KCK school district receives ‘best practice’ award for nutrition program

Josh Mathiasmeier, second from left, the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools nutritional service director, accepted a best practices award at a Kansas State Board of Education meeting recently. At the left is Jim Porter, chairman of the State Board of Education; with Janet Waugh, State Board of Education District 1 representative; and Randy Watson, right, State Department of Education commissioner. (Submitted photo)

The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools Nutritional Service Department has received a “best practice” award for its child nutrition program.

The Kansans CAN 2016-17 Best Practice Award was presented during the Aug. 8 State Board of Education meeting in Topeka, according to a news release from the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools.

“This was a great honor for our Nutritional Services Department team,” Nutritional Services Director Josh Mathiasmeier said in the news release “We are always looking for ways to improve service excellence to the students and the Wyandotte County community,” he said.

A mobile food truck from the Nutritional Services Department is one reason for the honor. A bookmobile that was not in service was converted into a mobile food truck to serve summer meals throughout the community. Funding and resources came from a partnership with Healthy Communities Wyandotte and Cities Combating Hunger Through After School and Summer Meal Programs.

Delivering more than 73,000 meals during the summer, the mobile food truck made its debut June 5, 2017. According to a spokesman, there are plans for the mobile food truck to increase delivery of after-school meals, beginning with this fall’s school year.

Besides adding the mobile food truck, the school district added meals for adults who accompanied children to the summer food service program sites this summer. The school district joined with Humana Inc. and the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County in this program.

– Information from Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools