by Henry Bosland
Major changes are being made at North Attleboro High School in the way of overhauling the school’s nutrition plans. North Attleboro School Nutrition is responsible for providing lunches for all the schools in the North Attleboro School District and they are working hard to bring better food to the students of North Attleboro.
This year, the first changes came with removing candy from the school store because it is unhealthy and against Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s guidelines that our school has to follow. These guidelines specify that the selling of candy cannot be sponsored by the school. Additionally, the school’s vending machines also have to align with the guidelines set by the DESE. This means that the candy dispensers in our lobby will also be removed to align with the policy.
Matthew Warsofsky, a senior at NAHS, was one of the many who used to frequent the school store at lunch.
“I am extremely frustrated with [the decision]. [The school store] was my main source of candy and gum at school,” he said.
Despite Warsofsky and others’ disappointment, North Attleboro School Nutrition aims to provide students with healthier alternatives to the junk food that was previously offered. For example, they have made smoothies available for sale during break which is healthy, but also something the students like.
In addition to these changes in offerings, North School Nutrition has also tried to make getting healthy food more convenient during break. Last year, the ‘North Cafe’ was created as a way to provide breakfast food for students during the break between classes in the morning. This has proven to be very popular with the students as many don’t have time to eat a proper breakfast in the morning, and this gives them the opportunity to do so.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Mrs. Bresson, one of the school’s health teachers.
Mr. Haviland agreed that it’s a step in the right direction, noting how it’s the school’s responsibility to provide their students with healthy, nutritive options in every setting.
Many of these changes have originated from students requests. Heather Baril, the Director of School Nutrition at NAHS, explained how she met with several classes of students to come up with new menu ideas for the school cafeteria. “We love incorporating student ideas in the cafeteria,” she said.
If you have any ideas regarding new healthy options in the school cafeteria, Mrs. Baril is always open to hearing from the students and can be contacted at hbaril@naschools.net.
The First Launch 