Food, Glorious Food

Dear Families,

When we introduced Family Style lunch a number of years ago, our goal was to make sure that the cafeteria was  a place where the same values and expectations that define our classroom communities could also be practiced. The value that comes from sharing a meal with others is one that is important to all cultures and groups and is one that we wanted to reinforce during our common meal times. With Family Style lunch, we discovered the need for  some new expectations and responsibilities, which continue to be the substance of important community conversation. Family Style lunch is an evolving endeavor, but the effort has been worth it.

Conversations about how to enjoy a meal with others also invite conversations about the respect due to those who prepare the meals and maintain the cafeteria space. They also encourage us to think about where our food comes from and the implications that follow when food is wasted.  To this end, our fifth graders have been investigating how much food we actually waste as a result of a question put to them by Director Phil Kassen. This is authentic work and they understand that their findings and recommendations may play an important role is influencing decisions that get made. So fifth graders have been collecting and measuring the solid and liquid waste produced during lower and middle school lunch sessions. With their science teacher Sherezada Acosta, they will analyze this data to better understand our waste patterns and then they will make specific recommendations about how we can reduce the amount of waste and if there are environmentally friendly ways to manage the waste that we do produce. I look forward to reading the results of this work, which we will be sure to share with you.

So with lunch on our mind, I’ll let Director Phil Kassen have the last word with some additional information about lunch at LREI.

Dear Families,

The other day I bumped into an alumni parent. We talked about his son and the changes at LREI in the years since his graduation. We also spoke of how the Village has changed in recent years.  He asked if there were any good new places for lunch.  While I could tell him where each of his son’s classmates had ended up, I had no idea of neighborhood places for lunch as I eat in the same place, my favorite place, every day—LREI’s cafeteria.

Each day, in our two cafeterias, we provide a hot entrée, a vegetarian alternative, a homemade soup, a sandwich of the day and a variety of choices of salads and sandwich fixings at our salad bar.  Add yogurt, fresh bread and a variety of beverages and you have the makings of a healthy, delicious lunch.  Each day at lunchtime, early childhood students enjoy a selection of these choices in their classrooms.

As you may know, LREI contracts with Cater to You, a full service food service and catering company, to prepare lunch for over 700 people per day.  In addition to lunch, our dedicated kitchen crew, led by head chef Jorge Lema, provides breakfast for LREI’s employees, daily snack in all three divisions and for Afterschool and often prepares food for evening events.

For over ten years, LREI has had a very productive and collegial partnership with Cater To You (CTY.)  A few years ago in a conversation with Anthony Trentacosti, founder and owner of CTY, we decided that he would try to find a source for local New York State apples rather than buying Washington State apples.  This brief conversation about the quality and source of our provisions led to a variety of changes. These include:

  • The elimination of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup from virtually all menu items.
  • Meals are prepared with the ingredients from traceable and reputable partners
  • The elimination of prepared, frozen entrees.
  • The use of many local produce items including apples, pears, carrots, onions, cider and many other seasonal fruits and vegetables.
  • The purchase of local free range, antibiotic and hormone free, locally sourced eggs from Featherstone Farms and Knoll Crest Farms
  • Beef from Creekstone Farms
    • Antibiotic & hormone free beef
    • No growth promoting drugs
    • No artificial ingredients
    • 100% vegetarian diet
    • Sourced verified to ranch of birth
    • Humane animal handling practices
  • Chicken products are purchased from Bell & Evans Poultry
    • Antibiotic & hormone free poultry
    • Air- chilled
    • Fed an all-natural diet
    • Hydrogenated oil free
    • Hexane gas free
  • Milk, in the cafeteria and the early childhood classrooms is from Ronnybrook Farms Milk – closed herd, grass fed, free range cows
    • Grass Fed
    • Antibiotic – hormone free
    • Local NY State dairy
    • Low temp pasteurized
    • Not homogenized
  • Fish for entrees is purchased from Litchfield Farms Organic & Natural Seafood:
    • Seafood that is sustainable, traceable, healthy and always fresh
    • A small company that values and treats our customers as partners and friends.
    • Litchfield Farms Organic & Natural is the leader in a new “cultural sustainability” movement. Their products reflect the best practices in sustainable seafood, and recognize and supports local producers and communities. Think Slow Food meets fish!
  • BARE – paper products
    • BARE is eco-friendly: renewable plates, compostable plates, recyclable cups and compostable cups.
    • Plant-based renewable materials.
    • Bare plates contain renewable resources
    • Bare plates are made with post consumer recycled material

Other sources for provisions noted above, include:

  • Source Local Produce : Glebocki Farms
  • Partnership with Basis Foods – Sourcing local produce items from the Tri-State Area
  • Partnership with Regional Access- Sourcing New York State Produce and Dry Goods
  • Serving Stonyfield Organic Yogurt
  • Snack Items provided by United Natural Foods- NY State Premier Natural Item Distributor
  • Bread and rolls served in the cafeterias are from Rose & Joe’s, a local, family owned bakery in Queens.
  • Sausage – Chicken and Pork from Faiccos on Bleecker Street

Other products and procedures of note:

  • Eliminating canned foods – except canned tomatoes
  • Soups made with vegetable based stocks
  • Salad dressings are made in our kitchen.  The balsamic vinaigrette is amazing!
  • Jorge’s ever popular hot sauce is homemade
  • Eliminating Frozen Vegetables to stay within our seasonal based menus.
  • All natural and organic snacks – distributed through the largest distributers of natural foods in the U.S. – United Natural Foods

Sincerely,
Phil

Of General Interest . . .

1) Afterschool Reminder: Open Class Week for Enrichment Classes will take place Monday, November 15th through Friday, November 19th. This is an opportunity for a parent, or special grown-up to come and observe their child/children during their Enrichment classes. Classes will meet on their regular day and time. All classes will meet at their usual locations, with the exception of Basketball which will take place at the E.I. Gym at the High School. All locations are listed on the Afterschool bulletin board next to the Afterschool Office. Please contact the Afterschool office with any questions at (212) 477-5316, ext. 239.

2) Thanksgiving Break: School closes for Thanksgiving at 12 pm on Wednesday, November 24th. School reopens Monday, 11/29.

3) Applications for 2011-2012 Tuition Remission — Please be on the look-out for an e-mail from Michel de Konkoly Thege, Associate Director, which was transmitted on October 26, 2010 and contains information about applying for tuition remission for the 2011-2012 school year. This year for the first time we are communicating with families that receive tuition remission by e-mail only and are urging these families to use the online option for completing the necessary forms. If you received tuition remission in the current school year and did not get this e-mail, a copy may be accessed by clicking here. Please note that the online system for filing tuition remission materials will now open on November 8, not November 1 as stated in the attached e-mail.

4) LREI SPIRIT CLUB! Grab a friend and come out to cheer for our Varsity Girls Basketball Team in their first home game of the season on Monday, November 22nd, at 4:00PM. Start getting into the spirit with the following fun activities at 3:00PM at the Thompson Street Athletic Center:

  • Make your own noisemakers, pom-poms, flags and more!
  • Face painting and Knights tattoos too!

All are welcome to join the fun, but fifth and sixth graders must be accompanied by a caregiver or parent. All home games and activities are held in the gym at 145 Thompson Street. Please see attached flyer for upcoming Spirit Club dates. GO LREI KNIGHTS!

5) The Literary Committee invites you to its annual Literary Evening on Tuesday, December 7, 7-9:30 PM, at the Charlton St. PAC. This year’s evening, entitled Prime Cuts, will feature writers who focus on food (and drink!) in their work: Josh Kilmer-Purcell (The Bucolic Plague), Garrett Oliver (The Brewmaster’s Table), Monique Truong (The Book of Salt), Brett Martin (Top Chef: The Cookbook), and Zarela Martinez (Food from My Heart). Our MC is Daphne Rubin-Vega. Please join us for an appetizing evening. Tickets will go on sale after Thanksgiving; click here for more information.

6) Community Service Committee: “Dollar for Thanks” action to help local soup kitchens bring Thanksgiving dinner to people in need. Look for the big roasting pan piggy bank Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday November 22nd, 23rd and 24th at drop off in Sixth Ave. lobby, and, as always, use the action as a learning opportunity for your children. Happy Thanksgiving!

7) ISDN Boys of Color event, for 4th, 5th & 6th graders and their Parents: co-sponsored by St. Bernard’s School, to be held on FRIDAY, Nov. 19th, 6 to 8pm at St. Bernard’s School (4 East 98 St., bet. 5th & Madison). Join us to:

  • Play team building sports games, under the direction of a coach and have fun.
  • Make new friends and relationships.
  • Enjoy light refreshments for adults and dinner for students.
  • Parent topic: “Staying Within The Box”: How do we retain our cultural integrity in an independent school?

RSVP to Wendy Van Amson – wvanamson@gmail.com by 11/12/10. Click here to view and print a flyer with more information.

