Felonies, Bikes and City Living

After approximately 4 weeks of practicing justification for procrastination, I was forced to commit to a trip to DCPS headquarters today for another round of fingerprinting and completion of  my paperwork to become an "official" school volunteer. In my continuing quest to extend my environmental awareness beyond just food (really, I love things like A/C and paper towels and clothing-that-might -possibly-be-made-by-children-in-factories, so I'm honestly trying to expand my horizons and enlighten myself), I decide to Capital Bikeshare over there. Capital Bikeshare is totally awesome and easy to use. I even borrowed a helmet so my brains don't end up on the pavement (coordination is not my strong suit). Now that the weather is cooler and I won't arrive at destinations with a sweat stain on my butt and a stinky shirt, I'm determined to use it more often. This trip was perfect as it's a straight shot across the Capitol to arrive at the DCPS building. Very little traffic, almost no turns (I can never get those biking hand signals right). Suffice it to say, I arrived alive. Whew.

Back to DCPS. Although I used to teach in the system, I am not gifted with some sort of free pass on criminal investigation. Since I am going to be the guest "chef" at a local elementary school, DCPS needed to once again confirm I am TB and felony free. I visited my school back in September, and it has taken me this long to find a doctor, secure the test and then deliver the appropriate documents to the right people. I'm not proud of this, but this is what happens when you freelance at a dozen different agencies while traveling around the country on a research/writing assignment.

Meanwhile, my school patiently waits for me to begin. I was hooked up with them through Michelle Obama's "Chefs Move to School", a branch of the larger "Let's Move" campaign. This hookup took over a year.

I registered my information with "Chefs Move to School" over a year ago online (they have this nifty little map with little markers all over it proclaiming the happy marriages of chefs and schools all over the U.S.). I was really excited to work at a school since I figured my experience teaching, coupled with my culinary degree, would be a great fit. Unfortunately, beyond taking your information and making it available on their website, not much action happens (generic emails, maybe once a month). I briefly tried being proactive and contacting a couple of DC schools who were supposedly looking to be paired with a chef, but the information on the site was outdated. So, I basically moved on with other things and waited. This September, I received a very lovely letter from a preschool teacher at a school in Northwest DC asking if I would consider working with them.  She was so sweet and excited, I had to say yes. (I didn't mention she was my only suitor.)

So, what is the "Chefs Move to School"(CMTS) program exactly? Well, that's a very good question. It seems to mostly be an idea. An encouragement, if you will. It promotes adopting a school and working with school personnel to envision ways to spread the message of better nutrition through education. There's a CMTS handbook with facts on childhood obesity and school lunches. It includes a template for starting a school program. Could you do all these things on your own without CMTS? Sure. But, as I stated, I think the program basically is to exist as a linking module. And, hey!, now I have a school, so I guess it works in that respect.

It seems there are a lot of organizations trying to use chefs as a tool in schools right now. Besides the CMTS umbrella, there's also the nationwide Farm to School program, and various other entities (such as the American Institute of Food&Wine's "Days of Taste" event) trying to recruit chefs to teach kids about food, for most on a one or two time basis...for a few, more regularly and long term. What do you think of this approach? Is it just a stop gap measure? Does it make actual inroads in helping kids and families eat better? Would these organizations' resources (both time and money) be better spent finding long term programs and participants to commit to schools? Or possibly helping schools to create jobs to bring on nutrition teachers and specialists more permanently? Or training existing teachers to implement food curriculums (see previous blog)? Maybe the chefs are just a jumping off point- to excite kids and inspire schools to start a more comprehensive program once they see the children's interest?

I start at my school this month. I'll be going on a monthly basis to teach lessons for 3 and 4-year olds exploring food (particularly fruits and vegetables) using the 5 senses. We'll be squeezing, smelling, slurping, seeing and squishing all sorts of local products. I can only hope that it creates some excitement in the kids and gets them comfortable with the foods I hope they'll eat for a lifetime.


In other news, I am gushing over Philabundance again over at Zomppa. Check out my semi-stalker status and article here. 

Kids and Food

Bancroft ES, a public school in Arlington, VA, has a group of parents working to bring more farm fresh produce tastes and education to kids!

Today's Washington Post featured this article on placing more salad bars in the DC Public Schools.  This got me thinking all over again about the cart versus wheel theories revolving around empowering people to eat better.  Does the food access come first?  Or the education?  In my (extremely limited, non-scientifical or research based) experience, some education needs to come first. (Ideally, they'd happen simultaneously.) Especially with kids, experimenting with new foods just because they're placed in front of them (or labeled as "healthy") isn't typically a magic bullet. And having just finished Jonathan Bloom's American Wasteland, I have shivers just thinking about a whole bar's worth of fresh, local vegetables ending up in a trash can, because kids are wary of the new choices.

[Please Note: This is not a dig on local school districts.  I get it.  They have limited resources and limited time. I taught in the public schools for almost a decade.  I know the pressure on test scores is immense, and it's very difficult to integrate a nutrition program into an already packed schedule.]

That said, parents, teachers, administrators and motivated citizens are making change on a micro-level at schools all over the country.  Where a system-wide change might be difficult, on a school-by-school basis making headway is possible.  I wish I could visit more of the school gardens, observe more nutrition classes and attend more school "food days" and tastings as I travel around the country, but it's often more difficult to schedule these than a meeting with a large organization.  Still, the work of the committed people in schools is inspiring, and I try to absorb as much as I can.

Want to get started in your own neighborhood?  Maybe you can be the factor that encourages kids to dig into that produce-laden bar instead of just walking by it!

Here are some resources:

• Whole Foods Foundation school garden grants: Learn how to apply for a grant to start a project at your own neighborhood school.
• Food Corps: A new Americorp based program that places recent college grads in schools to help foster nutrition/garden/healthy eating programs. (Check out this Time Magazine article on the program, too.)
• Ecoliteracy has a solid school curriculum called "Nourish" and a resource guide for making food changes in schools called "Rethinking School Lunch".  You can also learn more about how school are applying the Nourish curriculum in California here.
• Alice Water's Edible Schoolyard site has lesson plans and various other tools for school gardening.
• What's on Your Plate?  is a fabulous documentary for kids/teens that lends itself to a whole host of school-centered activities.
• The Food Studies Institute, run by Dr. Antonia Demas, has a great curriculum called Food is Elementary that is perfect for grades K-5.
• The nationwide Farm to School network is different in every area but could possibly be of use in your city.  Visit their parent site to find a branch in your neighborhood.
• Michael Pollan has a kids version of The Omnivore's Dilemma that is the perfect jumping off point for a discussion/study with middle school aged kids or teens.
• Also, Michelle Obama's initiative Let's Move can help to match you with a chef in your city to start a cooking program at your school.
• Dr. Marion Nestle also posted a resource collection on her Food Politics blog back in July.  She has a few overlaps with mine and some new links.

Know of other great programs or resources?  Please let me know in the comments!