Miles McLean speaks with reps with the school district about their new setup.

As a new school year quickly approaches, Washoe County School District students will be seeing some nutritious meals, with a variety of options and even a chance to offer feedback. 

Southwest Foodservice Excellence has partnered with WCSD to be their newest meal provider. 

Southwest is committed to ensuring meals are healthy and filling, and that getting these meals is easy for the students and their families. 

Mike Supple, the WCSD Assistant Director of Nutrition, touches on how they have simplified the program; "We've rolled over everybody's balances into this school year. We're still trying to collect on that, and we're just getting creative and trying to not be a burden to families with the money that they owe."

Supple says that the nutritional values of meals—whether it's lunch, breakfast, a snack or dinner—is important to helping kids stay focused in class and throughout their day. 

When it comes to the meals themselves, Southwest prides itself on its focus on fresh and in-house meals. They tell us their team can prepare around 60,000 items a day and have them packaged and on lunch tables within 48 hours. 

Director of Nutrition Services at Southwest, Paul Stanley, highlighted the input that goes into select meals to serve, saying they do "...student surveys, focus groups... and [hosting] menu advisory boards where we seek feedback from all of our stakeholders". 

Stanley adds that families can see if their schools qualify on the WCSD website, encouraging more participation, which results in more meals and more students being fed.Â