TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Idaho News 6 got a chance to visit Robert Stuart Middle School to see what the cafeteria had to offer. And honestly, it looked pretty tasty. Students had choices of chicken sandwiches, tacos, or pigs-in-a-blanket while we visited during National School Lunch Week.
- Twin Falls School Districtoffers free breakfast at all of its schools, and 11 out of 16 schools meet the criteria for free lunches for all students.
- Food services aim to provide a variety of foods that are both nourishing, as well as appealing to young eaters.
"When a kid is hungry, they don't perform as well in their classroom, they can't pay attention as well," said school nutrition director Crystal Tubbs
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"It is like this every day, but it's honestly it's a lot of fun," food service worker Kelly Zaccone told me during a lull in the hectic lunchtime at Robert Stuart Middle School.
Barbeque chicken sandwiches, tacos, pigs in a blanket, the kids are eating good on Tuesday.
Zaccone tells me the pigs in the blanket — a constant favorite — are made from scratch.
"One time we did cheese, we did a little garlic herb seasoning and we think that's a lot of fun just to give them something different you know," Zaccone said.
About two-thirds of seventh-grade students at Robert Stuart have opted for the school lunch.
"We want to serve what they want to eat. We try to offer them a big variety, but we do also try to serve some of those meals more often that we know that they love but also try some new things occasionally," School Nutrition Director Crystal Tubbs told me.
Tubbs is the director of Twin Falls School District school nutrition, she tells me a lot of work goes into menu planning to meet guidelines, and appeal to students.
"We have to make sure that they're getting all of the components so that they're getting their fruits and their vegetables, the milk and then their meats and their grains — all of those components are required," Tubbs said.
Eleven of the sixteen schools in the Twin Falls School District qualify for free lunch, and all schools have free breakfast. Tubbs said there are cases where the meals served in schools might be the only thing some students have to eat all day.
"When a kid is hungry, they don't perform as well in their classroom, they can't pay attention as well. They're distracted or they're thinking about 'what am I going to eat,' or 'I'm hungry, I want to eat right now.'"
Jackson Wheeler is a student server in the cafeteria, and his sights are set on football and wrestling, so he's a big eater.
"Today I got pigs in a blanket and barbecue chicken," he told me.
Jackson also says there's kids who choose not to eat lunch.
"I would say that all of the kids are supposed to eat something, even if some of the kids skip out, but it makes the kids that don't eat, it makes their day harder," he added.
"I just think school nutrition is really important and I think that we can make really good food and make it really fun for the kids too and we strive to do that for them every day," Zacone said. "And we really hope that they are enjoying it as well."
