Great circus acts may look effortless, but it’s the work behind the scenes and before the crowds ever arrive that make it work. When it’s showtime, the audience isn’t thinking about the months of rigging, timing, and practice that went into a flawless show. That’s where we’re putting our focus for National School Lunch Week 2026.
We’re loving this year’s Cafeteria Circus theme. While it’s all about the moment kids get their meal or snack, it’s the work behind the scenes that makes it happen.
Staff training, ordering, menu planning, and reporting are all crucial to feeding kids the nutritious meals they deserve. While those parts of the job don’t always get the spotlight, we know that K-12 nutrition leaders show incredible creativity, teamwork, and dedication behind the scenes every day. It’s time to pull the curtain back to show a few examples of going above and beyond to make sure kids are fed and ready to learn, grow, and thrive every day.
Nebo School District, Utah: Fueling faster cafeteria lines
The best acts run on timing, and a lunch line is no different. With 44K students across 47 kitchens, a slow line costs kids the most important ingredient in a delicious school meal: time to eat it. Child Nutrition Coordinator Ryan Kay and his team choreographed every detail to relieve pressure points and keep lines moving at every elementary, middle, and high school. Adding POS stations was part of the plan, and they got creative by cross-training their staff to make sure those stations stay open. At the elementary cafeterias, on-screen photo IDs help them get hundreds of new kindergartners through the line, even if they haven’t memorized their account numbers.
They also invited principals to watch service in person, then worked together to stagger class release times by a minute or two. With less chaos at the counter, kids can read the menu board and decide what they want. Wait times are down to around eight minutes, and high school participation has climbed every year since they started streamlining service.
Ryan puts the goal in plain terms: “Good service, good food, and quick, so you can sit down and visit. That’s exactly what we want for our students every single day.”
Get Ryan’s tactics for faster cafeteria lines at every grade level.
Mesa Public Schools, Arizona: Feeding more kids and cutting food waste
Mesa is Arizona’s largest district, with more than 56,000 students across 76 schools, and it serves up to 44,500 meals a day. At one high school, more than 1,600 students get their meals in just 40 minutes, with 13 POS stations keeping the lines moving. That’s a lot to juggle, but the district’s nutrition team has it handled.
They put in the effort where kids notice: menus built around what students like to eat and enough time built into lunch service to eat them. Creative ideas like Vote for School Lunch give kids a stake in what’s on the menu. Expanding access with the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) at dozens of schools helped the district drive a 7% annual increase in participation, even as enrollment declined slightly.
A showstopping result of giving kids more time to eat is less food going in the trash. With less time in line, kids get to enjoy their food and chat with friends for a truly refreshing lunch time experience. Plus, with 120 student employees working alongside 500 nutrition professionals across the district, Mesa is helping give the next generation a start in foodservice excellence.
Learn how the Mesa team boosts school lunch participation at Mesa Public Schools.
Minerva, Brown, and Tuscarawas Local Schools, Ohio: Sourcing the star attraction from the county fair
Every good show has a headliner. In these three Northeast Ohio districts, it’s the locally produced menu offerings. Food Service Director Stacey Bettis spent years behind the scenes building her program around local pride. Now she’s serving up meats and produce grown in the region and giving kids their first chance to visit a working farm.
She sources local food, plans hands-on farm-to-school activities, and puts nutritious favorites front and center on the menu. Her districts were the first in Ohio to buy beef at the county fair from 4-H students, and she’s kept at it for three years. That fresh beef shows up in the spaghetti sauce, taco meat, and burgers kids can’t get enough of.
Photo-filled online menus help families see what’s coming and which items are local. “We’re the first district in Ohio to procure beef from the local county fair,” Stacey says. Kids and parents look at the menus online together, which can spark conversations about where the food was raised or grown and boost excitement to try something new.
Find out how grant money helped Stacy secure funding for her home-grown initiative.
St. Vrain Valley School District, Colorado: Making sure everyone lands in the net, every day
Every high-flying act needs a safety net, and in a school district, that means making sure no kid misses the meal benefits they’re entitled to. St. Vrain Valley School District covers 411 square miles, from the Colorado plains to the Continental Divide. A lost paper meal application could mean some families would have to make a long drive just to get a new form and claim their benefits. Now, they can find their eligibility letter and the meal application any time, day or night, in the LINQ Connect app.
Director of Nutrition Katie Cossette says digital access means all the difference for her school community. After all, more access means she can feed more kids who depend on a school meal to start their day and keep them fueled through the afternoon.
Hear the strategy behind Katie’s mission to feed more kids across her district.
Katie sums up the feeling of everyone we hear from in school nutrition: “Always remember your why … remember that you’re doing it for the kids.” To everyone in this career that takes all the skill of a tightrope walker, the energy of a trapeze artist, and the heart of a lion, we salute you this National School Lunch Week and thank you for all that you do.
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