Parent Organization News: Healthy Cafeteria Initiative
This group had its first meeting on Tuesday, January 11 at 7 p.m. The response and the participation are evenly split between the three schools. We had a total of 14 people in attendance at the meeting, including Ken Wilkins from the Business Office and our three student representatives (US, MS and PS). At the end of the meeting we set up three sub-committees that would work on specific areas:
Group 1 is looking at what is happening in other schools, including international schools that have worked with Sodexho to create “healthy” cafeterias;
Group 2 is researching healthy eating initiatives (i.e. national, state and CDC initiatives that we might tap into); and
Group 3 is looking at the business plan: how much does it cost now to run the cafeteria; what do we need to make it work; facts and figures from Sodexho, etc.
Also, as a sub-group to this, the three student representatives, along with Sarah Locke (US Math Teacher) will be conducting a survey of all students to determine the feelings of the students, opportunities for change and education. Group 3 will also be looking at the marketing and educational aspects of the committees’ proposal once we have firm suggestions in place.
Our second meeting will be held in early February. All sub-committees will present their findings to the larger group for discussion. It is our intent to have a concrete plan to present to the PO for a vote at their May meeting. The plan would then go forward to the Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors in June for final approval with implementation beginning in the new school year in August of 2005. That being said, we believe there may be some short-term immediate changes we can implement before this year is out. We welcome parents’ input into this important initiative; please contact Sue McGregor for more information.