A full stomach goes a long way toward successful learning, and for Roaring Fork School District (RFSD) students there’s little excuse for being hungry in class.
Roaring Fork Schools in Carbondale, Basalt and Glenwood Springs have participated in Colorado’s Healthy School Meals for All program since its inception in the 2023-24 school year.
For school districts that opt in, the program provides free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of income.
And with statewide voter approval last year to continue to fund the program long term, the opportunity to provide more appealing food options depends on student participation, said Octavio Maese, director of nutrition services for the Roaring Fork schools.
“The voters saying that this is a value to them and [that] they want it to continue is a huge nod to what we’re doing here locally, and what the state at large is doing with their school meal programs,” he said. “Ultimately, I think everyone wants the best for the students, and no one can perform well if they’re hungry or thinking about where their next meal might come from. Just trying to eliminate those barriers for students is really important, and we want to make sure that everyone has equal access to food.”
Currently, about 53% of students in the district are enrolled in the free lunch program, and about 30% are grabbing a free breakfast before classes begin.
Participation in the program has increased at all school levels since meals became free. But the more students who participate, the more money the district can receive from the state to grow the program and provide even better food choices, said Maese, who is in his seventh year with the district.
“There are things that, operationally, we can have more resources for as we continue to grow our budget with meal participation,” he said. “But it’s kind of a one-for-one deal, where we don’t have money if kids don’t eat with us.”
The program currently operates on a budget of a little over $1.3 million per year, which comes from state reimbursements based on the number of students who participate in the meals program.
Participation is highest at the elementary and middle schools, and numbers did increase at high schools when meals became free. But with open campuses during lunch period, when students can leave campus to buy lunch or go home to eat during the relatively short 40 minutes they have to be away, the numbers are smaller, Maese said.
“The high schools are definitely a challenging age group for us to serve,” he said. “They have really robust tastes, and they have a lot of different choices off campus.”
Another piece that can help local districts obtain additional state funding is for families who think they would qualify for federal free and reduced school meal programs to complete the applications. The more qualified families a district has, the more federal and state funding they can be eligible for, covering a variety of things, not just meals, Maese explained.
Districts have until Oct. 1 to collect and process that data, he said, but it’s important to note that the application is not tied to receiving free meals through the state program.
“We still encourage families to fill that out so that we can maximize the [state and federal] funding to the district,” he said.
Another component of Colorado’s program incentivizes local sourcing of food to use for school meals. The local school district now receives about $100,000 in additional grant funding to purchase locally grown food, including Nieslanik Beef and fresh produce from some of the food cooperatives that serve the Valley, Maese said.
That can be challenging due to a lack of infrastructure to store and deliver locally-produced food to each school. Oftentimes, the food is delivered to a single school site, and then distributed internally to the different schools, he explained.
“That’s a big lift for our team, because we do a lot of volume,” Maese said.
The district serves around 2,800 lunches and 1,800 breakfasts daily.
“So it is something that’s definitely a labor of love, and we’ll continue to work on those local partnerships,” he said. “I’m just really proud of the work our team does. I think that we’ve come a long way with our menu offerings, and I think that’s demonstrated with more students eating with us.”
One way parents and the larger community can get involved is by joining the district’s advisory council, which guides the local food program grant funding.
The council meets throughout the school year. The initial meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 4:30 to 6pm, at the RFSD Operations Center on 27th Street in Glenwood Springs. Anyone interested is invited to attend (no RSVP required) or they can reach out to Maese directly for more information at 970-384-6007.