Food service regulations key focus of Lovell School Board meeting

“We just want to talk reality,” Big Horn County School District No. 2 Food Service Director Rosanna Rusch and Superintendent Doug Hazen urged politicians at the School Nutrition Association’s Legislative Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on March 3-5.
This conference allows attendees to experience firsthand the inner workings of the democratic process, learn about current legislative and regulatory challenges facing school nutrition and advocate directly with their members of Congress.
Rusch joked that the two of them became known for “going in hot” and “going in rogue” to discuss action with a thousand other food service professionals and officials.
“One thing I learned on this trip is that everything that is a school lunch regulation is 100% dictated by politics, not logic,” Rusch told the Lovell School Board Monday night.
The Lovell duo met with Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Sen. John Barrasso and others to advocate for the food programs in School District No. 2 and stood out among the national groups they were included with.
Rusch was surprised to find out that there is no one in the state of Wyoming that votes on these matters and that politicians have to have relationships with someone else from a different state that votes on Wyoming’s school regulations.
“One of the main things I realized from this trip is how grateful I am for a supervisor that is willing to step out of his comfort zone and go learn about what I have to deal with and how it effects our students,” Rusch said in complimenting Hazen.
Hazen continued the presentation and pointed out the three main talking points of the conference.
To ensure students are nourished and ready to learn, he said, Congress must address critical challenges of increasing school meal reimbursement rates, preserving current school nutrition standards and offering healthy school meals free to all students.
“Food costs more to purchase, and increasing school meal reimbursement rates would be great,” Hazen noted, but that wasn’t the main reason he and Rusch were there.
They were there to express concerns about preserving current school nutrition standards.
“What is coming here in April is they’re about to tighten our guidelines even further,” Hazen explained. “They’re going to restrict our sodium levels, not allow any flavored milks, and there are going to be even more sugar restrictions.”
Both Hazen and Rusch felt that the school district is already struggling to meet some of the guidelines and were pushing back on potential future hurdles.
“The school lunches are as healthy as they have ever been,” continued Hazen, noting that one platform others were trying to push was the obesity rates in the country.
“People aren’t obese from eating school lunches,” Hazen said.
Finding the balance between nutrition, taste and cost is the ongoing battle.
“It doesn’t matter how much nutrition is in it, if it doesn’t taste good and isn’t enjoyable to the kids, they won’t eat it,” Rusch said.
Hazen went on to explain that if the food doesn’t taste good then it just ends up in the trash and that’s not a good result for anyone.
The pair hopes that they made an impact and influenced those who determine these issues.
PRESCHOOL UPDATE
Lovell Elementary School principal Scott O’Tremba provided the board with an update on the areas of growth the new preschool program has experienced and its overall success this year.
Along with some fun photos of the preschoolers in their classrooms, O’Tremba said, “It has been so much fun watching those little kids progress this year and the strides they’ve made.”
He presented information on the growth of the 27 preschool students and the percentage of their goals being reached. Areas of major growth included writing their names independently, drawing themselves with major body parts, identifying numbers 0-10, counting items up to 10, knowing letter sounds and cutting independently with proper hold on scissors.
Board chairman Stacy Bair stated that next school year, half of the kindergarten class will have already had instruction in the elementary building and noted how big an impact that will have on their level of readiness.
LES PRINCIPAL
The search for the next Lovell Elementary School principal is still underway and has been narrowed down to three finalists.
There will be a community forum tonight (Thursday) at 6 p.m. in the Lovell High School multipurpose room.
Candidates and audience members will meet in an informal setting with light refreshments served before the candidates leave the room and return one at a time to answer questions submitted by the community.
David Peck will moderate, and members of the audience may submit candidate feedback forms which will be reviewed by the search committee during candidate selection deliberations.
OTHER NEWS
Aryn Tippetts reported that the school district hit 100% in all areas of accreditation in the curriculum report, and Lane Black-Partridge provided a report on the district’s financial status and funds.
Lovell Middle School science teachers Chris Edwards and Kim Bernstein presented a proposal for a new science curriculum, along with Tippetts.
They discussed a few different options that they had been exploring and compared the pros and cons of the choices.
The group recommended Activated Learning due to the higher scores, its rigorous nature and concise learning standards.
Other schools also suggested the certified version and noted the very reasonable pricing.
The board will review the information and vote next month regarding the adoption proposal for the science curriculum and found itself to be in compliance with community relations.
The following students were recognized: Ireeann Anderson, LHS Student of the Month; Madison Wolvington, CTE Student of the Month; Claire Shumway, LMS Student of the Month; Rosendo Garcia and James Love, All-State wrestling; Adnan Kahn, All-State indoor track.
Student Body President Cassie Heindl reported on events at Lovell High School including Snowcoming activities, motivational speaker Ryan Stream, Skills USA blood drive, “Seussical the Musical” that will be performed on March 25 and 26 and the student council exploring additional requirements for future members.
The Superintendent’s Report featured facility updates on the track re-surfacing project, elementary carpeting, concrete entryways at the middle school and Phase 2 of the HVAC project at LMS.
At 8:33 p.m. the board went into an executive session to discuss matters of personnel and/or legal matters that necessitate confidentiality that lasted until 9:18 p.m. when they resumed the regular meeting.
Bob Weber was approved as LMS Industrial Technology teacher (contingent on completion of a Consultant Specialist Permit), and Catherine Leithead was approved as a BGH2 special education teacher.
Tera Kostelecky was also assigned as the new head coach of the Lovell High School volleyball program.