MCS Profile

Manhattan Country School
7 East 96th Street
New York, NY 10128
(212) 348-0952

www.manhattancountryschool.org

Superintendent
Michele Sola, Head of School

Number of Schools
1

Number of Students
190

Food Service Director
Ana Dominguez

Food Service Contractor or Self-Operational?
Self-Operational

Partner Agencies, if any
None

Number of Students served each day

  • 190 students and 45 staff lunches.
  • 190 morning snacks.
  • 35 after-school snacks.
  • No breakfast program.

Percentage Free and Reduced Meals
While MCS does not participate in the National School Lunch Program because the value of the time needed to complete the forms would exceed the value of the funds received through participation, 40% of the student body would be eligible for free lunch.

Participation Rate (among all students)
100%. All students attending Manhattan Country School are required to eat the lunch provided by the school Monday through Thursday. Students bring a bag lunch from home on Fridays.

Price per Lunch
Lunch is fully subsidized through tuition payments.

Price of other meals/snacks $2.85 per day for lunch, morning snacks and after-school snacks.

Percent Food Cost
30%*

Percent Payroll Cost
70%*
*Note: Separate costs for overhead are not calculated

School Food Mission Statement
Manhattan Country School has a public mission to provide equal opportunity and equal access to students of a pluralistic society. Our objective is insure that achievement, power and influence are self-earned rather than a legacy of privilege, and that they do not come at the expense of others. Applying this philosophy to the way in which we teach our children about food and agriculture is a critical aspect of our education process.

Percentage of lunch allotment to which school utilizes seasonal, local, natural and organic products
Manhattan Country schools utilizes fresh, local and organic ingredients to the greatest extent possible. All the food grown and raised on our farm is organic and served to our students during their visits there. Food served on our city campus is free of hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup, and our beef is provided by our farm.

Sample Menu for lunch/breakfast/snacks

  • Lunch: Arroz con Pollo, Fresh Green Beans, Fresh Pears, & Low-Fat Organic Valley Milk
  • Snack: 100% Apple Juice, Celery Sticks w/ Low-Fat Cream Cheese & Raisins

Description of Current Food Service Operation (Choice/Family style/cafeteria style)
Food is served family style by the students themselves. Each student is assigned a daily task. Some students set the table with real plates, glasses and stainless flatware. Others go to the kitchen to pick up the food on a cart and bring it to each of the round tables at which the students eat in groups of 4 to 6. Others serve the food and pour the milk, and still others are responsible for clearing the tables and sweeping the floor.

Is the food service part of a centralized food distribution program or made in school itself?
These same procedures are followed during the students’ visits to the farm, with the added step that the students themselves help cook the meals, which consist primarily of food that the students have planted, raised and harvested themselves.

Description of School Gardens, if any
MCS, an inner-city school, owns a 170 acre farms in the Catskills Mountains. Between the ages of 8 and 14, each MCS student spends a total of 17 weeks living on the farm learning to plant, grow, harvest and cook food, as well as how to tend to farm animals.

Description of Classroom Curricula related to food
Curriculum in the early childhood classrooms centers on community: how one works, the responsibilities of members within a community, and the interdependence of individuals who make up the whole. Trips to local markets of multiple types (e.g., green markets, bodegas and other ethnic markets, and super markets) are planned throughout the year. Cooking and sharing food, exchanging recipes, and learning to appreciate new tastes involve students and their parents as “guest chefs.” Students begin growing food items in their classrooms at the age of 5 (herbs, legumes) and continue at the MCS Farm when they reach the age of 7 (greenhouse, kitchen garden, big garden with raised beds, pumpkin patches and corn fields). The science teacher, Spanish teacher, and classroom teachers all collaborate on these curricula. Lunch is served to and by all students by integrating it into the jobs program in each classroom. Once students reach the 5th grade, they not only take 3 seasonal farm trips, but also volunteer as assistants in the kitchen on a rotating basis. To graduate, students work together in small groups at the farm to prepare an entire meal for their classmates.

Description of Recycling and Composting Programs
The school recycles paper, metal, and plastic. The metal and plastic recycling is a class job for 8-9 year olds. Metal cups will soon replace paper cups for water consumption – again a project initiated by the 8-9 year olds. Composting is a project that takes place in the 5-6 year olds’ classroom, and provides food for pigs and garden compost at the farm.

10 Most Significant Improvements Made in the Last 24 Months to serve healthy food.

  1. Eliminated transfats
  2. Eliminated High Fructose Corn Syrup
  3. Eliminated MSG
  4. Switched from conventional whole milk to nonfat organic milk
  5. Replaced sugar-laden snacks with more fruits and vegetables
  6. Switched to high protein pasta (Barilla Pasta Plus)
  7. Began serving fresh (rather than frozen or canned) vegetables daily
  8. Switched from white to whole grain breads
  9. Began serving more salads with lunch
  10. Hosted a Healthy School Food seminar for parents

What is something we didn't ask you about your program that you are dying to tell someone?
The 170-acre Manhattan Country School Farm provides a unique experience for inner city students from all economic backgrounds.  MCS does more than teach about sustainability. Its program requires that students actually live sustainably for one full week each season, for a total of 17 weeks over six years of elementary school. The program exposes young people to the cycles of nature and engages them with food growing and production.  While on the farm, their daily activities include gardening without pesticides or herbicides, studying the weather’s impact on farming, gathering eggs, milking the cows, cooking with predominantly local or self-produced ingredients, composting, and even producing maple syrup from the sap bush. The graduating class researches the complexities of a local environmental issue (e.g., cell phone tower construction; small-scale agriculture including bison, garlic, and arugula; golf course construction impact on water resources, etc.). At the MCS Farm students are encouraged to taste familiar and unfamiliar foods, and to cook communally with their peers, thereby enriching their experiences during the remaining of the year in their New York City classrooms where cultural and racial diversity is routine. Enthusiasm for tasting all kinds of healthy new foods, and a passion for considering the consequences of change on nature, is a hallmark of an MCS graduate.