TASTY TOURUSDA Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton, along with state and local officials, will tour Dalton High School and North Whitfield Middle School Tuesday from 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., including a lunch stop to eat with the middle school students.
After eight North Georgia school systems teamed up a few years ago to improve student nutrition, they netted a USDA "Best Practices" award in 2007.
On Tuesday, the department's Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton will check out student meals at Dalton High School and North Whitfield Middle School as part of National Nutrition Month and learn how North Georgia's "Pyramid Partners" deliver healthy meals to students, according to a news release.
Whitfield County Schools food services director Iris Graham said Friday that Pyramid Partner representatives from all eight systems will join the tour.
The Pyramid Partners include school districts in Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Walker, Murray and Whitfield counties, and city systems in Dalton and Chickamauga.
"We feel like that this is going to be the menu option for schools across the nation, eventually," Ms. Graham said of the Pyramid Partners' healthy fare. "We think that what we've been doing for the last four years has definitely on track. We feel cutting edge."
The deputy under secretary will talk with the Pyramid Partners to "learn more about how they were able to improve the nutritional environment for more than 50,000 students," according to the news.
At Dalton High, Ms. Thornton will review the schools' unique lunch delivery systems, and she will eat lunch with the students at North Whitfield Middle to see that school's delivery of healthy meals.