PHOTO CREDIT: Rick Brady/SNA

Shannon Gleave loves the behind-the-scenes work of school nutrition programs because healthy school meals have been shown to have a direct impact on students’ physical and academic success. Gleave, a registered dietitian nutritionist and the 2024-25 president of the School Nutrition Association (SNA), knows firsthand that her customers — students — can be a demanding lot. “I was the pickiest eater as a child,” she says. “I hated everything.”

She even remembers her mother asking, “Who are you, and what did you do with my daughter?” when Gleave signed up for cooking classes while earning her degree in nutrition and dietetics.

Currently director of food and nutrition for Arizona’s Glendale Elementary School District, Gleave notes that taste buds evolve. That makes it crucial for school nutrition professionals to continually introduce students to a variety of nutrition-packed and tasty food options. “It does us no good serving a meal that students won’t eat,” she says. 

Setting a foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating is just one of the challenges facing SNA’s more than 56,000 members. Other challenges include rising food costs, staffing shortages, continuing procurement hurdles, and, in some communities, food insecurity and students and families living in food deserts.

Gleave discussed these issues, along with recently updated U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition guidelines, trends in school meals, and the importance of summer meal programs, with ASBJ Senior Editor Michelle Healy.

In April, USDA announced new nutrition standards for school meals. What’s notable about the updated rules that begin taking effect in the 2025-26 school year?

Research shows that school meals are the healthiest meals kids get because they are already limiting the amount of calories, fat, and sodium, and we offer a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains daily. The new standards will build on that ongoing effort by reducing added sugar and making further sodium reductions in school meals. In 2025, there will be added sugar limits for cereals, yogurt, and flavored milk. The focus is on the added sugars, not naturally occurring sugars. We’re still going to be able to offer flavored milk for our students, but they need to meet the added sugar limits. I know that in Arizona, for example, our dairies are already reformulating chocolate milk to make sure that it’s meeting that limit. They were, in fact, doing that before the ruling became finalized.

What does implementing these standards mean for school nutrition teams?

School meal programs always operate on really tight budgets. We were receiving pandemic funds, and those have gone away, but costs keep rising. So, budgets are a huge challenge. It used to always be that food was more than labor, and now I’m looking at my labor costs being almost more than our food costs. As we work to further sodium and sugar reductions, we want to make sure that we’re retaining and adequately training staff who can cook at volume in schools’ commercial kitchens and can prepare more meals from scratch. Scratch-cooking allows greater control over recipe ingredients, helping us meet the new guidelines.

Have pandemic-era supply chain issues disappeared?

It’s interesting. The issues we’re now finding with procurement are often related to the growth in states offering universal school meals. Currently, eight states in the country provide free meals for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status. The increase in student participation, with many more children than expected, resulted in issues getting some items. Manufacturers just weren’t ready for the volume. Having more students showing up to eat is certainly a good problem to have, but it has come with some procurement issues.

Are universal meals an SNA priority?

Absolutely. It’s on our position paper every single year. During the pandemic, waivers were available that allowed schools to provide meals to every student at no charge. The response was so great that several states have since mandated universal meals to help address child hunger. In Colorado, voters approved a free school meals program for all. Students can’t perform academically if they’re worried about eating, worried about where their meals are coming from. If you universally feed every student, you remove that concern. Kids are eating, they’re showing up to school, and they’re ready to learn. Healthy school meals are proven to boost academic achievement, improve student behavior and health, and help combat food insecurity. This should be a bipartisan issue. Making sure that our future is cared for should be a bipartisan issue.

Have universal school meals also become a priority during the summer?

The USDA’s Summer Nutrition Programs for Kids is one of the best-kept secrets that we really don’t want to be kept secret. It is a federally funded free meals program for anyone up to age 18. It fills that gap when families may not be able to provide a meal, and kiddos go hungry. It’s breakfast and lunch served at schools and other group locations. A lot of community programs sign up and work with USDA to provide meals for children at camps and other sites. Some of my colleagues in rural locations are able to provide students with several days of breakfasts, lunches, and snacks at a time.

School meals haven’t always had the best reputation. Has that changed?

What I remember of school lunches, and what you probably remember of school lunches, is completely different from what’s offered today. I know districts serving Chipotle-style bowls where students select their ingredients. We do an Orange Chicken, similar to a popular chain’s, but ours has whole grains and reduced-sodium sauce. It’s one of the most popular days that our students participate with us. We are aware that some students want more vegetarian options and work to meet those requests. Whatever the trends are, we look to see what kids are eating and try to incorporate it. We just make it healthier, and more times than not, it’s extremely successful, and the kids like it. That ‘Cheesy Cheesy Pizza’ on our menu? The crust is made with a specially formulated white whole grain and has low-sodium cheese and pizza sauce. In my district and others, we do a lot of taste tests with students because what adults think is great, sometimes, students don’t think it’s so good. Our taste buds are different. When you offer something that the customers don’t like, you hear about it.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)