By Evyn Appel, NFSN Policy Intern

With federal cuts putting the future of school meals at risk, stories from the farm to the lunch line remind us what’s at stake. In 2022, National Farm to School Network and our partner organizations launched the “Who’s at the Table” campaign to raise awareness about the importance of values-aligned school meals for all policies (also referred to as universal meals). This interview series features the stories of real individuals who play a role getting food from the farm to school cafeterias. We looked into the lives of people who identify as a policymaker, principal, school nutrition supervisor, teacher, parent, student, and food producer from states with universal meals policies or states with strong coalitions still advocating for a policy. Marie’s story underscores what we hear again and again: when every child has access to healthy, nourishing meals, schools and communities thrive.

Marie Johnson

Marie is the Student Nutrition Program Supervisor at Farmington Municipal Schools in New Mexico, which enacted the Healthy Universal School Meals Act (S.B.4) in 2023. This bill is holistic in scope, also focusing on meal quality, as Marie shares below. For the past 30 years, Marie has seen many changes in her profession. She has been at the forefront of cafeteria operations, feeding students so they can thrive.

Q: Thinking back to getting started in child nutrition, what motivated and inspired you to go into this line of work?

Marie: Well, I started out when I was in college. I wound up in hospitality management and that is what my degree is in. However, once I graduated and started working, I decided very quickly this was not for me, and then I backed into school nutrition. I came in an administrative position. From there I observed a lot of things that were transitioning or happening within the operations there and I said, “That's what I want to do.” I started out as what they call the Technical Assistant. I did a lot of the [meal] applications and income verification.  But quickly, I said, “I want to really be a part of the operations: things that happen in the kitchen and working with kids,” and after a year one of the area supervisors resigned, and I was able to jump over into that position and haven't looked back since.

Q: What would you say is your favorite part of your job?

Marie: Feeding kids, [and] knowing that if we do our job and do it right, we are helping kids make great life decisions regarding food. If we do what we should be doing, we’re helping them to become well-rounded, have sophisticated palates and make healthy choices lifelong.

Q: Thinking about your background working so closely with meal applications, to now working under a universal meals policy, how have you seen the environment change for students and families?

Marie: The application wasn't necessarily complicated, but there was just the stigma that the application brought with it. When you work in diverse communities, some parents would think that the application was connected to immigration, and it could cause a problem there. It was just really hard to get parents to fill the form and they would have many different reasons. I'm glad that that's no longer a requirement. However, it could be. I don't know right now with the current administration. We don't really know where things are going to go. Our hope is that we are not thrown backwards.

‍Q: Has this policy allowed your school to do more scratch cooking or farm to school activities? 

Marie: For us, I would say it has. Here in New Mexico, our universal meal program has four pillars or requirements that a district that participates in the program must do. You must do scratch cooking. You must purchase locally grown products, and that's fruits, veggies, culturally relevant foods. You must have nutrition education and reduce food waste. So all of these things are required if you are going to be participating in healthy universal meals, which is really necessary for any school district, I would say. Learning how to incorporate those elements into your program has been essential and we're getting it done. We were doing a lot of it before we were even fortunate to have universal, healthy school meals. We're just being able to elevate more and highlight, and really emphasize our work now that this is required, and now we have more buy-in district-wide.

Q: What have been the biggest impacts or changes to the school, community, and students as a result of S.B. 4, New Mexico’s universal meals policy?

Marie: The biggest impact or the biggest appreciation would be the fact that every student, irregardless of meal status has the opportunity to receive meals, all they have to do is come into the cafeteria. That has been one of the things that I hear is wonderful all over the district… We're starting to see more and more kids want what we're serving versus what they're eating brought from home. And that's been great. We have noticed meal participation is increasing. We're primarily back to those days where the numbers are compatible with when we were feeding during COVID. So there is a need, of course, with the cost of food skyrocketing, the meal program is being utilized quite a bit.

From teachers, I've heard children who have full bellies can learn. And so for them it's making their jobs easier. A lot of the trying to get them revved up to take in knowledge has become less necessary. Those who come in for breakfast, those who eat lunch, have that nutrition to help them tune into learning. So that's probably the biggest, biggest, biggest compliment that we've received.