Brunswick Schools looking to add more nutritious and fresh meal options for students

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick Schools is looking for ways to provide fresh, appealing and more nutritious meals to its students in the future. Food Service Coordinator Kelly Biller provided a Food Service Department update to the board of education on Tuesday. Biller started the role in October, and she has worked in food service for about 25 years. "The basic need for a child to flourish in school is a well-balanced meal," she said. "We need to make sure that they're getting their fruits, their vegetables and the main nutrition. This is one of the most important parts of the day, just as much as learning, so the food they're getting and being provided to sustain is just as important." This school year, just over 307,000 lunches were sold and almost 57,000 breakfasts were purchased, Biller said. Nearly 2,000 students are part of Brunswick's school lunch program. It is important that meals are presentable, fun and exciting to students because that is what kids care about, Biller said. The department has been providing more fresh fruits and vegetables to students. "They're cutting fresh. We're not doing a bunch of pre-packaged stuff because we were noticing that a lot of these pre-packaged items were coming in not so great," she said. "We eat with our eyes, especially kids. If it doesn't look appealing, they're not going to eat that, and we want them to eat the fruits and vegetables." Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were brought back in December at the elementary school level as an everyday meal option, Biller said. More than 10,000 peanut butter and jelly meals have been sold so far, which is comparable to the 12,000 pizza meals sold that is also offered daily. "This also means that they're getting the fruits and the vegetables," she said. "This is very important because some of these kids may not be getting these items at home, and we're providing this for them." A goal for the future is to provide new menu items and different options for students while following state nutrition guidelines, Biller said. She is working with staff to come up with ideas for new meals and may potentially put out a student survey to see what kids are interested in. "There's a lot of sugar items on the breakfast menu, and we're going to try and make that change a little bit too," she said. "We want to get away from all the sugars to more protein options. That's going to be more fuel for our students." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.