Letters highlight meal program

To the editor:
    I read about the New Sweden School’s 5-6th grade students’ concerns about their School Meals Program’s salad bar in the Aroostook Republican’s Newspapers in Education Edition. Just this morning, I pulled into the school yard and smelled the savory fragrance of a home-cooked meal in the making. Shortly after that, I read what the students wrote. It was a candid reminder of the ongoing education needed to emphasize the positive changes that are being made to continue providing healthy school meals. Salad bar is only one element of the school meals program.     On a daily basis, our school meals food service personnel work to provide our students with healthy school meals. The menus regularly include homemade rolls, hearty entrees, milk, plenty of fruits and vegetables and a wide variety of grain-based items. Yes, salad bar is also offered as a meal choice.
    Choice would appear to be an obstacle in the New Sweden School’s salad bar dilemma. On an ongoing basis, programs and curriculum at the New Sweden School promote the link between nutrition education in the classroom and healthy food choices in the cafeteria. As students get older, they gain more personal responsibility in what they choose to eat.
    New Sweden School’s Meals Program is committed to implementing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in school meals. It is important to note that these guidelines call for the moderation and avoidance of extremes in the diet. Staff at the New Sweden School regularly promote and encourage healthy food choices. When a student chooses to eat a meal from the salad bar, the end result needs to be a reimbursable meal. If not, a student would be instructed to take additional items.
    I applaud the students’ efforts to voice their opinions. Their words provide an opportunity to remind all of our students, parents, and community members that New Sweden School’s School Meals Program offers and promotes food choices for a healthful diet. Eating only taco chips with salsa is a meal that just does not bite.
Colette Thompson
School Health Coordinator
Union 122 (New Sweden School)