School District 57 held its first public meeting of the school year yesterday (Tuesday).
Trustees approved a recommended motion to submit its 2026/27 Food Infrastructure Program request, which would help with creating, improving, or expanding infrastructure to feed students.
Superintendent Jameel Aziz said the program is commonly used in the School District.
“We have students at every single school who partake in breakfast and lunch every single day, some schools more so than others.”
“I know in the June meeting, some information was shared, and I believe it was in the neighbourhood of 600,000 or 700,000 meals that were served through the year to students in our School District.”
The program itself has also been growing year-over-year.
The project requests include:
- Refrigerated vehicles to support the delivery of prepared meals from centralized kitchen
facilities to schools. - The purchase and installation of new or used kitchen equipment (e.g. refrigerators,
freezers, dishwashers, stoves, ovens, etc.) - Electrical, plumbing and ventilation upgrades to accommodate the installation of
commercial kitchen equipment. - Improvements to ensure kitchens meet local health authority requirements.
- Equipment and infrastructure to support traditional food gathering and preparation (e.g.
fishing equipment, smokehouses, non-fur trapping equipment). - Food storage (refrigerated or dry storage).
Aziz said this will allow them to provide more fresh food to students, helping them move away from prepared foods so students can get better overall health and nutrition.
In a submission summary, five schools would be part of the request including Nusdeh Yoh Elementary, Quinson Elementary, McBride Secondary, Buckhorn Elementary, and Vanway Elementary.
The project would cover the supply and install of appliances, ventilation and cabinets for kitchen, and Indigenous Cultural and Educational Material & Supplies Land Based Learning, totalling $102,000.
Costs would fall under the Province, though Aziz noted that any deficiencies would be addressed internally.
The project requests would need to be submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure by October 1st.
The public meeting also covered the first three readings to officially close Giscome Elementary School.
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