VIENNA — The Mathews Board of Education heard updates about the implementation of a new program by the district’s food service management group.

Gabby Garrett, a representative of the Nutrition Group, which is contracted with other school districts across Trumbull County such as LaBrae, Newton Falls and Niles, explained to the board at its regular meeting Thursday that the company is implementing new choices to students on a “slow basis” to not overload the staff.

The update came after board President Mark Haddle said there was discussion that it didn’t seem the district’s menus had changed much.

“A lot of things that are different, so the biggest change would be moving menu items that look the same but we’re moving towards our recipes, which incorporate fresher ingredients, different ingredients, which we can get from our Reinhart provider,” Garrett said. “So it’s a little bit better quality of a product.”

Garrett said that for items such as the mac and cheese and seasoned carrots combination served Jan. 8, which Haddle had pointed out as a weird combination, it was a matter of hitting certain vegetable sub-groups that had to be eaten “every single week.”

“We have to have each one of those vegetables menued as the main vegetable once every single week; so we do our best to pair them as best we can with an appropriate entree,” Garrett said. “Sometimes it might not be the best pairing, but we will certainly look over that to see if we can adjust the vegetable pairing.”

Garrett said the Nutrition Group tried implementing new things, such as Korean dumplings and fried rice, and praised the staff for offering hoagies and additional salads in addition to the normal soup or salad the company provides.

She said they’d like to make the homemade pizza available every day, which they’re in the process of doing. It’s been a slow process getting everyone on the staff on board, however, as they’ve had “a little bit of pushback,” she said.

“Change can be hard, and trying to implement new things, so we’ve been trying to do it gradually,” Garrett said, acknowledging board member Kenneth Wallace’s feelings that they should be past that point in their first full year with the school.

Board member Beth Haddle expressed concerns over food waste, pointing out that she noticed food items such as fruit snacks, Cheez-Its, and applesauce being thrown away. She asked Garrett how that was being monitored, as it’s a cost, too.

Garrett said the Nutrition Group plans to do a better deep dive into its production records to see what gets served in a day and place orders accordingly.

In other business, the board:

• Established a board service fund and appropriated $4,500 to it for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

• Approved transferring $25,000 from the general fund to the athletic fund.

• Approved hiring Jailynne Cronin as an educational aide for the Mathews Elementary Library at a rate of $13.99 per hour on an as-needed / substitute basis from Jan. 17, 2025, to Jan. 31, 2025.

• Approved Cronin as a full-time educational aide for the library at a rate of $13.99 per hour effective Feb. 3, 2025.