EDUCATION
The Jones County School Nutrition Program has lots of new things happening as they gear up for the 2023-2024 school year to provide meals to students in Jones County and keep students eating healthy options.
Matoshia Grant, director of Jones County School Nutrition Program, said she is excited for the school year and can’t wait to see students enjoying everything they will eat at the schools.
“One of the things that’s new this school year is automatically qualifying students for free or reduced-price meals,” she said. “The state department is now able to approve students based on Medicaid. The Medicaid part of it is based on income. USDA is going to flip the bill for all reduced-price meals. This is something new, and we hope this takes the burden off some families here.”
She said this year they are doing online applications for free or reduced meals at schools, because it takes so long to get paperwork back to them. The application can be found by visiting https://jonescountyschoolnutrition. com/.
“We want to make sure those families who are in line for these benefits get them right away. We don’t want children in a paying status if they don’t need to pay and then the families get stuck with a bill. We wanted to get as many students signed up as possible before they even stepped in the building,” Grant said.
The director said this year at the Jones County High School students will be able to make their own pizzas. She said there is a pizza machine at the school and fresh toppings. She said for the elementary schools they will have new items such as Hot Pockets, pizza rolls, and chicken alfredo.
“We are going to start celebrating birthdays, so on the last day of each month we will have a birthday party at the elementary and middle schools for all students who celebrated a birthday that month,” Grant said. “If the birthday kids get a tray, they can get a dessert.”
She said for August they will be celebrating watermelon day and chocolate chip cookie day at the schools. She said they want to do some fun things to get school started on a good note.
“They are excited about going to school, and we want them to be excited about lunch as well. We are trying to give them what they want, and these are just some of the things the students seem to want to eat,” she said.
Grant said they were selected by the Georgia Department of Education to pilot a program of fresh fruits and vegetables, so Jones County School Nutrition plans to team up with Lane Packing Company in Fort Valley to provide fresh peaches from farm to table. She said they will do things like peach cobbler samples for the students on those days.
The director said the nutrition staff goes through training each year, and this year they did training at Butler Hall. She said it was a wonderful experience and it got everyone excited to start back to school. She said it’s important for them to always keep learning just like the students. She said she can’t wait for everyone to be back at the schools and enjoying the meals.
“My favorite thing each year is planning the menus and seeing the kids actually want to eat the food. I want to see them happy,” Grant said. “The thing that sticks in my mind is when a child is coming through the line and the food looks so delicious to them that they start eating before they even sit down.”
