From left, Jamestown Public Schools Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Brittnay Spry, and JPS Food Service Director Scott Johnson give a presentation about school meals. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

Sometimes it’s difficult to get students to eat school meals.

Members of the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education heard Tuesday how district officials are trying to get students to embrace eating breakfast and lunch at their respective schools.

According to Brittnay Spry, JPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, since last year, students now have better food options.

Spry said there have been many changes to school cafeterias across the district. All students are able to get free breakfast and lunch meals.

“And what that means to us is we want kids to come into our cafeterias. We want them to eat our food,” Spry said.

Currently, Spry said, at the elementary school level, students are offered new entrees, more flavors of milk, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Also available are action stations, and a la carte smart snacks.

At the middle and high school level, Spry added, current students have many choices including food bars (choice of burritos, potatoes, or salads), more flavors of milk, new entrees, action stations, and also a la carte snacks.

JPS Food Service Director Scott Johnson said action stations at the elementary level are for pancakes and grilled cheese sandwiches.

“We also provide a little bit of education materials to teachers, so they can teach the students where, like some of these fresh fruits and vegetables grow around the United States,” Johnson said.

Spry added that ideas for the new school year that just began the district include lucky tray day, and a root beer fro yo (frozen yogurt). The root beer fro yo, Spry said, is a variation of a root beer float. Because of state Education Department dietary guidelines, focusing on frozen yogurt allows the district to stay below the sugar thresholds, Spry noted.

Also for this year, Spry said, the district is looking to increase using more action stations. One station that is receiving the district’s attention is an egg omelet station.

“One of the things that we’re looking forward to rolling out is the omelet stations in the morning, so the kids can come down to the cafeteria. They can pick out vegetables and meat that they want in an omelet, and then they can start their day with a high protein breakfast to get them ready for a day of learning,” Spry said.

Spry added that student feedback and participation also is a high priority for this year.

“They are our end users,” Spry said of the students. “They are the ones that we serve. We want their feedback. We want to know what they like, what they don’t like, what they’d like, to try, and try to work that (student suggestions) into our menu(s) so that they’re happy with the food that we’re serving to them.”

She said students would also be invited to sample new products before they are rolled out into the district.

Spry added that new recipes also will be added this year including stuffed peppers, chicken riggies (chicken rigatoni), Korean barbecue beef tacos, and rice and beans.