Los Gatos, November 6, 2023: The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District is proud to announce that the district has been awarded the 2023 California School Boards Association (CSBA) Golden Bell Award in the Student Support Services category for it’s food service program transformation: Edible Learning: Transforming School Cafeterias into Wellness Communities.
Spearheaded by Los Gatos High School Assistant Principal Kristi Grasty in 2019, Kristi worked with chef Paul Boundas, owner of Country House Kitchen, to create a plan that would improve the cafeteria model while enhancing students’ nutrition, provide a pathway for nutrition-related education, and most importantly nurture student wellness from the inside out. What transpired was an incredible collaboration that would transform the way students are fed during the school day, provide budget savings to the district, partner science electives with the cafeteria department, and in turn, build a replicated program model that was successfully implemented at Saratoga High School.
Serving over 1,000 meals a day, both schools’ breakfasts and lunches are created entirely from scratch, ditching the traditional method of heat-and-serve to make healthier, tastier, and cheaper meals. Because fresh ingredients are more cost-effective than their frozen counterparts, the district also went from spending 55% of its cafeteria budget on food to only spending 33% in the 2022/2023 school year.
“The cafeteria transformation in the past 4 years has provided such unprecedented results for our district that could be duplicated by any district in California,” shared Superintendent Bill W. Sanderson. “Students want to eat in our cafeterias. They are receiving healthier meals, learning about nutritional science, and applying real sustainable agricultural practices that will carry them throughout their lives.”
LGSUHSD will be honored on November 30, 2023 at a reception and ceremony during the California School Boards Association (CSBA) Annual Education Conference and Tradeshow (AEC)in San Francisco, California.
The CSBA Golden Bell Awards® promote excellence in education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and governance practices of school boards in school districts and county offices of education throughout California. Golden Bell Awards reflect the depth and breadth of education programs and governance decisions supporting these programs that are necessary to address students’ changing needs.
