Food Services » Food Services

Food Services

Healthy Changes In Our School Cafeterias
 
WSWHE BOCES, through a shared food service program, now has access to provide students with affordable, wholesome and nutritious meals curated by a staff dietitian and regional food service director. Students will now enjoy local fruits, vegetables and dairy products from farms and vendors across New York State to bring farm-fresh food into our daily meal offerings.
 
Monthly Menus
 
Click one of the colored buttons for the Monthly Menu you need. The bottom of the page also has the PDFs. 
 
 
Myers monthly menu
 
SAEC monthly Menu
 
 

Allergies

If your student has any special dietary needs, please be sure to alert your child's teacher to ensure we properly accommodate the student's needs. In addition, please contact the following Food Service Directors:

 

Southern Adirondack Educational Center
Patrick Kenneally, Food Service Director
Email Patrick Kenneally
518-598-8571   
 
F. Donald Myers Education Center
Eric Bush, Food Service Director
Email Eric Bush
518-583-4704

Children who meet federal income guidelines may be eligible to receive full school meals at a free or reduced price.  It is important that families who believe they may qualify for the Free and Reduced-Price Meals program submit an application.

 

Myer's students ONLY can complete a secure online application by clicking here. If you'd like the PDF version of the form, click here


SAEC students receive free meals at school. The Free and Reduced-Price Meals application must be completed yearly


For any questions about the free and reduced application process please contact Jennifer Radigan, Shared Food Service Program Specialist at Capital Region BOCES at 518-464-5106 or click here to email.

 

Myers Center Meal Times:
Breakfast 7:50 am
Lunch 10:15 am -12:00 pm
 
SAEC Meal Times:
7:30 am - For Building G, someone picks up breakfast and students eat in the building
7:45 am - Bears Program, Building E, someone picks up breakfast and students eat in their room
In order to meet USDA requirements, school breakfasts must contain no more than 30% of calories from fat, and less than 10% from saturated fat. In addition, breakfast must provide one fourth of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein, calcium, iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and calories.
 
Research shows that children who eat breakfast:
  • Are less likely to be overweight
  • Show improvement on math, reading and standardized test scores
  • Establish healthier habits for later in life
  • Have fewer absences and incidences of tardiness
  • Are more likely to behave better in school
  • Consume more calcium, fiber, foliate and protein
CEP is a federal provision that allows high-poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. This option increases school meal participation by removing stigma, maximizes federal reimbursements, reduces administrative paperwork, and eliminates unpaid school meal debt. CEP schools continue to operate both the School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs, and must uphold nutrition standards and meal quality, but processes and procedures for counting and claiming reimbursable meals are simplified. CEP is available to any school, group of schools or district that have 40 percent or more students directly certified for free school meals, by means other than a school meal application.

School districts that participate in the CEP program:

  • Must provide both breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost.
  • Do not track meals by fee category (i.e. free, reduced-price, paid). They simply count the total number of meals served.
  • Do not collect payment/fees from students.

New York State still requires CEP schools to collect alternative forms –  also referred to as CEP Household Income Eligibility Form – for other purposes, such as state education funding and Foundation Aid. Also, individual families may be eligible for certain benefits based on the data collected through these forms.

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the President and Congress created the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households up to $30/month (or $75/month for households living on Tribal lands) toward their internet bills, as well as a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet. 


All households with a child who was approved to receive free or reduced price school meals under the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program, within the last 12 months, including children who attend schools participating in the Community Eligibility 

Provision, are eligible for ACP benefits. 


Households are also independently eligible if:
(1) their income is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level ($55,500 for a family of four); or
(2) a member of the household participates in certain other Federal benefit programs—including, among others, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicaid, and Federal Public Housing Assistance.


To further lower costs, the Biden-Harris Administration secured commitments from internet service providers across the country to offer high-speed plans that are fully covered by the ACP. As a result, millions of working families can now get high-speed internet without paying a dime.

Families can check their eligibility, sign up, and find fully covered plans at GetInternet.gov (link is external) (mobile-accessible and available in Spanish) or by calling 877-384-2575.

Regional Food Bank
965 Albany-Shaker Road
Latham, NY 12110
Ph: 518-786-3691
Fx: 518-786-3004
[email protected]


No Kid Hungry runs a free texting service that helps families find meals in their neighborhoods. Parents and caregivers simply text the word "FOOD" to 877-877 to see all the nearby options. (The service is also available in Spanish by texting the word "COMIDA" instead.)

Click the link below for information on SNAP Program Assistance

 

https://hungersolutionsny.org/find-food-help/snap/snap-eligibility-tool/

Through USDA's summer meal programs, approved sites in communities across the country can serve meals to kids up to age 18 at no cost. Families can use this tool to find directions to nearby meal sites, as well as their hours of operation and contact information. 

https://www.fns.usda.gov/meals4kids

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.


Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.


To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online by clicking here, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:


mail:

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights

1400 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or

fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or

email: [email protected]

The goal of the WSWHE BOCE is to provide student access to nutritious no- or low-cost meals each school day and to ensure that a pupil whose parent/guardian has unpaid school meal fees is not shamed or treated differently than a pupil whose parent/guardian does not have unpaid meal fees.


Unpaid charges place a large financial burden on our school. The purpose of this policy is to ensure compliance with federal requirements for the USDA Child Nutrition Program and, and to provide oversight and accountability for the collection of outstanding student meal balances to ensure that the student is not stigmatized, distressed or embarrassed.


The intent of this policy is to establish procedures to address unpaid meal charges throughout the WSWHE BOCES in a way that does not stigmatize, distress or embarrass students. The provisions of this policy pertain to regular priced reimbursable school breakfast, lunch and snack meals only. WSWHE BOCES provides this policy as a courtesy to those students in the event that they forget or lose their money. Charging of items outside of the reimbursable meals (a la carte items, adult meals, etc.) is expressly prohibited.

Menu PDFs