Farm to School Case Study: Independence Community School District
Background and Program History
Independence Community School District consists of 3 schools, two elementary buildings and one high school. Independence is a small community of about 6,000, and the district has about 1,345 students, also serving the nearby towns of Brandon and Rowley. In 2009-2010, they served about 1,100 lunches a day. Kelly Crossley started working as the Food Service Director for Independence schools in 2007, and immediately began serving healthier food at both lunch and breakfast. In her second year, she focused on increasing local purchases. Kelly’s drive and dedication is a key element of Independence’s success at buying locally and improving lunches. The trend toward healthier school meals continues; in 2009 the menu indicated whole wheat/grain items and healthier recipes featuring more beans and legumes were implemented.
While the lunch participation rate has remained relatively constant over the past four years, participation dropped slightly when more whole grains and beans were initially introduced. After talking through the changes, as well as making some adjustments and giving the changes some time to settle in, by February the participation rate was back up to where it had been. Students will be more open to trying unfamiliar foods as their presence in the cafeteria becomes more commonplace and is tied in with classroom activities. Integrating farm-to-school programming into classrooms is another way to make adjusting to changes easier.
Local Purchases
Kelly is dedicated to sourcing food locally whenever it is feasible; besides buying locally when it is seasonal, she also worked with volunteers during summer 2009 to freeze local produce for winter use, and has continued to do so in 2010. Food that has been preserved includes corn, strawberries, green beans, yellow squash and zucchini. Volunteers have been instrumental to the preservation effort. On several occasions, parents and other community members have assisted with tasks like shucking corn, cleaning and trimming strawberries, and packing food for freezing. Reporters from local newspapers and TV news programs have taken an interest in Independence’s farm to school efforts, and have covered events like the strawberry-preserving day, and the general success of the farm to school program.
Farm to School Beyond the Lunchroom
In addition to the changes in the lunchroom, Independence has made an effort to educate students about gardening, local farmers, and other details of how their food gets from the ground to their plates. For a couple of years, Micki Sand-Cohen, an elementary school teacher, has had a garden plot outside of her classroom. She has encouraged other teachers to also plant garden plots, and as of 2010 there is also a school garden for the district, behind the administration building. This garden has 13 raised beds, so that classrooms can adopt a garden plot. On planting day, several classes either walked over or were bussed out to the garden site to plant their plots, and teachers or students are maintaining many of these plots over the summer. These gardens are primarily educational, with the kids planting flowers and vegetables that they are familiar with and excited about growing. At the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, Independence was able to serve tomatoes and zucchini from the garden in lunches.
In addition to gardening, Independence students have learned about farming, gardening and food preparation through demonstrations and field trips. The East elementary school also has a cooking cart, with a microwave and other cooking equipment that can be wheeled from classroom to classroom and used for cooking demonstrations. Micki Sand-Cohen used potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes from her classroom garden to make zucchini bread, mashed potatoes and salsa with her class. In Spring 2010, a local dairy farmer came into a 1st grade classroom to demonstrate making fresh mozzarella, and shortly after the demonstration, Kelly Crossley purchased mozzarella curds from the same farmer for school lunches. In May 2010, the seventh-graders from Independence Middle School went on a field trip to Applecart Orchard, Hansen’s Dairy, and Priebe Family Organic farm. The district served apples from Applecart Orchard at least 10 times in 08-09 and at least 6 times in 09-10, and green beans from Priebe Family Organic Farm at least twice in Fall 2009. Because the food service director and teachers work together closely, field trips and classroom activities can be directly related to what is being served in the lunchroom.
Grant Funding
Independence School district was one of three schools included in a two-year grant from the Wellmark Foundation, written by the Northern Iowa Food and Farm Partnership. The NIFFP is a nonprofit at the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education, seeking to expand and strengthen the local food system. The grant gives each involved school a mini-grant that can be used for staff time, equipment, field trips, signage, or other program costs, excluding food purchases. Additionally, through the grant, NIFFP was able to hire a Farm to School coordinator to work with the three schools. . Kelly Crossley has used some of the funds from the grant to work with Donna Prizgintas, a professional chef based in Ames. Donna toured all of the kitchens at Independence Schools, and came to two of the school kitchens to work with the kitchen staff on knife skills, improving efficiency, using existing equipment to streamline prep work, menu ideas, and other ways to make the transition to local, healthier menu items easier. Many of the kitchen staff were unused to working with whole, unprocessed ingredients like bulbs of garlic, entire squash, etc. Educating kitchen staff so that they were excited about working with new ingredients, rather than overwhelmed, was key to successfully incorporating more fresh fruits and vegetables into the menu. Kelly also will use grant funds to hire a Farm to School Coordinator to work with local growers, work with students and teachers in the garden, give samples of new items to students, and visit classrooms to talk about the farm to school program.
