Enroll in DPS
Friday, August 12, 2005
The school nutrition program at Detroit Public Schools under the direction of Kenny Akinwale won the School Nutrition Association’s District of Excellence in Child Nutrition status.
The DPS Food Services Department is the first district in Michigan to receive this award and the second largest district in America to receive it. Additionally, the DPS Food Services Department is only the third urban school district to achieve this recognition.
The District of Excellence honor is given to school districts that score 80 percent or higher in all four categories in the Keys to Excellence program. The high grade demonstrates their knowledge of nutrition and nutrition education, communications and marketing, administration and operations.
The Keys of Excellence is an online evaluation, management, and learning tool. Food service directors use it to rate their programs, compare them to districts nationwide, and discover new and innovative methods to serve nutritious, kid friendly meals with limited budgets during short lunch periods.
The Detroit Public Schools nutrition program not only demonstrated the recipe for success, it has continuously sought ways to meet the community’s needs and challenges. The employees that work with Akinwale work hard to ensure that all of their students are fed healthy meals so that they can perform well throughout the school day.
The Keys to Excellence program was developed by the School Nutrition Association and the Child Nutrition Foundation, with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health and the National Dairy Council.