8) Click here to access the most current “At a Glance” calendar for the 2010-2011 school year.

9) For additional school news, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

10) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA – http://www.parentsinaction.org/). NYC-PIA provides parenting education, information and a communications network to help parents prepare their children and teenagers to cope with social pressures and to make sound choices towards a future free of alcohol and drug abuse. Click here to view upcoming events and/or to download their calendar.

For All Grades . . .

1) Click here to read the minutes from this week’s Midlde School Parent Rep Meeting.

2) Thanksgiving Food Drive: LREI has a longstanding relationship with the St. John’s Food Pantry, which provides bags of groceries to over 700 hungry people each week.  At some point during the year, each middle school student with her/his advisory will travel to the pantry to help with preparing goods for distribution and distributing goods to pantry clients. In this spirit, all middle  school students are asked to bring at least one canned and boxed goods in to school by Wednesday, November 24.  All items will be donated to the pantry.  For a list of requested food, please click here.

3) Photo Re-take Day: Re-take day for students who were absent on photo day will be Monday, December 6th. Photos will be taken inside. If you received your photo day proofs, you may order prints in one of two ways: using the envelope that will be sent home or ordering online. To order proofs via mail, using the ordering envelope that came with your proofs. To view/order pictures online, go to www.martyhyman.com. The web password that you will be asked to enter is a combination of letters and numbers that is listed on the ordering envelope both in the top right (below the student’s name) and in the bottom left corner just above the bar code. Click “login.”

4) BOOK WEEK is just around the corner! Authors and illustrators will be visiting all LREI grades week of December 6th. Authors slated to visit middle school classes include:

The Book Fair runs through Friday, December 11 at 6 PM in the 6th Avenue Auditorium. Please click here to fill out a Pre-Authorized Purchase Form, for your child to pick out books at the fair!

For Eighth Grade Families . . .

1) Looking ahead to the spring, click here to access the registration form for the spring Gettysburg/DC trip that will take place next May. I’m sending you this information now so that you can spread out payments over a longer period of time. If you register online, please use the following trip ID#: 55757. If you have specific questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you have not done so already, please register ASAP.

2) A reminder that completed Irwin Scholar applications are due on Monday, November 15, 2010, and are to be emailed to High School principal Ruth Jurgenson at rjurgensen@lrei.org. Click here to access the application.

3) Click here to read librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan’s post about this week’s trip to the Schomberg Center of the New York Public Library to participate in the National Book Award Teen Press conference.

image001For Eighth and Seventh Grade Families . . .

1) As part of the performing arts elective program, students will travel to NYU on Friday, November 19th, to view a dance performance. Students should bring a bag lunch (no nuts, seeds, or glass bottles) on that day.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .

1) A reminder that the Seventh Grade DISC Dance is this Friday, November 19th from 7:00-9:00PM at the Charlton Street PAC. Next week, you child will receive a permission form. If you have not done so already, completed permission forms and the $5 admission fee must be returned tomorrow.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .

1) On Friday, January 7th, the sixth grade will travel to the Met to view the Arms and Armor collection. trip. Students should bring a bag lunch (no nuts, seeds, or glass bottles) on that day.

For Fifth and Sixth Grade Families . . .

1) The LREI Intramural Basketball season is almost here. The first practice for all interested players will be held on Tuesday, November 30th , from 7:00-8:00AM at the Thompson Street Athletic Center. This practice will be followed by a second open practice on Thursday, December 9th, also at 7:00AM at Thompson Street. Coaches will use these practices to select players for each team. Students are welcome to attend both practices, but it is important that they attend at least one. Regular team practices will start on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 14th-16th. Students will be informed as to which morning practice is for their team. Players attend one morning practice each week. The full practice and game schedule will be forthcoming. Players should bring a completed permission slip to either the November 30th or December 9th practice. If there are certain morning practice days that your child cannot attend, please indicate this on the form so that your child can be placed on a team whose practice schedule works for your family. Forms can be downloaded from the Athletics section of the LREI website. All games will take place on Friday afternoons.

============= For additional information, follow these links: =============

A reminder that the individual homework blog and the “feeds” for every class can be accessed from the Digital Classroom link on the sidebar (you may want to bookmark this page for easy access). These feeds provide an easy “one-click” solution to find out what has been assigned for homework. Keep in mind that a feed will only show what has been posted as of the time you check it.

Don’t forget to check the LREI website for updates and other interesting school-related information.

Be well,
Mark

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