Chapter 1: What is the importance of school nutrition for students?
Welcome back, everyone, to another brand new edition of Truth in the Barrel Devil's Cut. We aren't talking whiskey or bourbon today, sadly. We are talking about the super important topic of school lunches. I know. School lunches? Yes, its value to our kids and society is way underrated.
There's massive data out there showing that when kids are fed healthy meals, they learn more, they get better grades, and they're overall just better students. So seriously, imagine trying to learn in grade school on an empty stomach.
Chapter 2: How do school meal programs operate in different regions?
Unfortunately, that is still the case for many across the country and in Kentucky. But why? Today, we're talking to a Kentuckian who made it her mission to make sure the kids of Jefferson County had what they needed to succeed. And we'll talk about how our country is helping and hurting kids in this area.
Julia Boucher, former director of school and community nutrition services for Jefferson County Public Schools, is with us today. Welcome, Julia. Thank you, Amy. It's good to be here.
Chapter 3: What challenges do schools face in providing healthy meals?
Well, I want to start out and ask you a little bit about yourself. Are you from Louisville? And how did you start out working in the business of school lunches and helping our kids?
Yes. So, yes, Amy, I am a native Louisvillian. I actually began my food service career in Blazer Cafeteria on the campus of the University of Kentucky.
Chapter 4: What misconceptions exist about school meals?
I eventually worked as a student supervisor. And while I was in graduate school, I went to work part time for a food broker in food service sales. So I got into the sales side of it. And eventually worked for the Campbell Soup Company and finally for the Nabisco Company. I moved back to Louisville and one of my customers was Jefferson County Public Schools.
And while I was calling on the coordinator of food procurement, she said, you know, I'm about to retire to spend more time with my grandkids and I think you'd be a great replacement. And ironically, I interviewed for the job right before the big snowstorm of 1994. So it took several weeks for me to get the official call that I had received the job. But I began that in 1994.
I was coordinator of food procurement and I was responsible for menu planning, food and supply procurement, the catering program and the USDA commodity program. I did that job for five years and then went to work as the manager of, at the time, brand new central kitchen and warehouse, the Nutrition Service Center.
I was manager of that facility for 10 years, overseeing food production and warehouse, and then I became the director of nutrition services in 2009 after my predecessor retired. I have officially retired from school food service in 2021.
But during that time with JCPS, I also had the privilege to serve on the nutrition committee for the school nutrition association, which is the national professional association for school nutrition professionals. I also During 2014, 15 served as president of that organization.
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Chapter 5: How do federal policies impact school lunch programs?
And one of my responsibilities was to advocate for school meals in Washington, D.C., calling on our elected president. Senators and representatives test testifying about school meal programs before House and Senate committees and highlighting the importance of healthy school meals for kids.
And just listening to your background there, you are like the nation's expert on this stuff. You know, I mean, I listen to all of that. It's pretty amazing. Can you tell everyone, how do these school lunch programs work? Is it different for every region, different for every school? Are there standards? Like, how does it work in Jefferson County?
So there are actually a variety of programs. There's the National School Lunch Program, which provides lunch. There's the School Breakfast Program, which provides breakfasts. There's the supper program, which provides supper at schools. There's the CACFP snack program that provides snack at schools. And there's the summer food service program.
These are available to school food authorities across the country. And many districts take advantage of all of those programs, just like JCPS did. So there are standards for the program, which are national standards relative to calories and saturated fat requirements for fruits and vegetables, et cetera.
But there are some state requirements that vary a lot, which is becoming one of the increasing concerns for school directors because they With the current focus on eliminating ultra-processed food, a lot of states are passing bills that eliminate ultra-processed foods without defining it. Or if they define it, they may define it differently.
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Chapter 6: What benefits do students gain from healthy school meals?
They're also eliminating a lot of ingredients that may be harmful from foods. And that list of ingredients may vary from state to state, which makes it really difficult for manufacturers to produce products that meet all of these standards.
I want to touch on something you talked about there. The standards being different, but also this desire for, and I think it's a good one, to make sure that kids get healthy meals. We just have this, I typically don't like the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. I don't think very much of him. However, There is a push, at least in the headlines, for kids to have healthier meals.
I don't know how much the federal government is doing to that end. One of the things that I worry about is that we have these nutritional standards for healthier foods come down from above, but the cost of healthier foods is higher than the cost of not so nutritional food. And at the same time, Washington is cutting more money for these programs.
So to me that it's hard for me to square that, but can you talk about that, that issue? Yes.
