Grade 4 student Alexis Nowicki enjoys some spaghetti and meatballs as part of the nutrition program at Herald School.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Following funding uncertainties, Medicine Hat Public School Division’s nutrition program is back for the semester, with a reconfigured arrangement that allows all schools to participate to varying degrees based on need.
As the associate superintendent of student services, Tracy Hansel is responsible for implementing the nutrition program across MHPSD schools.
“It looks different in every school,” she said. “This year we had schools apply for what they would like nutrition to look like in their building.”
This way each school gets a say in creating its own unique nutrition program, submitting a budget to let central office know how the funds will be spent, said Hansel.
“It’s more than just eating the food. It’s also about nutrition facts, how do we help students to understand the benefits of healthy eating – the educational piece,” she said. “It looks very different in each school.”
The local food bank’s brown bag lunch program stepped in during the first semester when it was unclear whether $334,000 in nutrition dollars would come through in the provincial government’s late-October budget.
After the budget, they brought back the program in a new form for the rest of the first semester, continuing to the present.
“The pause actually did allow us to really think about how to help our schools to really think about nutrition and how they could use the money to support the students in their building,” said Hansel.
Prior to that, they had provided lunches for all schools, while the four schools under the provincial nutrition program – Herald, Vincent Massey, Southview and Elm Street – received a top-up for their program.
“For instance, we have schools that are running breakfast programs. They may also receive the brown bag lunch program and there could be an enhancement to that brown bag lunch program at the school,” explained Hansel.
There’s a range from $5,000 to $25,000 of how much funds each school can receive, depending on needs, she says.
“The criteria for the nutrition funding has changed over the years,” said Hansel. “This year, it’s much more open to what they needed to look like at our schools.”
