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Federal program makes sure students won’t go hungry over summer
Students who depend on eating at school for their one — and sometimes only — meal of the day will be able to more easily find a location for free meals during the summer. The expansion of the federal Summer Food Service Program will provide more meals to children and teens 18 years and younger...
By Mike Szymanski | May 27, 2016
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Cook-off victory wins Santee students a free D.C. trip and a place on LAUSD’s lunch menus
What’s for lunch? How about Sweet Potatoes Chicken Quesadilla, a healthy slaw with cumin-lime crema and a Grilled Pineapple Downtown with graham crackers, cinnamon and apple reduction? And it’s all less than 730 calories and costs $1.14! Sounds like an impossible gourmet meal, but that’s the recipe that a team from Santee Education Complex cooked up...
By Mike Szymanski | April 8, 2016
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Nutritious, delicious and cheap: Lunch is a challenge for both students and LAUSD
On Friday, 19 students from seven LA Unified schools will participate in a cook-off that will send a team to compete nationally in Washington, D.C. Their task: to create a nutritionally balanced school meal for $1.14, the district’s lunch budget. Their challenge is not unlike one the massive LA Unified Food Services division is facing: how to feed more than...
By Mike Szymanski | April 7, 2016
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LAUSD turns up the heat on the national chicken industry
LA Unified is making no bones about wanting to change the chicken industry, and federal officials visiting the district Thursday say they’re on their way to doing it. LA Unified became the first large school district in the nation to contract for antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken and turkey in a vote Tuesday. On Thursday, visiting...
By Mike Szymanski | March 10, 2016
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
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Nearly half of LAUSD students now eligible for free school lunches thanks to new program
Mikelah Wynn, 11, looked skeptically at the tall man in the suit who sat down with her and her friends as she opened up her breakfast Thursday morning. The man was Kevin Concannon, USDA Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, who came from Washington, D.C., to her fifth-grade class in Winnetka to celebrate the...
By Mike Szymanski | March 10, 2016
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Last 8 schools set to dish out Breakfast in the Classroom
Overcoming lingering technical and logistical problems, eight remaining LAUSD schools will begin providing free breakfast in the classroom within the first two weeks of the coming school year, district officials said. That will complete the largest school breakfast program in the nation after more than three years of planning, said Laura Benavidez, project manager for the...
By Mike Szymanski | July 30, 2015
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Food experts from LAUSD, other big districts seeking more federal money
In a new position statement, a coalition of food professionals from the nation’s six largest school districts, including LA Unified, is asking for triple the amount of money now provided per school lunch by the USDA and allowing for more free meals as well as autonomy on how to serve them. The Urban School Food Alliance, which also...
By Mike Szymanski | July 27, 2015