Washoe County kids return to school in just a few days, and the school district's Nutrition Services department says they're ready to serve.
The department provides lunch, and sometimes other meals, to thousands of kids across Washoe County.
“We need students to eat every day, breakfast and lunch, whether it's with us or at home. It's important that students eat every day, so they're better prepared to receive the instruction on the school day,” said Paul Stanley, Director of Nutrition Services for Southwest Foodservice Excellence in partnership with Washoe County School District.
This is the second year the school district has partnered with Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE). Since launching during the 2025 - 2026 school year, there has been a 10 percent growth in the number of students who eat school lunch instead of bringing something from home.
That growth could be linked to a few things, like need.
“The food insecurity in Washoe County is, you know, growing every year,” said Mike Supple, the Food Service Director for Washoe County School District.
But it may also be linked to something more positive.
“We attribute that to the feedback we receive. The operational changes we make based on student feedback,” said Stanley.
SFE says everything they do, is based on feedback from students and the operational standards of the National School Lunch Program. Students share their feedback through surveys and even taste test events.
“We have even elementary menu ballot boxes at our elementary schools where they actually vote on the items they want to see on the menu, or tell us if they don't like an item,” said Stanley.
Some of the results were unexpected.
“We were surprised last year that, you know, our elementary students are ready for some bigger flavors, bolder flavors,” said Stanley. “We had great, traction with things like green chili pozole and some items like that.”
Older students shared their love for a particular item as well.
“We launched smoothies last year at the high school level that was incredibly popular through a promotion that we ran for National School Breakfast Week,” said Stanley. “It was so popular, we added it to the menus each month.”
But overall, students across the district said they loved buffalo mac and cheese more than any other dish.
The school district works hard to make sure anyone who wants to eat school lunch, or needs to, has access by utilizing a program where they receive reimbursements from the USDA when they provide meals to kids at no cost to their families.
Students at some schools have to apply to be a part of the program, but 67 schools are enrolled in what they call Community Eligible Provision (CEP).
“All students at that school eat breakfast and lunch for free,” said Supple. “The other 36 schools that are non-CEP need to fill out applications and submit them to see if they qualify.”
The application is based on factors like household income and size.
WCSD covers the rest of the fee for students who qualify for reduced lunch, since it is a paid or free district.
That application can be found here: Online Meal Application.
