In the 2018 School Nutrition Operations Report, 56.5% of districts surveyed offered or planned to serve vegetarian meal options. For many districts, this might include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or meatless pizza. While this may be simple and familiar, there is an opportunity to incorporate more vegetarian meals that meet student's ever-changing taste preferences and provide a wider variety of nutritional value.

Afterschool Nutrition Programs help millions of low-income students across the country get access to healthy meals they might not otherwise receive outside of school. When districts offer an afterschool nutrition program (ANP), eligible students are able to receive a snack or meal on a weeknight, weekend, and school holiday.

In 2017, more than 46,000 districts participated in ANPs offered through both the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Together, these programs served over 1.07 million children and participation has continued to grow year over year. 

In the wake of recent cybersecurity hacks, districts across the country are on high alert and looking for ways to make sure they don't become the next victim of a cyberattack. In a 2018 study conducted by EdTech, school districts were found to be one of the least secure of the 17 industries surveyed, due in part to a lack of funding allocated to cybersecurity. This has lead to weaker security protections making schools more likely to be targeted by hackers.

There are many different types of cybersecurity threats, but one of the most common is called ransomware. This is when hackers gain unauthorized access to the data on your computer and demand money in order to regain access to it. These threats expose sensitive information of those in your school community, disrupt school operations, and have high recovery costs. This heightens the importance of reviewing internal and external security measures to keep your student and staff information safe.

Over the last 23 years, Greenville County Schools in South Carolina has hosted their annual Greenville County Schools (GCS) Scholarship Tournament. The event brings in hundreds of participants to raise scholarship money for high school seniors. Since its inception, the tournament has raised over $550,000 in scholarship funds to help over 4,000 graduating seniors. In the last few years the tournament has partnered with MySchoolBucks to help collect registrations and payments online.  

For the past 73 years, school nutrition professionals have gathered at the School Nutrition Association's Annual National Conference to learn about and discuss the latest trends shaping the future of our industry. Last week, thousands of nutrition professionals, industry members, and allied organization representatives gathered in St. Louis where the theme "Turning ME into WE at ANC" was the main focus of the event. When food service leaders have access to the resources they need to provide students with healthy and nutritious meals, WE all succeed.

School technology continues to evolve to support the operational needs of K12. Student Information Systems (SIS) have revolutionized how school administrators, teachers and parents maintain and access student records. Data such as demographics, student enrollment, class schedules, and grades are electronically and securely managed within a student information database. Now that most - if not all K12 districts use a SIS, other school systems have built integrations to streamline these processes even further. Here are 5 key platforms to consider integrating with your SIS: 

The School Nutrition Association's 73rd Annual National Conference is quickly approaching! Between July 14-16, over 800 exhibitors (including us!) and 3,500 decision-makers will gather in St. Louis for our industry's largest conference of the year. Discuss trends, exchange ideas, and collaborate with your peers and colleagues. We're sure there will be plenty to keep you busy at this years event!

For the past two years, MySchoolBucks and Heartland School Solutions has provided Growth Grants to school nutrition programs across the country. To date, we have awarded over $100,000 to districts who use MySchoolBucks and helped over 130 food service departments promote their nutrition programs in fun and creative ways, using funds they might not otherwise have access to. In addition to offering our food service Growth Grant program for the 2019-20 school year, we are excited to offer for the first time Growth Grants for before & aftercare programs! 

Every day across the United States, approximately 500 million plastic straws make their way into landfills. That's enough used plastic straws to circle the earth 2.5 times or fill 46,400 school buses. Scientists estimate that it can take hundreds of years for a single plastic straw to decompose. With that in mind, many schools and student-led organizations across the country are looking to reduce or eliminate plastic straws on campus and in their communities.

Schools across the country are using classroom management apps to enhance the education of students and help teachers improve their lesson plans. These apps help teachers better manage grades, student attendance, seating charts, parent communication, and more.