In the Union City School Area School District, it’s all about eating healthy meals prepared with food that has a lot of nutrients.
But students should like the taste of the food and the way it is prepared.
In the Union City Area School District, students have a say in that.
Krista Byler, food services director for the district and district chef, said the district has not served fried food for about 12 years. The staff focuses on fresh fruits and vegetables, meals made from scratch and oven-baked foods.
For those and other improvements (some of which are student taste tested and student approved), the district recently was recognized with a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award. The Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award is a federal award given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FSN) in collaboration with Action for Healthy Kids.
“In the state of Pennsylvania, Union City is one of four school districts to be recognized with the award,” Byler said.
To earn the award, the district completed an application process and was required to meet certain criteria, such as with its menus and recipes.
“It’s for making overall improvements to the nutritional quality of school meals,” Byler said. “They were looking at our overall nutrient breakdown.”
At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, the district started testing recipes to get feedback. In the spring of 2024, the district started to put items on the menu.
“We have incorporated a lot of scratch cooking,” Byler said. “What is important to us is that we are getting students’ opinions. We had talked to students prior to coming up with recipes. They gave us their opinions before it became a menu item.”
Byler said huge changes were made to breakfast items. Some of the breakfast items now include overnight oats, baked oatmeal, breakfast burritos, and whole grain sheet-pan pancakes that are baked in an oven.
Students may also order specific items, just like being in a restaurant.
“We do a lot of fresh grab-and-go salads and wraps,” Byler said. “The made-to-order part is their favorite.”
This is the 20th year Byler has been employed by the district. She earned a culinary degree from the Pittsburgh Institute of Culinary Arts. She oversees the food services staff at Union City Area Elementary School and Union City Middle-High School.
Byler said receiving the award is a big deal.
The Food Services Department at the Union City Area School District is celebrating an award the district received for improving the nutritional quality of school meals. Members of the middle-high food services staff are, from left, Karen Keefer, Sue Wilcox, Gillian Gluvna, Krista Byler, Sue Olmstead, Lisa Butler and Rachelle Wolf.
“I’m really proud of our staff for embracing the changes to offer our students scratch-prepared entrees,” Byler said.
As award recipients, the district received national and local recognition and travel stipends to attend a national Healthy Meals Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Gillian Gluvna, professional chef and the kitchen manager at the middle-high school; and Michelle Flaherty, a teacher of gifted students and the STEM program at the elementary school, attended the summit from Oct. 21 to Oct. 24.
Gluvna said there were 800 attendees at the summit.
“I came together with 200-plus other school districts that received the award, from state legislators to administrators to USDA officials,” Gluvna said. “There was a lot of information and a lot of excitement, and there were a lot of really great ideas.
“It was bringing what we’re doing in our district and sharing it with other districts and learning from them as well.”
Byler said the staff also worked with Besty Grinder, owner of Your Daily Serving, a culinary business in Corry that offers fresh meals daily.
Grinder came to the elementary school and participated in two different sessions, brainstorming on utilizing fresh fruits and vegetables with zero waste.
“I taught them how to use the most and the best produce of anything they are given,” Grinder said. “We also taught them to save vegetable scraps and options of what to do with them.”
Grinder said it’s all about different ways to get nutrients into a child’s body.
She is happy to be invited into schools and other places to speak.
“I’m very thankful to be thought of to be brought into school districts and kitchens to teach people what I know,” Grinder said.
The award is proof that the effort the Union City Area School District Food Services Department is putting into healthy meals for its students is working, and Byler wants to keep going.
“We look forward to continuing to build upon the work we’re doing,” she said.