Program Assets
Independence School district has several assets that have made its farm-to-school program a continuing success. Having a dedicated, driven food service director has been a major component of the program’s success. There is also a core group of committed teachers and community members who have contributed their time and support to the Farm to School program. The Northern Iowa Food and Farm Partnership has also helped Kelly connect with local farmers, access funding, get press coverage, and provided general support for Independence School District and other Farm to School programs in the area, acting as the regional co-lead agency for the National Farm to School Network, and working with Independence Schools through a grant from the Wellmark Foundation. The mini-grant from the Wellmark Foundation has helped Kelly hire a staff member to coordinate deliveries and talk about farm-to-school in classrooms. Another asset has been local media’s interest in covering Farm to School stories. Kelly Crossley was interviewed about Independence’s commitment to buying locally on a local news station, and a day of cleaning and freezing strawberries for winter use was featured in a local newspaper’s story about farm to school programs. Additionally, Andrea Geary of NIFFP was interviewed on Iowa Public Radio about farm to school, and discussed Independence’s efforts. This media coverage has increased community awareness of and support for the Farm to School program, and encouraged parents, teachers, and administrators to support the program. Independence is surrounded by many talented and dedicated farmers, who have worked closely with food service directors to best provide quality products to schools. Good relationships with local farmers help food service staff and farmers have realistic expectations of what is feasible, and a better understanding of the other’s work.
Challenges and Solutions
Any effort to significantly change the school lunch program will naturally face challenges. Some of the challenges that Independence Schools have overcome include budget constraints, limited staff time, and staff that aren’t used to working with fresh, whole produce and cooking new vegetable recipes. The program started with a small core group of invested teachers, staff, and community members, and has worked to increase awareness of and support for the program.
Another challenge was, and still is, getting students to eat or even try the fresh produce. Though many adults think that fresh, locally grown produce tastes great, it can be an uphill battle to get students to try their veggies, no matter where they come from. Part of that piece is getting teacher and parents on board. Kelly has tried to get teachers to do their part by discussing the menu with students before they come to lunch. Some tactics Kelly and the kitchen staff have used at lunch is to put a sample size of the F2S vegetable on every plate, so when the kids sit down, the adults helping in the lunchroom can at least encourage them to try it. They have also made sure that on days they are introducing a new item to kids, they have at least 2 other fruits and vegetables that they are more familiar with, so students won’t go hungry in case they don’t like the new food. This was also reassuring for teachers who worry about students being too hungry in the afternoon. They will be sampling food in classrooms so students are familiar with them before they get to the lunch line.
Initially, increasing the amount of healthy, fresh, and local ingredients on the menu without breaking the budget seems daunting. However, Kelly Crossley emphasizes that local purchases and healthier menu items are attainable without a significant budget increase.
In 2009-2010, about 7% of the district’s food costs from August 2009-November 2009 were from locally purchased items. They spent about $1,056.40 more than they would normally spend for similar, non-local items, which is about $0.03 more per meal. Kelly’s suggestions for staying within budget include pursuing grants, purchasing seconds, planting a school garden, and purchasing in season when prices are lower, freezing some to use later. She found that many local items were actually less expensive or comparably priced when purchased in season. Many of these solutions involve additional time. Recruiting volunteers for food prep and preservation, as well as pursuing grant funding to train staff for greater efficiency and hire additional staff, have helped ease time constraints.
One of the major messages to take away from Independence’s Farm to School program is that while a dedicated food service director is important, they don’t have to do it alone or do it all. In her first year, Kelly emphasized healthier menu items, and focused on local purchases in her second year. She worked with groups that write grants for local food projects, sought out volunteers, and encouraged the involvement of teachers. Though it is a challenging task, building a reliable support network is a vital component of a healthy farm to school program.