School Meals & Food Education Working Group

Seattle School Meals & Food Education Working Group (Working Group), is a diverse, multi-sectoral group formed in 2022 with the shared goals of supporting high-quality school meals, food and garden education for students who attend Seattle Public Schools (SPS). 

About the Working Group

OSE worked with SPS Culinary Services and community partners to co-convene the Seattle School Meals & Food Education Working Group (Working Group) in 2022 to help guide existing and new efforts aimed at increasing equitable access to high-quality school meals, school gardens, and food education across Seattle Public Schools. 
 
The Working Group is a collaborative effort between SPS, City of Seattle, King County, and community-based organizations that are led by and/or serve Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) and serve Seattle students. The Working Group also consulted with student food system leaders at SPS, in coordination with youth organizations. 

2022-23 Report & Priority Action Recommendations 

The Working Group used a collaborative planning process that included learning about key issue areas and identifying strategic actions, aligned with the priorities of youth leadership, that would continue improving school meals, school gardens, and food education in Seattle schools. The Working Group has developed a report and the following three recommended Priority Actions: 

1. Provide more high-quality school meals, developed with student input, by increasing staff capacity at Seattle Public Schools Culinary Services. 
2. Make school food free for all students by pursuing districtwide universal meal policies.
3. Integrate more food and garden education districtwide by advocating for policy change and creating a district-level School Garden Coordinator position. 

The report also summarizes current efforts and celebrates recent progress that SPS staff and partners have made on these issues.  

Through 2024, Working Group participants have collaborated on next steps to advance the three Priority Actions. 

What are “high-quality school meals”? 

Students, the broader school community, and SPS Culinary Services staff have defined high-quality school meals as freshly prepared “from scratch,” delicious, culturally relevant, using local ingredients produced with environmentally sustainable practices, and supporting an equitable food system by purchasing ingredients from underrepresented farmers and food producers.