North Monterey County school district works to create equal options for kids at lunch

It has been one week since school has been in session for North Monterey County Unified School District.

Like many local districts, NMCUSD has qualified for the Community Eligibility Program. The program provides free breakfast and lunch to all students in the district.

At many local districts, the same federal program, has sparked conversation among parents.

During lunch at Echo Valley Elementary, each child is served an entree, vegetable, fruit, and milk, at no cost.

The school houses over 500 students, grades K-6th, which poses the administration with the task of providing equal options to each child.

Director of Child Nutrition for NMCUSD, Sarah Doherty, said they are trying their best to provide fair options for all kids.

“Today, we have corn dogs and burritos. The staff work really hard to look at past trends of meal counts when we serve those items before. They tell us weeks in advance this is how many burritos and corn dogs we want, and we order based on what their assumptions are. Sometimes trends fluctuate. A student may have wanted a burrito one time and then the next time they want a corn dog,” said Doherty.

Doherty confirms that knowing how much to prepare each day is not easy, but they are working fulfill each child’s needs as best they can.

For those that eat at the last lunch hour, Doherty assures parents that the students will always be given at least one option.

“We try very hard to stagger our food so that every grade level has the same options. But, if a student did come and want something specific that we ran out of, we always do have at least one or two options to give them,” said Doherty.