BERNE — Berne-Knox-Westerlo is developing ways to connect students’ food to their community.

The district was one of 12 selected to participate in the 2019-20 Farm to School Institute, organized by the Vermont Feed project, and will be developing an “action plan”over the course of the school year to connect “the cafeteria, the community, and the curriculum.”

A dozen “teams” representing a school district or school from either New York or New England are selected each year, said project director Betsy Rosenbluth. BKW was one of two teams selected from New York, the other being Trumansburg Central School District, a similarly-sized rural district in Tompkins County. BKW has 762 students and Trumansburg has 1,032 according to the latest data from the State Education Department.

Rosenbluth said that the districts or schools selected are not necessarily rural, but can include large urban and suburban districts such as the Providence Public School District. The criteria involves farm-to-school programs already in place that can be improved upon or built off of with help from the institute, and are most likely to succeed, she said.

Other states are now creating their own farm-to-school programs based on the Vermont program, said Rosenbluth, including New York. (See related story.)

BKW Superintendent Timothy Mundell explained at last week’s school board meeting that in June the district’s team stayed at Shelburne Farms in Vermont — one of Vermont Feed’s parent companies — funded by a grant written by BKW secondary school teacher Bonnie Kane.

“What I thought would be an institute that teaches us how to get local produce into our cafeteria turned into something much more comprehensive, much more involved and focused on school improvement,” said Mundell.

Kane said at the meeting that BKW worked on its own action plan at the retreat with guidance from the institute on how to find funding and on educational programming. As part of BKW’s plan, organizers will meet with staff and hold sessions to discuss the farm-to-school movement, Kane said. The district will use local produce for a “taste of the month” program for students.

“With that will also come education,” said Kane. “And that will also be throughout the year as well.”

In addition to Kane and Mundell, BKW’s team includes school board President Nathan Elble, food-services manager Claire Groudine, agriculture teacher and Future Farmers of America advisor Michaela Kehrer, elementary-school teacher and Junior FFA advisor Sarah McArdle, and teacher’s aid and local beekeeper Jane Ferrara.

Mundell said at the July 22 meeting that the farm-to-school institute provides each team with a coach for guidance on its action plan.

At the end of the school year, the teams will reconvene with the institute to come up with another action plan for the following year.

Rosenbluth told The Enterprise that the action plans proposed by school districts vary widely, but all involve the three “C’s”: classroom, cafeteria, and community. This could involve growing food at the school’s campus, older students mentoring their younger schoolmates on nutrition, or using produce from local farms in the cafeteria.

School lunch program

At last week’s school board meeting, Kane said that one way the Berne-Knox-Westerlo community can support the program is to have all parents in the district fill out the free or reduced-price school meals application, which will be sent home to parents but also be available on the district’s website.

Eligibility is based on household income.

“The eligibility requirements have changed this year to hopefully include more families,” Kane said.

If 40 percent of BKW students qualify for free meals, the district would be able to serve free meals to all students in the district, regardless of their ability to pay, explained food-services manager Claire Groudine.

“So we’re reducing the stigma … ,” said Groudine at the meeting. “And with that, there’s less paperwork and more time for me to focus on the program and really try to implement this farm-to-school movement … .”

This option, known as the Community Eligibility Provision, is offered by the national school lunch program, and reimburses districts based on how many students participate in programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Data collected by the State Education Department in the 2017-18 school year shows that, out of 760 BKW students, 32 percent were eligible for free school meals and 6 percent were eligible for reduced-price meals. But, since the rates are determined by whoever submits an application to qualify, these numbers may not be accurate.

Kane said that increased participation could also make the district eligible for more programs or funding that can help students, such as lowering the cost of tuition credits for college courses offered in high school.