Caitlin Lazarski stepped into the role of director of school nutrition here in Pine Bush back on Oct. 10.  One of her first duties was to submit an application to the state, requesting that all students in Pine Bush schools receive breakfast and lunch meals at no cost. The federal government had just lowered the threshold for districts to qualify.  A few days later, that request was approved and starting Nov. 1, the free meal program at Pine Bush began.

 

Welcome to Pine Bush, Caitlin Lazarski!

 

 

Lazarski comes to Pine Bush with true bona fides. She holds a master of science degree  with a major in human nutrition from the University of Delaware, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree in dietetics. Her entire professional career has been dedicated to the good nutrition of students.

“I liked food service, especially for kids,” she said. “I want to teach kids at a young age to love healthy food. We want to impact kids to be healthy for the rest of their lives.”

 

Lobbying for our kids

For the past nine years, Lazarski was the food service director at the Newburgh Enlarged City School District. She is the outgoing president of the New York School Nutrition Association, where she has been an officer for the past three years. On the national level, she is a Professional Development Committee member for the School Nutrition Association.

Lazarski was part of Healthy School Meals for All, a coalition of teachers, food service and other education employees who asked the governor to bring universal school meals back to New York State. That hasn’t happened yet, but many in the school nutrition field are working hard to change that.

“Having every kid eat meals at school for free is a great opportunity,” she said. “It eliminates the stigma and social barriers and enhances the program. We have worked hard to get this done. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the benefits of providing meals to all our students, but it didn’t continue. We let it go away.”

 

A unique opportunity

Lazarski has a tremendous respect for school nutrition employees, noting that during the pandemic everything could be done remotely except for feeding kids. There were definite benefits to being there, in person, she said.

“We got to meet the families when they came to pick up their meals,” said Lazarski. “We even met the family dogs!”

School nutrition employees always have a unique position in the district, she notes.

“School nutrition people see kids year after year. We see them grow up, from one year to the next. We don’t require them to do anything for us,” said Lazarski. “We just feed them every day, multiple times a day. It is really a unique opportunity for us and the impact is huge.”

 

Queen of school breakfast

Lazarski is the self-appointed queen of school breakfast and encourages all students to start the day right. She and her department are working to revitalize the breakfast program.

“To have a healthy meal in the morning is super important,” said Ms. Lazarski. “We are expanding our offerings hoping to bring in more students.”

And they have! New to the morning menu is whole grain banana bread, whole grain muffins, and turkey sausage and pancake on a stick. There are additional offerings for lunch as well and always a different hot lunch daily. Always available are fresh fruit, veggie and salad bar, 100 percent fruit juice and milk.

Pine Bush is thrilled to have Caitlin Lazarski here, bringing the best, nutritious foods to our kids and encouraging them to eat healthy from the start.