Putnam Schools Considering Options To Increase School Lunch Participation

Putnam County Schools are considering options to increase student participation during school lunch.

Director of Schools Corby King said that he asked to meet with a vendor to gather ideas about creating menus more aligned with what kids want to eat. King said he is not looking to take cafeteria employees off the payroll, but is interested in providing better options at the same cost.

“That’s what we want to do is just improve the quality of food so we can increase participation rates,” King said. “So no we’re not looking to outsource but yes, I did ask to meet with a vendor. That, that would be an option or just to even outsource and provide a different food vendor. But if we can provide that with our local people then by all means, I want to stay local and stay with our people.”

King said the school nutrition manager is looking at menu options and he is hearing of exciting changes for middle and high school students. King said that a key to increasing participation is offering options similar to what students would want to eat when they’re outside the schools.

“The vendor, they had three or four different options for a high school thing and it was like a pizza bar, a hamburger bar, somethings that we can do now,” King said. “But then they also had offerings around some healthier menu options. There was one that was like Thai food one day, Chinese food one day. Just different food quality and a presentation. How they set the cafeterias up and how they put the food out to make it more attractive to our students.”

King said that it is common to meet with vendors and hear ideas. He said this can be a key way to get ideas and find ways to provide it.

“If we can find a way to better provide a service for our students and our community, then lets do that,” King said. “We want to be at the top of whatever it is we’re doing. Whether it’s school nutrition, transportation, technology, we want to be leaders and so if we can get ideas from others we want to take those ideas and implement them here and do it with our people.”