Nick Testani: AT NOTTINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL AND ACROSS THE SYRACUSE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOT MILK HAS GOTTEN A LITTLE MORE COMPLICATED. ON OCTOBER 25th SCHOOL OFFICIALS WERE ALERTED THAT THERE WAS AN UPCOMING SHORTAGE OF THE CARTONS NEEDED TO HOLD MILK IN SCHOOL LUNCHES. NOW THEY ARE CREATING SOLUTIONS FOR EACH LEVEL OF SCHOOL. RACHEL MURPHY, FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICES DIRECTOR SAYS IT HAS A PLAN FOR THE HIGH SCHOOLS AND PRESCHOOLS, BUT FOR THOSE IN THE MIDDLE IT WILL BE MORE OF A CHALLENGE. HIGH SCHOOLERS WILL BE ABLE TO POUR MILK THEMSELVES MILK THROUGH SPIGOTS, AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS WILL POUR THE MILK FOR THEIR STUDENTS. IN THE MIDDLE AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS THOUGH, THEY MIGHT BE RECEIVING MILK.
Rachel Murphy: In the lower levels we are going to switch over to other forms of beverage. Ideally we would like to stay with milk. But, we don’t have the capacity to pour 20,000 cups of milk for little kids to carry around, it would be very difficult to do that.
Nick Testani: Now the state has issued guidance on how school’s can solve this problem. That include from pouring milk from larger containers into smaller jugs or even getting rid of milk entirely.
Nick Testani:
THE STATE’S GUIDANCE ISSUED ON NOVEMBER 3rd GAVE SCHOOL’S 4 OPTIONS. THE FIRST ONE BEING THE SIMPLEST, JUST POURING MILK FROM ONE CONTAINER TO ANOTHER. THE SECOND ONE BEING ONLY OFFERING 1 TYPE OF MILK, SO NO STRAWBERRY OR CHOCOLATE. THE THIRD IS TO OFFER OTHER TYPES OF MILK, AND FOR THE FOURTH ONE IF THERE IS NO OTHER OPTIONS DON’T OFFER ANY FLUID MILK AND INSTEAD BRING IN DRY MILK. THE STATE REMINDED SCHOOLS THAT JUICE IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE REPLACEMENT AND FOR A LUNCH TO COUNT FINANCIALLY SOME FORM OF MILK MUST BE SERVED.
MURPHY ALSO EXPLAINED THAT FOR STUDENTS THIS COULD BE A DRASTIC CHANGE IN THEIR DIETS.
Rachel Murphy: We are in New York State, a number 1 producing dairy area, that’s what we do here. Our students are very accustomed to having milk as a part of their meal. To take that out is a very big deal.
Nick Testani: FOR NCC NEWS, I’M NICK TESTANI.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Across the country schools are being faced with a new supply chain issue, no milk cartons in traditional school lunches. Schools were first given notice of this issue on October 25th when the USDA sent out guidance to states on how to handle the issue.
Rachel Murphy, Director of Food and Nutritional Services, at the Syracuse City School District said this was when the school district began to look into how to handle the shortage. She said the school has found a variety of options to handle the shortage in the different types of schools.
“When we are not getting our orders of milk cartons we have a plan. The plan is for the high schools to get milk spigots. So we are going to dispense the milk in bulk. We get spigots in and let students pour their own. In the lower levels we are going to switch over to other forms of beverage. Ideally we would like to stay with milk, but we don’t have the capacity to pour out twenty-thousand cups of milk,” Murphy said.
The preschool students will have their teachers pour it to them in the classrooms to help meet nutrition standards throughout the day.
The New York State Department of Education has issued a four-pronged guidance for how schools can try to meet nutritional standards. It has said that schools can, “Pour milk from larger containers into individual cups. Offer one type of milk instead of a variety. Offer an alternate form of fluid milk such as low-fat or fat-free lactose-free milk or reduced-lactose fluid milk. Or as a last resort, not offer fluid milk altogether.”
As for the students at the school Murphy has said that it will be an adjustment for students, “We are in New York State, a number one producing dairy area, that’s what we do here. Our students are very accustomed to having milk as a part of their meal. To take that out is a very big deal.”
