we were spending money in all of our schools. And we saw pretty even pretty much it was even even across districts that we and we accomplished that too by having a menu that is across the district so we can control inventory more. So I feel like we're doing what we can um and we will continue to do more but um but it's expensive to feed kids in school. It's not a restaurant, >> right? >> Yeah. I mean, if it was a restaurant, in order to take care of the $20,000 deficit, we would raise our prices >> and we would charge $545, which is pretty much what it cost on average, not $4.70. So, that's the dilemma. >> But the um collaboration comes in, the trainings and >>
059Yes, exactly. That's where the crossover is. We share training. We also have one menu. >> We never share actual food, but we share a menu so that we so then when we make comparisons across schools, it's the it's the same. We can look at trends and things that are happening in different schools and address them because one thing we know is the food is the same, the recipes are the same, the menus are the same, that kind of thing. >> Yeah. Well, I I just want to point out we were talking about the increase in wages that I believe our food service staff was paid pretty low over the years. Correct. It's important for us to be able to pay a liveable wage. >> Thank you. That's great. Yeah. So, I just wanted >> I
060appreciate that you said that because that's true. Um, absolutely. And we had worked hard to get to that place with the administration and the support of the school boards has been amazing in that regard. Um but it and it and then then here we are where we have really great livable wages and still this >> federal government did not hear about it. So >> yeah. >> I I also want to thank you. I mean you were in when my kids were there and they're old. >> Yeah. >> They're not they are >> not all at all. >> So I want to thank you for that. I also have a question. um participation levels, are they similar to our neighboring districts as well? >> Very much so. And we do watch that also. There's a little,
061you know, we share, we have meetings with all of our managers and we share the participation rates percentages. Um and there's definitely subtle competition, which is good, not going to lie, it's not a bad thing. Um, yes. And we have we're seeing in all of our schools pushing we're no 70% and 80% at some of our elementary schools which is really really really good. I mean it's what you want to see when all meals are free but um but it's good that we are seeing that. >> And Kathy, aren't the high schools like above what the national average? Yeah, the national average, well, yes, the national averages in high schools tend to be around 50%. And Virgin's is doing really, really well. Um, at over 70% actually in the last few months, they've been hitting
06270% and Mount A is high 60s. Um, yeah, >> and I have across the 24 numbers and we're way up. >> Yeah. Weird. >> Yeah. So we're proud of the numbers and they keep climbing and and again when they don't we look at them like we're very data oriented. We are looking at that and trying to figure out you know what's going on. What are we missing here? Where are we not you know doing what we need to do and in general we've been able to rectify it. We were worried about changing some of our service models for breakfast because we thought it would drop. Like for Jen's elementary school, we anticipated that drop when we moved it from the front door for everybody to the cafeteria, but we we felt that it would be
063a better change for the school and the kids coming into the cafeteria eating together. It's a better cultural situation and better teachers and stuff. >> So, first of all, my mom worked in cafeterias when I was in school, so I >> I bet the regulations are different for bringing your kids on there when they're sick. But um so um with all that's we're thinking about for the future of schools in Vermont, what is the school nutrition community talking about that we should be aware of as we start to enter into some of those more? >> Good question. >> That's a great question. I mean, I think the most important thing is to really try to understand that the contribution that you make, the 25% is not going to go away. It's not going to get
064better. That's a investment that you're making that school nutrition is part of education. And even with our wonderful universal school meals program, um that's going to stay the same. But what you're getting for that money is significant. So for that 25% um you are getting well-fed kids, you're getting uh control over the food that they're given um and accountability for how we feed our kids. So in return for that, we're making sure they're getting local beef and local fish and we're training our staff to be, you know, with in culinary skills and trying to make sure that the the food that goes on that plate looks and tastes beautiful. So, um I think you know really these programs as part of your school, your district, your region, your um is is really important. >> Were
065you referencing the the mergers? >> Yeah. If if if that ends up being on our horizon, is are you seeing that as an opportunity? Are you seeing that as kind of a challenge or >> for us? >> We're ahead of people. >> Yeah, we we are. I mean, we feel like we've, >> you know, we've done a little merging already and we see the benefits of it in our department. And for us, I think there's going to be the same number of kids and they still need to get fed. And we know how to do that and we know how to do it in individual schools or in big districts. And that's why we're trying to lean on some some of these like bulk cooking opportunities like how can we get a homemade low sugar
066banana bread to every single one of our schools efficiently um even if it's an entire county. So um and I think across the state these are conversations that are being had um that a lot of people are talking about some similar things and actually our districts have been looked to I've been called many times this year how do you do two districts you know and how does that work and I would say it works great >> I will say lots of one thing that you and I have talked about that would make it even better would be if the if the staff was under on employment agreement times when we are >> oh my god yes short in one school and and >> much more flexibility >> yeah we could share staff across the two
067campuses but there's just a a barrier there be able to do that so >> true merger would eliminate that barrier >> that's right we have talked about that because it's gets confusing and that's challenging and there's a few little things like that but yeah thank you for reminding me of that schools. >> True. >> But I will say there's a real opportunity when schools do invest in food for kids because you again you you have you know you can talk to us and you can change things and you know what's going into their mouths. >> Yes. Did you have a question mark? No. >> No. I was thanking that. >> Uh nobody else. I'm going to wrap up then just say thank you for everything you've done. >> Oh yeah, we're good. >> Okay, great.
068>> Thank you so much. I'm sorry. >> It's just that you you walked into a mess a number of years ago. The fact that we might be 20,000 in deficit is nothing compared to what we were the first few years where we were just struggling to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to to do this. And you've done a miraculous job. Whoever follows you has got a great foundation to build off of. >> Thank you so much. All right. I have a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Your second. And I know there's not discussion, but I do want to