Shelter Island School to improve school breakfast and lunch

At a special Shelter Island School Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 20, a new vendor was approved in a unanimous vote to manage the school food service program. The move effectively ends the era of “rectangle beets” and frozen pizza squares at the Shelter Island School cafeteria.

Aramark Student Nutrition provides student food to 15 school districts on Long Island, as well as food service for colleges and stadiums. Todd Gulluscio, the school’s director of health and wellness, led the selection process and said after the vote, “We are more than thrilled to be headed in this direction.”

Grace Maschinski, an Aramark Regional Manager and Southold native, was present for the vote, after spending the day sitting in on interviews with potential candidates for the part-time food service worker and full-time chef positions the district will hire. 

A third worker, an Aramark employee, will also work as a manager.

“We are looking for people who are customer service-focused and engaged in providing a variety of the fresh options for your students,” Ms. Maschinski said. “It is through the food that we fuel your students to their potential successes. They cannot do anything if they’re hungry.”

The trend toward healthier meals at schools across the country is ongoing. A study released earlier this year by the University of Georgia (UGA) found, according to writer Erica Techo, that “children from all walks of life improved their diet quality when they ate school-prepared lunches following the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act nutritional guidelines instead of home-prepared lunches. Lower-income and non-Hispanic Black students saw the most significant improvement.”

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed during the Obama administration, provides funds for school meal and child nutrition programs.

“It was very clear that across the board the overall quality of kids’ diets improves when they eat a school meal,” said Travis Smith, lead author of the study and economist in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requirements for school meal programs issued in April of this year will institute the first-ever, added-sugar limits for school meals and update sodium standards.

The requirement will take effect starting next year.

For Shelter Island School Board President Kathleen Lynch, a shift to fresher, more palatable school food is the realization of a long-desired goal, that became more urgent during COVID, when the school provided meal delivery that local families relied on.

“People are learning about food and nutrition, not just in a classroom, but in what they’re actually eating.” Ms. Lynch said. “I’m thrilled, and I think the older kids are going to be giddy.”

Going forward, the district will be eligible to continue serving the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program during the summer months.

Ms. Maschinski said the summer meals would be an extension of the same types of meals students are offered during the school year, and would be managed by the Aramark supervisor so that it didn’t fall on district employees, and would save the district money.

Aramark will design menus with input from the school. “Gone are the days of beef stroganoff,” Ms. Maschinski said.