| Higher lunch prices on menu at many districts
Better pack extra lunch money with your student this year. Higher milk prices are spilling over into area school cafeterias. More than a half-dozen school districts, pinched by rising prices and delivery costs, are raising food and/or milk prices for students this school year. "The cost of everything has gone up ... through the years," said Sandra Combs, food service director for the Imlay City School District, which is instituting its first price increase in about a dozen years. "It was time before we start going into the red." The increases may not seem like much. But they could add up for youngsters. School lunches and breakfasts for students are increasing as much as 30 cents in some area districts. In Imlay City, for instance, lunches ranging from $1.75 to $2.25 are up a quarter.
Teacher breakfast welcomes more than 500 new hires
Wakeland High School cafeteria was bursting at the seams as the annual new teacher breakfast, hosted by the Frisco Chamber of Commerce and underwritten by title sponsor Texans Credit Union and host sponsor Frisco Independent School District, was celebrated Thursday.About 509 new teachers have been hired to begin the new school year, according to information provided by David Boles and Ronnie Elmore of the Human Resources Department of Frisco Independent School District. That number does not include all of the new bus drivers, food service workers, receptionists, and other non-education related jobs required to keep FISD running.Chamber members shared the responsibility for sponsoring individual teachers and providing items for goody bags and door prizes. EDS Credit Union sponsored 50 or more teachers this year.
Easy lunches for on-the-go adults
It's time to get the lunch boxes out, and I don't just mean the ones with Dora, Barbie or Spider-Man. I'm talking about the ones that we adults who are back in school will be carrying. I realize each of you who is reading this will not be back in school this week or at a job away from home, but I believe the recipes I share today for "take-out" will be just as good for at-home lunches or suppers. I really believe home-cooking is more nutritious and much less expensive than eating out for every meal. (However, when it's too hot to cook or I am "tired to the bone," I often try to convince my husband to the contrary.) I am shocked at how much my friends say they spend weekly for lunches from mostly fast-food restaurants. Many times my fellow teachers comment about my "homemade" lunch.
Reynolds district to discontinue overall free lunches
The Reynolds School District will no longer offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students regardless of family income, a change that will directly affect free meal programs at Alder, Davis, Glenfair and Hartley elementary schools as well as Reynolds Middle School. Prior to this year's changes, the district had offered free meals at those schools because the majority of their students, in some cases more than 70 percent, came from families that would have qualified for free meals or meals at reduced prices anyway, according to Don Richardson, director of nutrition services. "There's numerous studies that show that students who have breakfast do better in academics," he said. "This was a way to add a service to the community that would benefit the community." Richardson cited rising costs for food, fuel, labor and equipment and other costs as the reason for the district's decision to end the free meal program.
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