(KORN Radio)- Mitchell School Board vice-president Neil Putnam and other local school officials from around the country recently participated in a round-table discussion with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in Washington regarding improving school lunch programs.
The meeting was part of Perdue’s effort to enact reforms to make school lunches more appealing by giving more control to the school districts who know the children best.
Putnam told the secretary, in his words, “School boards have an integral role in implementing school meal programs but we should not be the cupcake police.” He added that increased flexibility and fewer regulations will help local school districts reduce food waste and costs and increase student participation in school meal programs. Putnam appreciated Perdue’s interest in hearing directly from locally elected school board members.
The Secretary’s roundtable was held in advance of the publication of the final rule on Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Requirements, targeted for release later this year.
