Kenneth Oaks, a senior attending South High School, has become quite popular for the crafts he has been creating in Carpentry classes.  Kenneth's teacher, Craig Haynie asked Mrs. Betty Odom, Supervisor of Special Education, to purchase a special lathe for Kenneth.  Once the lathe was installed, Kenneth began turning out wood pens, pocket watches and yo-yo's for students, teachers and friends in the community.  Each item takes 2-4 hours to make.  

Members of the Sullivan North High School Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corp (NJROTC) unit recently participated in the Bloomingdale Ruritan Christmas parade as one of the lead units.     Members of the unit are pleased to help the Ruritan Club and participating in this event is but one small way to recognize the importance of the Ruritan Club.   

Mr. Richard Carroll was honored by the Bloomingdale Ruritan Club as the Bloomingdale Ruritan Parade Grand Marshall.     Mr. Carroll is a long time familiar face in the Bloomindale community where he has served in various capacities in the Sullivan County Department of Education for almost 50 years.   Mr. Carroll or coach as those who know him currently is the principal of Sullivan North High School.  

With flu season upon us, it is important that we work together to keep our children healthy. Viruses spread easily among children in schools, and families with school-age children have more infections than others. By keeping our children flu-free, we benefit the community as a whole. You can help prevent the spread of flu or help your child get better if he/she does get sick by following a few simple steps:

* It is recommended that all persons over 6 months of age receive a flu vaccine

* Remind your child to cover his/her nose and mouth with a tissue when sneezing

or coughing and dispose of the tissue immediately

* Have your child wash his/her hands frequently with soap and warm water for at  

least 20 seconds

* Disinfect frequently-touched surfaces and shared items at least once a day

* Ensure that bathrooms are stocked with soap, hand towels and tissues

* Teach your child not to touch his/her mouth, nose and eyes

* If your child is sick and has a fever, keep him/her at home to prevent the spread

of illness to others.

* If your child has a fever, he/she will not be allowed to attend school

until they are fever free without the use of fever reducing medication for 24 hours.

* If your child has been actively vomiting or has diarrhea, he/she will not be allowed to attend  

school until they have stopped vomiting/diarrhea without the use of medication for 24 hours.

If you are concerned about your child's flu symptoms, call your doctor early. Call your doctor immediately if your child has a chronic disease. Common symptoms of flu include high fever, severe headache, muscle and body aches, exhaustion, and dry cough. Additionally, children often exhibit other flu symptoms that are rare in adults, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some children might benefit from an antiviral medication, which can be prescribed by a physician and can help lessen duration of the virus and reduce the risk of complications, such as pneumonia. To be effective, antiviral medication should be taken within 12-48 hours after flu symptoms begin.

Additionally, as a preventive measure, antiviral medication might be administered to children under a doctor's care to help them avoid catching the flu from others in some special situations. For example:

* Children who have egg allergies and therefore cannot receive flu vaccine

* Children who have been vaccinated, but are at such high risk for serious

complications due to a chronic condition, that extra protection is warranted

* Children who may not have received a vaccine but are exposed to flu

If you have any questions or would like additional information about preventing and treating the flu, please contact your school's nurse, or the School Health Services Supervisor, Alisa Hearl, RN, BSN at ahearl@sullivanhealth.org.

For more information visit:     www.NASN.org    www.flu.gov     www.sullivanhealth.org

As, always, our primary job in Sullivan County School Nutrition is to make sure that our students are well-fed, so they can learn well in school and live healthy lives.  To help us do that, this school year the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the School Meals programs across the country, put in place the most sweeping changes to our regulations in the 65 year history of the program.  Saturated fat and sodium were decreased; whole grains, fruits, and vegetables were increased; calorie maximums per average meal were established; and many, many other changes, large and small, were put in place.  In our district, we've already been doing many of these things for years, but for the first time the new USDA regulations codified what qualifies as good nutrition for our children.

These regulations kicked in all at once, without significant beta testing or a ramp-up period.  We serve over 8,000 meals to our students every school day, so implementing these changes has been challenging, but it's the right thing to do for our kids, and again, our sole job is to feed students well so they can learn well.  We welcome the challenge.  However, we also welcome adjustments to some of the regulations that might prove impractical for menu planners in real-life kitchens.  In that spirit, this month USDA announced the first tweak to the regulations; grain and protein average maximums have been eliminated, so that we have a little more flexibility within the calorie maximums, which have not changed.

The daily and weekly maximums for grains and proteins have led to some fairly strange gyrations to stay under the limit.  For example, a student may have received a bag of whole grain corn chips with their PB & J on Monday, and a cheese stick with 2 packs of crackers with that same PB & J on Tuesday, etc.  We have also had to limit the use of our whole wheat rolls for lunch, to keep from exceeding our weekly maximum!  As you can imagine, menu planning was difficult to manage under these constraints, and, more importantly, doing these gymnastics made it harder to design and serve a meal that made sense on the plate.

I want to emphasize that the only change at this point is the elimination of the maximum allowable servings of grains and proteins, and we have not been told this is a permanent change.  However, for the time being, this will give us the flexibility to serve more popular items, such as the breaded chicken patty sandwich.  This also does not mean we will only be serving grains and proteins - the higher minimums for fruits and vegetables are still in place, as are the calorie maximums.  The bottom line is that eliminating the maximums for grains and protein will help us serve a healthy, balanced meal that kids will eat.  This is exactly the kind of flexibility that makes sense, and we're very happy that USDA is paying attention to how the new regulations work in practice and is tweaking them as necessary.  The new regs were put in place to make sure kids eat well and learn well, and we welcome any fine-tuning, like this, that serves that purpose.

On another note - many of you have noticed that the popular Peanut Butter and Jelly "Jamwich" sandwich is back daily as a second menu choice in the elementary schools.  Students may select the PB & J "Boat", which consists of the "Jamwich", 1 oz. of cheese (string, cheddar, or American) and 2 packs of crackers.  Plus they may choose up to 3 vegetables and 1 fruit, along wih 8 oz. of milk.  This is a very filling meal that the students enjoy, and is a great alternative to packing a lunch when your child doesn't like the main entree.  At $2.00, it is even much cheaper that packing a lunch box!

Lisa, Holt, School Nutrition System-wide Manager