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FREE FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS!

Congratulations to Elephant’s Fork and Booker T. Washington Elementary Schools who were awarded the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP).  This program provides federal funds to participating schools for the purpose of offering fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to students at no charge during the school day. Fresh fruits and vegetables will be available for student consumption during the day at times outside of breakfast and lunch meal periods. It is intended to increase students’ consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables in order to help them make lifelong good eating habits.

These schools earned this award through a competitive application process of which only 61 schools out of 117 applicants statewide were selected for this program.

The SPS District Wellness Policy mandates that all snacks sold or offered to student during the school day must be nutritionally sound.  Click on the Wellness Policy link for additional information.  Parents, if you are bringing snacks into the classroom, you will need to follow the approved Snack List;
this list can be found here

Mission Statement
To provide appealing and nutritious meals at an affordable rate with excellent customer service.

Description of Department
Suffolk Public Schools’ Food & Nutrition Services provide nutritionally balanced, free, and low cost meals to more than 14,000 students daily. On average, we serve 9,000 lunches and 3,500 breakfasts each school day. School meals provide approximately one-quarter (¼) of the Required Daily Intake for breakfast and one-third (1/3) of the Required Daily Intake at lunch for calories, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium. School lunch must meet the applicable recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommends that no more than 30 percent of an individual’s calories come from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. Items sold a la carte must contribute to the meal pattern or contain at least 5% of at least one of the eight essential nutrients; furthermore, ala carte items must meet the goals set forth in the district’s wellness policy.

Our modern school lunch program was formed from the National School Lunch Act of 1946. The federal laws regulating school food services are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Virginia Department of Education. The program has the objective of improving the health of students by providing good, nutritious foods that students will enjoy eating at a price that all students can afford. Another goal of the program is to encourage and promote nutrition education.

Studies have proven that by eating healthy and nutritious meals, students performed better academically and socially. Thus, I earnestly encourage you to check out the benefits of eating school meals.