This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What do you do as the nutrition director?
I oversee all aspects of the Child Nutrition Department, and so that will include managing meal planning; food purchases; compliance with federal and state regulations; budgeting; staffing; and then just overall, ensuring our students receive nutritious, balanced meals every day.
Why are you passionate about child nutrition?
I think that good nutrition is the foundation for [a] long, healthy life, and you have to start at a young age. And so if children are properly nourished, they're going to be more focused and ready to learn, and so [I am] passionate about making sure that every student has the access to nutritious meals and that they can support learning.
How do you decide what's on the menu at CISD campuses?
We have a menu planning team, and we work together [to] develop the menus, and they have to meet the USDA guidelines [and] student preferences. We have to make sure the menu items are available and that we can prepare them. So we have to think about the logistics, and we use student feedback; we look at participation trends and the nutrition of the items, and then we create the menus. ...They have to be both appealing to students as well as comply with the federal school meal regulations, and we also have to consider cultural diversity and how cost-effective the menu items are. We're always working on new ideas and ways to improve menus.
What would readers be surprised to learn about that goes into meal planning?
I think they would be surprised at how many regulations we have, and that every menu has to meet specific nutrition requirements. So we looked at calories and sodium and fat, and we have to plan months in advance to make sure we have enough food to prepare the menus and that we get the food on time, and we work with limited budgets. We have to look at nutrition and food safety regulations, and we have to please students and parents.
How do the demands of the child nutrition department change as the district grows?
Well, we have to increase our food production, [and] our staffing. [We] have to look at our equipment, and we have to maintain quality and compliance, and we also have to look at when we grow, there are more diverse student needs and preferences. So we've got to work even harder to offer something for everyone, and we have to provide more training to our staff and work harder to keep up with the demands.
Learn more
Hughes said parents can apply for free or reduced lunch at www.myschoolapps.com.
The following is needed for the application process for free and reduced lunches in CISD, according to the district:
- The names and incomes of every member of the household
- The school, grade and birth date of every student in the household
- The applicant's Social Security number and electronic signature
- A valid email address or phone number for district communication about the status of the application
