Moody’s and S&P Ratings
There are many times when I feel pride in the work of the Corvallis School District. Earlier this week, another situation caused me to feel this pride, and I wanted to share it with you. Finance and Operations Director Olivia Meyers Buch, Controller Debbie Bell, Budget Analyst Jane Sievers, and I had the opportunity to share our successes in credit rating telephone calls with Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s Financial Services. The calls focused on the District’s academic success, community support, and fiscal responsibility. The main focus was obviously on fiscal responsibility, but our story could not be shared by the numbers alone.
With Moody’s and S&P, we were able to highlight our policy on reserves and the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) pay down. At the end of the Moody’s call, one of the raters commented that many Oregon school districts have shown a grim picture; however, that was not the case with the Corvallis School District. I believe that is due in part to the fiscal conservatism you have continued to show over time, and I encourage you to stay the course.
AVID Conference
I spent the majority of this week with more than 30 of the District’s middle and high school teachers and administrators at the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) National Conference in Sacramento. I cannot emphasize enough how committed this group is in supporting each of our students to be successful in high school and higher education.
At the conference, teachers and administrators attended strands related to their content areas, and team time to move the overall AVID system forward across their schools. This tends to be a good balance between what happens in the classroom and how the school environment is improved to enhance the college going culture.
Elementary School Lunch Menu Changes Coming in September
(provided by Sharon Gibson, CSD Food & Nutrition Services Manager)
Thank you to those who participated in the community-based menu planning process earlier this spring! One of our goals in developing new lunch menu items is to offer a culturally inclusive menu selection. We received many excellent suggestions from parents, guardians, community members, and staff. Based on that input, we are excited to offer new meals for 2018-19 that have a greater variety of spices and flavors, including curry, turmeric, cumin, tahini, hoisin sauce, and poke sauce. The new menus will provide more choices for all students, especially those who have food restrictions for health or religious reasons.
Because the Corvallis School District school meal program is self-supporting, we reviewed menus for compliance with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requirements
for a reimbursable meal. The Food Service Menu Team reviewed all menu suggestions, and evaluated the preparation time needed for the new recipes and the cost of ingredients. Additionally, our staff, along with community members and parents, have been testing the new recipes and offering students tasting samples with very positive results. Our Farm to School Program continues to grow and we are committed to sourcing our food from local farms whenever possible. New recipes will incorporate more locally grown foods, and we will continue to purchase local flour for our baked breads, muffins, and pizza crusts. We will also be working with school garden clubs to feature school-grown produce in some school-based menu offerings.
Here is what you can expect next fall:
- 38 total menu items on the elementary lunch menu rotation
- 21 beef, pork, or chicken menu items (10 new recipes)
- 15 vegetarian menu items (7 new recipes)
- 2 fish menu items (2 new recipes)
- 8 gluten-free menu items (5 new recipes)
Our school lunch program will continue to feature three menu items each day. Most daily menus will include the choice of a current menu item, new menu item, or peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Some of the new menu items include Roasted Veggie Flatbread, Thai Chicken Flatbread, Lentil Soup, Pork Carnitas, Fish Taco with Poke Sauce, Tabbouleh (in the salad bar), and Hummus Platter with pita chips. We are excited about the new menu and hope you will join your child for lunch next fall!
Please contact the Food & Nutrition Services Department or your school office if your child has dietary restrictions. We are happy to work with parents on an individual basis to discuss meal options.