So I would argue that school meals are the healthiest meals students receive. They're different than the meals they consume at home. They're definitely different than the meals that they get at fast food restaurants or any restaurant for that matter. Um, The USTA began to implement minimum nutrition standards in the mid-90s.
And it was at that time that we decided to build the Central Kitchen and Warehouse. Because, as my former boss always said, before the Central Kitchen, there were 140 different recipes for chili.
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Chapter 7: How do local farms contribute to school meal programs?
Because every manager thought it needed more beef, less beef, more spice, less spice. And Bringing production into the central kitchen for a lot of the key entrees ensured nutrition integrity, that the chili served at every school would be the same, and we could assure parents and the community this product meets the standard.
The central warehouse also gave us the advantage of working directly with manufacturers to control food costs. We didn't buy everything directly from a manufacturer, but the very large volume items we bought directly from the manufacturer to control food costs. And you're right, the cost of healthy food is more. Now, USDA reimbursements have increased every year.
Currently, the reimbursement for a Lunch is $4.77, and a breakfast is around $2.69. Those rates go up every year, but they don't necessarily keep pace with the real cost of producing the meals that must be provided to every student. But also over the years, USDA has emphasized more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Jefferson County was one of the leaders in Kentucky in terms of creating contracts with Kentucky farmers who buy products grown in Kentucky. And that expanded into beef and chicken. So we've always had an emphasis on healthy school meals. And I affirm that school meals are the healthiest meals ever. that students have access to.
Yeah, especially given everything else that's out there, McDonald's and all of these other that we're exposed to and that we go to. I often think, you know, how is it that kids... Well, I can't imagine going to grade school as a kid and being hungry or going there and having a meal that is not nutritious. I mean, we know...
And this is where I want to ask you, we know there are studies out there that say that there's huge benefits from this, from a public policy perspective. Can you talk about what benefits kids get and what society gets when we invest in kids here? Sure.
So I think you mentioned a lot of the benefits in the introduction. They're not hungry, so they can focus on the learning that's occurring in the classroom. They have better attendance. You can't teach a child if they're not in school. That is critical. And they have better academic outcomes, higher performance. And as you've stated, many, many studies have proven that.
The other thing that USDA has done in the last 10 years is introduce a program called Community Eligibility, which enables districts to serve free meals to all students. Jefferson County implemented that program around 2015 or 16. We started out with just 32 schools. It's a complicated formula to determine students. the schools that can participate.
But we've been able to expand that program to all JCPS schools. So all JCPS students, regardless of their eligibility for free meals, get a free breakfast, free lunch. The supper program has always been free, as has been the summer food service program. So we ensure that students receive meals during the school year.
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Chapter 8: What are the future challenges for school nutrition services?
You know, when schools were closed for COVID, school food service workers showed up on the curb at practically every school in the district to pass out meals to families. Eventually, we were able to pass out 10 days worth of meals to families at one time. And they kind of expanded that idea into the summer food service program because it's difficult for kids to get to a site every day.
But if we can keep them nourished during the summer, again, they show up in the classroom in August ready to learn.
I remember that during COVID, going around Kentucky and seeing how the schools were dealing with COVID. And that school meal program continued. And people would drive up and get the bag of their lunch and move on. And it Did you see, is this just something that happens in Jefferson County or is this across the nation or across the state? Does every school district do it similarly?
Yes, yes. Not every district participates in the summer food service program. Some districts may not be able to recruit enough school food service employees to provide the program. Or they live in districts where there's not as much need. And so there's no need, overwhelming need for those programs.
But across the country, schools are participating in the summer food service program and the supper program. And again, these programs are vital, just like the school lunch program and the school breakfast program.
You made a great point about these programs using local products from local farmers. It's all really well thought out by people like you. And I want to get into what has happened this summer at the federal level where we saw this big, beautiful bill, whatever you want to call it, this act that was –
largely voted on by pretty much all these Republicans, and with massive cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP. And does that affect the school lunch program at all? And if so, how? It does.
Could, because to participate in the community eligibility program, it's dependent on the number of students that are eligible or the percentage of students that are eligible for free meals. That includes households that receive Medicaid and SNAP benefits. Those households have been categorically eligible for free meals for a number of years.
So if you reduce the number of households or you reduce that participate in those programs, you limit the availability of participating in a program like Community Eligibility, which provides free school meals to all students similarly. And that is one of the priorities of not only Jefferson County and school districts in Kentucky, but in school districts across the country
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