Massena Central School District sees decline in student meal participation

Food Service Director Kristin E. Colarusso-Martin said they had served 61,633 breakfast meals as of Nov. 30, 2021, and that dropped to 47,588 as of Nov. 30, 2022. The same trend was seen in lunches, where 68,698 had been served as of Nov. 30, 2021, but dropped to 60,580 as of Nov. 30, 2022.

A la carte sales, however, increased from $13,669 as of Nov. 30, 2021 to $37,791 as of Nov. 30, 2022. Food purchases also increased from $178,899 as of Nov. 30, 2021 to $195,180 as of Nov. 30, 2022.

However, as of Nov. 30, 2022, the district was facing a $79,000 deficit after seeing a $119,000 profit as of Nov. 30, 2021.

Ms. Colarusso-Martin told board of education members that 27 employees served breakfast, lunch and snacks to 2,520 students. As of this month, they had served 59,748 breakfast meals, 77,277 lunches, 10,445 snacks and 17 catered events.

“We do an after-school snack program every day at the high school from 3 to 4 (p.m.). We also serve snacks to students on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the other buildings for Raider Academy. That’s because the after-school snack program reimbursement requires that we have a academic program taking place in order to be reimbursed,” she said.

Students are receiving home-cooked meals prepared by the kitchen staff.

“All of the home-cooked meals are produced in the high school kitchen, which is our production kitchen. The rest of the buildings each have just a prep kitchen so they can warm things, they can cool things, but they’re not doing any actual cooking, although they do have some limited equipment,” she said.

She polled kitchen staff to see what students enjoyed for meals. At the elementary level, the top choice is pizza, followed by hot dogs, grilled cheese, and cheeseburger or chicken nuggets. Students at J.W. Leary Junior High School and Massena Central High School prefer tangerine chicken, followed by pizza, and chicken patties or tacos.

“So, those are pretty normal foods that we might have expected, but it’s still good to see,” Ms. Colarusso-Martin said. “We almost missed pizza Wednesday (because of a snow day), but we moved it to today. We also had 30 pizzas made at the high school by the time school closed, so we had to use those.”

She said a Student Menu Advisory Committee has been established this year to assist with the menu planning.

“That consists of a handful of students at the high school as well as faculty advisers. We look over the menu as well as looking at the parameters that we have to work within. They’re working with me to make sure that we have the best offerings possible for our student population,” she said.

“I’m trying to add two things a month so that I don’t completely melt down any of our kitchen staff. But, they’ve been really well received. We had chicken and waffles last month. This month, we’re bringing back the salad bar, which our staff is really excited about, and our students have been saying they want more fresh fruits and vegetables, which is wonderful news,” Ms. Colarusso-Martin said.

Among the new initiatives this year is a high school cooking club, which had an initial sign-up of 74 students.

“There’s usually around 20 that commonly meet on Fridays. Kids can drop in. They bring friends. It’s really popular and students love it. We’re making fettuccine alfredo next. We try to make something that can be done in half an hour. The nice thing about the cooking club is that it does not need to meet the nutrition guidelines, so we can make some really fun things,” she said.