Our Mission...

...is to provide our students with high quality, nutritious foods that support lifelong healthy eating habits.

Letter from the Director

USDA Makes Historic Improvements to Meals Served in Our Schools

     On January 25, 2012, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled new standards for school meals that will result in healthier meals for our students. The new meal requirements will raise standards for the first time in more than fifteen years and improve the health and nutrition of nearly 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day. The healthier meal requirements are a key component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by the First Lady as part of her Let's Move! campaign and signed into law by President Obama in December of 2010.

     The final standards make the same kinds of practical changes that many parents are already encouraging at home and have been in place at our Twin Rivers Schools for several years:

 - Ensuring students are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week;
 - Substantially increasing offerings of whole grain-rich foods;
 - Offering only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties;
 - Limiting calories based on the age of children being served to ensure proper portion size;  
 - Increasing the focus on reducing the amounts of saturated fat, trans fats and sodium.

      The menus we offer our students at Twin Rivers have consistently met the above standards for several years with the exception of limiting calories. Up until January 25, 2012 we were required by law to meet a different set of criteria. The new law allows us to lower the amount of calories we serve our students.

      The new rules were built around recommendations from a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine -a gold standard for evidence-based health analysis. The standards were also updated with key changes from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans - the Federal government's benchmark for nutrition.

     USDA received an unprecedented 132,000 public comments on its proposed standards and made modifications to the proposed rule where appropriate. USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon said: "We know that robust public input is essential to developing successful standards and the final standards took a number of suggestions from stakeholders, school food service professions and parents to make important operational changes while maintaining nutritional integrity."

     The nutrition standards will phase in over a three-year period, starting in School Year 2012-2013. Schools will focus on changes in lunch the first year, and changes in breakfast will be phased in during future years.

     Still a young district, our department continues to improve steadily through staff training and site upgrading. So far this year we have instituted four new salad bar programs and we have plans to expand and improve our breakfast programs.  

Jill Van Dyke, Director

Nondiscrimination Statement

In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability.

To file a complaint of discrimination, write to:

USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights,

1400 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20250-9410

Or call (800) 795-3272 or (202) 720-6382 (TTY).

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.