November 8, 2024
Hello Cohasset Families,
Welcome to November! I hope many of you were able to take advantage of our unseasonably warm days this week. The temperature certainly helped me adjust to the time change as I appreciated some extra outdoor time!
As we head into this month of gratitude, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank and highlight our school food and nutrition staff. In November, 2023, the district welcomed Mr. Vinicio Cordon as our new Food Services Director. Since his arrival, our kitchens and our food choices have undergone massive shifts leading to improved food quality, choices, and meals consumed. Below are some highlights that we want to share with families since you aren't able to be in our cafeterias during the lunch servings.
- We now offer a variety of healthy breakfast and lunch options, including vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and other dietary options.
- The middle and high schools have a new and extensive salad bar with assorted toppings, a daily pasta station, and a made-to-order sandwich stop.
- The senior cafe has been renovated and opened to expedite service and allow our seniors time to be with each other.
- Our elementary schools have brand new juice machines to provide students with freshly squeezed, 100% pure orange juice (more options to come in the future). Our Deer Hill students may even be able to start squeezing their own juice in the coming months.
- Osgood and Deer Hill also have new refrigerators to display a variety of grab-and-go options like freshly made salads with proteins, hummus and freshly cut veggie trays, cheese sticks, yogurts, and more. This provides students with options for lunch besides the main lunch.
- All of our kitchens are using fresh vegetables grown in our school gardens that are planted and maintained by students in partnership with Holly Hill Farm.
- At the middle and high school, we have a brand new pizza over where our cafeteria staff make fresh pizzas daily. We are currently cooking 30 pizzas every day - that means we are serving 240 slices daily!
- Additionally, some of our kitchen staff are learning to make new meals from scratch, which our students love.
With all of these new changes, our students have eaten 4,517 more school lunches in September and October than they did last year!
It is important that we express our gratitude this month to all of our cafeteria staff who are embracing new serving configurations, new equipment, new food options, new recipes, and new systems. They are working hard to bring the future of the Cohasset Food Service Department to all of our students. The result of their hard work is reflected in how much more our students are eating and how much they are also enjoying what they eat. And, there are more improvements to come at all levels.
To help us continue to grown our food service department and offerings, we are also in the process of hiring for additional positions. At the conclusion of this newsletter, you will find information for how to join our food service staff if that is of interest to you or someone you know.
Ever Onward and Happy Eating,
Sarah
Keeping up with our Anxious Generation purposeful play and responsible risk taking challenges, I am inviting you in to our November activities. This month, our challenges are:
Purposeful Play Challenge
Take a walk in the woods and run through the freshly fallen leaves OR while you're raking, create a pile of leaves and jump in!
Responsible Risk Taking Challenge
Help or allow your child to make or bake something new for Thanksgiving dinner. Engage in this activity in age-appropriate ways but try to give your student more independence with the baking experience. Maybe letting your child break the eggs is new for them and you, maybe letting your child cut the potatoes is new for both of you, and maybe letting your child make an entire dish independently is new for you and them. Whatever pushes you and your child, take that responsible risk!
