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Mar
Breakfast in the Classroom with OrderNOW by PCS on the PayPAMS Parent Portal
Dave 0 comments School Lunch News From Around The USA, Uncategorized
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is the meal that provides the body with the necessary nutrients to start the day off right. Not all children have access to a healthy breakfast at home, that is where Breakfast in the Classroom comes in. Breakfast in the Classroom is a great way to ensure that all students have access to a healthy breakfast. With the help of OrderNOW, schools can provide this service with ease and convenience.
Here’s How it Works
OrderNOW is an ordering app for PCs, tablets, and phones that allows parents and teachers to order breakfast for their students with ease. Teachers can place orders for their entire class and parents can order breakfasts for the whole week. Meal counts are tabulated for food production and routed back to the classroom or alternate serving areas, ensuring that all students have access to a healthy meal to start their day. Parent ordering saves valuable time for teachers who no longer have to worry about collecting breakfast orders from each student and delivering them to the cafeteria.
OrderNOW can also be used by students with smart phones for direct orders to the cafeteria.
Jan
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 executive order establishes the goals and standards necessary to use federal purchasing, and other forms of federal assistance with domestic preference requirements, as a way to proactively invest in American industry so it can continue to lead in the global marketplace.”
The White House noted that the executive order refers to “domestic preferences related to federal procurement, federal grants, and other forms of federal assistance. Buy American and Buy America refers to the specific statutes that go by those names,” adding that a director of Made in America will be appointed in the White House Office of Management and Budget to oversee implementation of the order.
NCFC noted that it and its members have expressed deep concern in recent years over a marked increase in the amount of foreign-produced food served under the school lunch and breakfast programs “when comparable American-grown products are readily available and competitively priced, something that is contrary to the intent of the Buy American provisions.”
The White House fact sheet did not make specific mention of school food purchases.
“On behalf of America’s farmer co-ops and their member-owners, I would like to thank President Biden for signaling his strong support for ‘Buy American’ provisions as a way to ensure good jobs and prosperous local economies across the country,” said Chuck Conner, president and CEO of NCFC.
“At the same time, the previous administration started by making a similar show of support for these provisions, but failed to put substance and action behind its words. Hopefully, by appointing a new director of Made In America within the White House, this administration will be more active in enforcing existing requirements in the law and in working with Congress to strengthen these provisions.”
NCFC said that examples of schools buying foreign foods are:
– 81% of apple juice served in U.S. schools is imported;
– 50-60% of the fish served in schools are caught by Russian ships and processed in China;
Read FULL ARTICLE HERE
Oct
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 day.
“If a child is hungry, they cannot learn. And I think that that’s probably the biggest message that we need to provide to parents and to the community in general,” Barrett explains about the importance of the School Lunch Program. “Because if a child did not come to school, having eaten breakfast, did not have an opportunity to eat lunch, then they would not be able to sit in the chairs and learn from the teachers or listen to what the teachers are trying to present to them.”
The coronavirus pandemic has added some major challenges to the mission of making sure every child is fed.
“Some of the challenges our local Child Nutrition directors face were actually making contact with the children once the schools were released in March,” Barrett said. “We did provide meals, we had curbside pickup. We thought out of the box as much as you could possibly think out of the box and provide meals to children. And it’s been very, very valuable. We’ve partnered also with our Department of Transportation, and meals were actually delivered by bus drivers through certain communities. We’ve had all sorts of opportunities to encourage children to dine with us. We have the fresh fruits and vegetable program and USDA allowed us to extend that to the to the children who were at home learning during virtual learning processes. So we’ve really tried as diligently and served as many children as we could serve meals and food while they were away from the school grounds.”
The theme for this year’s National School Lunch week is “Now Playing” and it’s “centered around Hollywood themed processes,” Barrett explained. “So anything that could be done on a movie theater basis, fun and having tickets to go through lunch line, you know, go through the meal process or special things that could connect. Now Playing in the theater role with the National School Lunch Program would just be something that would add to the perspective of receiving a meal and having fun, and that’s what National School Lunch week is, just really all centered around having fun with children.”
Republished with permission WSFA 12 News.
Sep
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 into using biometric recognition.
Some people find Big Brother technology comforting, and others find it invasive. What if this same software is used in the schools your children attend or where you teach?
Uses for facial recognition software in education
There’s no doubt that technology has made it possible to get more done in a day. Where we once had to perform many tasks in education by hand, we now use technology as an assistant.
Software helps teachers provide customized lessons, analyze data, and even keep track of behavior. Technology saves teachers time, which something they don’t have a lot of. Think about all the clerical tasks a teacher performs each day, like taking attendance or recording which students eat lunch in the cafeteria, and which foods they select.
Facial recognition software can significantly reduce the time teachers spend performing clerical duties like these. Students actions and behaviors can be matched to a face, and then the information is either shared (with the registrar/attendance clerk and the food services department) or stored for later access.
The teacher is free to spend more time preparing or delivering instruction.
Facial recognition software can also shorten the time students take to log in to learning programs. Within a second, the software maps facial features and approves access, saving students from having to log and type a password each time they want to use a computer.
Read more at The Tech Advocate
Jun
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 amount came out to be $74.50.
Kylie Kirkpatrick told KGO, “It was, I think, $74.50. So I took that email and came to Ryan and said, ‘What do you want to do,’ and he said, ‘I guess I can pay for it.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.'”
Ryan said that he would typically use his allowance to purchase sports gear.
This time, he gave it all to the school.
The school district policy says that students who have a negative lunch account will still receive a hot meal.
Depending on income levels, elementary school meals range in price from .30 cents to $3.25, KGO reports.
“I want them to realize people actually think about them because you’re just bragging about stuff. I want them to feel happy someone cares about them,” Ryan said to KGO.
Via: KGO
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