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Azucena Rubio’s kids often complained about meals in their Jeffco schools.
Her elementary school daughter said the food was cold, sometimes frozen, and had no flavor. She often skipped lunch. Her son, now 16, left campus to buy snacks for lunch from the local gas station and was often late coming back to class.
So when she heard that the district was working with a group of parents on improving school meals, she joined in.
For the past two years, more than two dozen parents and district staff worked to think up new meals that might be healthier, and culturally responsive for the largely Latino population in Jeffco’s Edgewater schools on the western boundary near Denver.
This fall, the district has started serving 15 new recipes at three Edgewater schools, including some submitted by parents. Rubio, for instance, submitted a recipe for enchiladas and one for fried rice, which she got out of a nutrition book she uses in a health class she teaches.