Deb Linke lauded the 41 members of the district’s food services team for adapting to the ever-changing landscape of food service and ensuring students are nourished.
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Even as the needs of students in the Warren County R-III district and government regulations change rapidly, the district’s food service department is ready to adapt.
That’s the message that Deb Linke, the district’s director of food services, shared with the board during her annual report at the board’s June meeting.
Linke lauded the 41 members of the district’s food services team for adapting to the ever-changing landscape of food service and ensuring students are nourished.
“I would like to thank my team,” Linke said. “They’re the ones who get it done every day. It’s not an easy job, but they get it done.”
She said that a rough estimate of the services provided for the 2025-26 school year included 111,632 breakfasts, 242,589 lunches and 17,414 snacks served.
“That’s pretty much on par with what we normally do,” Linke said.
An important item that Linke shared with the board was that the daily cost of a meal in the R-III district would remain unchanged for the 2026-27 school year.
Current prices are $2 for breakfast and $3 for lunch for students in grades kindergarten through five and $2 for breakfast and $3.20 for lunch for students in grades six through 12.
“I did some worksheets from DESE and it didn’t look like we need to increase our price this year,” Linke said. “That’s a good thing (they can stay the same) even though food prices are going up.”
The regular lunch students may choose from must include three of the district’s five offerings: meat or a meat alternative, grain, fruit, vegetable and milk.
She added that current calorie requirements will remain unchanged. They are a breakfast of 350-500 calories for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, 400-550 for sixth through eighth grade, and 450-600 for high school. Lunches are required to have 550-600 calories for K-5, 600-700 for 6-8 and 750-850 for high school.
A big change that Linke noted was the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s move away from its healthy plate initiative.
“In case you didn’t think the government wasn’t doing anything, they are,” Linke said to the assembled board members. “(They are changing) the dietary guidelines that have been here as long as I have. This is the new dietary plan that the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has put into place. It’s kind of a mess. It focuses on proteins, dairy, healthy fats and fruits and veggies, of course.”
She said that a change in purchasing practices has led to higher-quality produce in the R-III district.
The district has moved away from purchasing produce from a private vendor and has instead begun buying from the government.
“One thing I did differently this year is that we get an allocation from the government to spend on food, and I took $25,000, which is probably a quarter of that, and I allocated it to fresh fruits and vegetables from the government,” Linke said. “That’s because they come in really great and they’re lower priced and the product is way better than what I’m getting from my vendor.”
Another minor change for the upcoming school year will come with the opening of the district’s expanded Early Childhood program at the new Daniel Boone Elementary School building.
Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith said that moving the Early Childhood program to Daniel Boone Elementary could necessitate some change in the food service staffing focus.
“We’re probably going to have a full-day program there,” Klinginsmith said. “So we will have something going on up there. I don’t think it will be a whole lot, but we will be using it.”
