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updated on
August 31, 2007.

August 2007 News

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Breadbreaking to Inaugurate Harding Elementary School’s New Cafeteria

The culmination of months of planning a comprehensive health- and nutrition-related program will be celebrated on Friday, August 24, 2007, when Harding Elementary School kicks off the Harding Cafeteria Project with, appropriately enough, a bread breaking ceremony/fundraiser. The welcome begins at 5:30 p.m. with music provided by John Enrico Douglas. Prior to the 6:00 p.m. meal, Superintendent Brian Sarvis, Principal Sally Kingston, and Santa Barbara County Public Health Department nutritionist Jeri Waite will speak about the significance of Harding’s new cafeteria. At the Friday bread breaking, adult meals will cost $5 and children’s meals will be $3. Guests can look forward to herb chicken with lemon, mixed roast vegetables, pumpkin seed rice, homemade bread, and whole wheat carrot cake. The public is welcome to attend.

Principal Dr. Sally Kingston stated, “Our school community is very excited about the new site-based kitchen. We will serve homemade meals, including whole grains and local farm fresh produce, on a daily basis; instruction in nutrition and health will be integrated into the curriculum; and we will offer parents ongoing nutrition classes.” The Harding Cafeteria Project includes nutrition education for students and parents. The science physical education and classroom teachers are working together to integrate nutrition education into the instructional program. A one-year $5,900 grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara will support monthly parent education classes and the development of school-wide awareness about nutrition through an annual Nutrition Decathlon. Harding will also extend the “breakfast” meal service to the first recess, when students can choose from a smoothie, a bowl of cereal, fresh fruit, or the cafeteria’s daily breakfast entree (e.g., egg burrito, banana bread, pancakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls). Breakfast will cost $1 for students and $2 for adults.

Kingston continued, “We know more now than ever about the connection between student health and learning and, in particular, the importance of the development of healthy eating habits. At Harding School, we are working together to develop a healthy learning environment that supports and promotes healthy choices beginning in preschool. The Harding Cafeteria Project is a major step forward. We also have other exciting initiatives that we are working on, including: an expanded physical education program, an improved recycling program, a new garden, and a facilities master planning process.”

Dr. Kingston gratefully acknowledges that this project was made possible because of the commitment, generosity (more than $60,000 in donations from foundations), and support from multiple partners who share Harding School’s vision: Santa Barbara School Districts, Classified School Employees Association, Peabody Charter School, The Bialis Family Foundation, The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, Fund for Santa Barbara, Karuna Foundation, Fresco at the Beach, Harding School Foundation, Santa Barbara Recycles, and Slow Food Santa Barbara.

Harding’s new cafeteria is patterned after the Peabody Charter School cafeteria model. Laurel Lyle, Peabody Charter Cafeteria executive chef and resource on this project, noted, “In 2008-2009, Harding will install an on-site garden, which will serve as a learning laboratory for students to experience the entire process of taking food from seed to plate. Kitchens are full of teachable moments. An on-site kitchen at Harding School is one more link in the chain of providing a first-class education, full of hands-on learning for students.”

When school starts on August 27, Harding’s students can look forward to the following meals in their new cafeteria.

August/September 2007 Lunch Menu

Lunch is $2.25 for students and $4 for adults

Harding serves approximately 570 students in preschool through sixth grade who come from diverse backgrounds. Ninety percent of the students are Hispanic/Latino from economically-disadvantaged families and 61 percent of the students are acquiring English as a second language.

Harding Elementary School is located at 1625 Robbins Street, Santa Barbara, CA.