SCHOOL NUTRITION NEWS: School Food Team Juggles School Lunch and Visit From President Joe Biden
For Teacher Appreciation week, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden made their way to Yorktown (Va.) Elementary School and visited with some fifth graders. The school visit was part of the White House’s Getting America Back on Track: American Family Plan Tour, a push for returning to in-person learning for all kids. Prior to the visit, Yorktown’s Sodexo foodservice team didn’t have a lot of advanced notice but were tasked with setting up a...
School Nutrition News: ‘Buy American’ Executive Order Should Focus on School Meals
The National Council of Farm Cooperatives said the executive order President Biden signed Monday to enforce and strengthen “Buy American” provisions should lead to oversight of Agriculture Department school meals purchases. “The president is taking action to reset the U.S. government's longstanding approach to domestic preferences to create an approach that will remain durable for years to come and grow quality, union jobs,” the White House said in a fact sheet about the executive order. “The president's...
School Nutrition News: National School Lunch Week Celebrates Meals Served to Students
National School Lunch week shines the spotlight on the programs and nutritious food that’s served up every day all year long at schools across the country. “We have the opportunity in the state of Alabama to reach approximately three quarters of a million children on a daily basis for meals,” said June Barrett, Alabama Child Nutrition Program Coordinator for the state Department of Education. Nationally, the School Lunch Program serves nearly 30 million students every school...
School Nutrition News: Shutdowns prevented 60 million Coronavirus infections in the U.S., study finds
Shutdown orders prevented about 60 million novel coronavirus infections in the United States and 285 million in China, according to a research study published Monday that examined how stay-at-home orders and other restrictions limited the spread of the contagion. A separate study from epidemiologists at Imperial College London estimated the shutdowns saved about 3.1 million lives in 11 European countries, including 500,000 in the United Kingdom, and dropped infection rates by an average of 82 percent, sufficient to drive the contagion well...
U.S. Prek-12 Schools Explore Adopting Facial Recognition Software
The facial recognition market is a fast-growing industry expected to generate a value of almost $9B annually by 2022. Part of that market includes the education sector. Currently, governments are the biggest consumers of this technology because of its ability to deter crime. The “eye in the sky” watching over everyone is able to detect facial features, allow expedient access or deny it, and identify persons of interest. Large cities like Chicago and Detroit have already opted...
SCHOOL NUTRITION NEWS: 9-Year-Old Uses Allowance to Pay off Lunch Debt for His Entire Class
A 9-year-old boy is reaching into his piggy bank to help his classmates in Napa, California. Ryan Kirkpatrick used his allowance to pay off the lunch debt for his entire third-grade class. KGO reported that Ryan became inspired to take action after talking to his mom, Kylie Kirkpatrick, about kids who couldn't afford school lunches. Ryan then asked his mom to find out how much was owed by his fellow third-grade classmates at West Park Elementary School. That...
