Jones County School Nutrition is preparing for the upcoming school year to make sure all students have the proper nutrition to be successful and to keep learning.
Matoshia Grant, Jones County School Nutrition director, said she’s excited for the school year to start, and she hopes students will enjoy the food options they will be making available at the schools.
“School Nutrition is excited to start the year off in August,” she said. “Our in-service training theme for all nutrition employees is ‘anticipating a great year.’ Metaphorically comparing the hard work our school nutrition staff are committed to doing to serve our students delicious and healthy meals.”
The director said it’s important for the nutrition staff to be recharged and celebrated. She said they are on the frontline daily, so it’s important they are able to start the school year off excited and enthusiastic.
“Surveys were sent out to all parents in the district. I wanted to get some input on how I could improve the service of feeding children this year. The responses were very well thought out. We are taking those suggestions and implementing them this school year. Some items we are adding to the menu are kid friendly options, such as more entrees including bento boxes, baked potatoes, chef salads and more,” Grant said.
The director said Jones County School Nutrition was awarded an additional grant for fresh fruits and vegetables to be offered as a snack twice a week. She said there will be more breakfast items available this school year, too.
The Jones County School Nutrition program will be serving meals at no cost, and it is our plan to get a meal in each child’s hand,” she said. “Children can’t learn if they are hungry. We work hand in hand with the teachers and administrators to make sure the food insecurity is combated in our schools.”
Grant said she’s excited to see the reactions of the students to some of the new food options they will have available this year. She’s looking forward to the first day of school and can’t wait to see another year of dedication from her staff to making nutrition better at the schools.
“Last year we had a great year,” she said. “We partnered with Pureflavor to provide fresh snacks to all students, we built our very first greenhouse, and we had Farm Day at Gray Station Middle School. All meal options that day were locally grown. We participated in so many community events, and we are excited to do it all over again this year.”
