Celebrating Our 2025 Get Schools Cooking Graduates

Many school food professionals across the country want to feed their students healthy, nourishing food. Yet, many face numerous obstacles when it comes to cooking breakfast and lunch from scratch. That’s where our unique, hands-on approach and dedicated team of school food experts step in to help.

Seven school districts — from Alaska to Maine — recently completed Get Schools Cooking, our flagship program in which the Chef Ann Foundation team works with them one-on-one to improve their school food operations over the course of three years. 

Collectively, this cohort helped 92 schools across the nation serve more scratch-cooked school meals to approximately 55,000 students. 

Advancing Local & Scratch 

We see the transition to scratch cooking as a gradual continuum, rather than an all-or-nothing approach, to incorporate as many local, fresh foods as possible. 

Beef & Bison

Howard-Suamico has also advanced its local procurement and scratch-cook efforts by sourcing beef from the Oneida Nation and incorporating it into diverse menu offerings, such as local beef tacos, chili, burgers, and more. 

Hardin Public Schools has also prioritized traditional local meats, such as bison sourced in their home state of Montana, which they use in their scratch-made bison mac and cheese (pictured below). Marlo Spreng, Director of School Nutrition at Hardin Public Schools, shares, “In the past three years, we have seen a culture change in our kitchen and cafeterias that we’re very proud of. We’ve worked hard to eliminate as many processed foods as we can, and we’re still working on that,” emphasizing that the journey doesn’t stop here and showcasing that scratch cooking is, in fact, a continuum. 

Salmon

Despite facing procurement challenges as a small, rural district in Alaska, the Dillingham City School District has successfully embraced scratch cooking and local ingredients. 

From weekly salmon recipes, including salmon chowder (pictured above), salmon tacos, and honey-garlic glazed salmon, to scratch-cooked chili with local onions, their menu is versatile and full of flavor. Dillingham also worked with Chef Ann Foundation to add salad bars to the secondary level, further expanding the use of local ingredients and increasing fresh produce consumption and student choice. 

Impacts Beyond the Cafeteria 

Not only have students benefited from healthier meals in the cafeteria, but communities beyond the lunchroom are also seeing what is possible through improved school meals. 

Alexandra Epstein-Solfield, child nutrition director at Ellensburg School District and 2025 School Food Renegade, explains how Get Schools Cooking has profoundly benefited their local Washington community, “We’ve shared this process with our community via our social media pages, district newsletters, and also direct conversations through this process. And they have been extremely excited and invested in what we are trying to do. It tends to be a very bipartisan issue when you talk about fresh, local, high-quality food for kids. Everyone can get on board with that.”  

Back in Vermont this past summer, Gallogly and his team at Windham distributed 3,113 grocery bags, providing 43,582 meals to children and families. Through the Get Schools Cooking program, participants receive a $35,000 Systems Assistance Grant for equipment upgrades and training. Windham used theirs to install new walk-in coolers, keeping more food fresher for longer. Gallogy’s hard work was recognized by the School Nutrition Association of Vermont and Hunger Free Vermont, which presented him with an Innovation for Advocacy Award. 

Gallogy isn’t the only one receiving public praise for his efforts to shift towards healthier, scratch-cooked school meals. Brownsville Independent School District, located at the tip of Texas, was featured in a short fillm, produced by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions for Lexicon of Food’s Unearthing the Future project. The short showcases the district’s journey to scratch cooking. 

Brownsville is the largest school district ever to complete the program, impacting over 37,000 students with healthier school meals. The district’s commitment to upgrading kitchen equipment and sourcing more local produce has already made a noticeable difference in the community. Through the short film, they now have the opportunity to serve as a model for other districts worldwide, demonstrating what is possible.

Continuing the Movement  

Get Schools Cooking has made a nationwide impact, and its influence will only continue to grow. These seven districts demonstrate that scratch cooking really is a continuum, and their journey to healthier meals and communities doesn’t stop here. 

Today, we celebrate their achievements as they join our four other cohorts of program graduates nationwide. — 27 districts in 21 states, collectively serving more scratch-cooked school meals to an estimated 180,000 students — who are radically transforming school meal programs. By serving students food made from scratch, they are nourishing minds and bodies and empowering students to grow, learn, and thrive.

And looking ahead, we’re excited to open up applications in the fall for more districts to join the movement. School food professionals can stay informed on program updates by signing up for the Get Schools Cooking interest list!

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Get Schools Cooking is made possible thanks to the generous support of our partners. Thank you to the Whole Foods Market Foundation, dedicated to improving children’s health and wellness through nutrition, as well as the Waverley Street Foundation and the Rachael Ray Foundation.