Woonsocket Schools

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The Sodexo Difference

GLOBAL RESOURCES ... STATEWIDE EFFICIENCY ... LOCAL CONTROL

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

When the partnership between the Woonsocket Education Department and Sodexo began in 1993, no one could have predicted with any degree of certainty the social, economic, and cultural changes that would impact our lives so powerfully over the next seventeen years. All we could know with confidence then was that significant, systemic change would take place, and that, working together, we would spare no effort or expense to guide our youth and indeed our entire community safely through whatever lay in store.

Today we can look with satisfaction to all we have accomplished as partners. But success, no matter how impressive, must never lull us into complacency. So even as we acknowledge the achievements of the past, we focus on the future with renewed commitment to the well-being of our most precious commodity: the children of Woonsocket.

By all reasonable measure, our commitment to deliver Global Resources, Statewide Efficiency, and Local Control has returned impressive results. Accordingly, it is safe to say that Woonsocket and Sodexo have “set the bar” at an extraordinary height. And now we are poised to raise it even higher.

This website will help us to meet that lofty goal. The Woonsocket Page will be your one-stop source for the important news and information that impact our children’s lives each and every day – in school, at home, and wherever they may find themselves in our great, wide world.

The Reason Why We Work So Well Together

In the most literal and meaningful sense, Sodexo did not come into this great city. Sodexo came out of Woonsocket.

This inescapable truth is revealed in numbers:

59 out of 70 Sodexo employees in Woonsocket live in our city.
11 members of our staff reside in the Blackstone Valley.
23 were born and raised in Woonsocket.
32 own homes in Woonsocket.
27 rent homes in Woonsocket.

But there are two additional numbers that truly humble all of us at Sodexo:

22 Sodexo employees have a total of 40 children enrolled in Woonsocket public schools.

When Sodexo serves Woonsocket, we serve our own families and neighbors.

WOONSOCKET: RHODE ISLAND’S WORKING CAPITAL

One of Woonsocket’s most celebrated native sons was the late, legendary jazz pianist Dave McKenna. His unique style, we think, profoundly reflected the essence of the city of his birth.

Dave’s left hand was a factory of rhythm, generating an irresistible forward momentum. Yet simultaneously from his right hand there emanated sheer melodic beauty as he spun musical manifestations of passion, gentility, humor, and hope. His were human stories, rooted in hard labor yet reaching for the stars.

It is nothing short of poetically just that Woonsocket, Rhode Island is home to a Museum of Work and Culture. The narrative of America’s working class is Woonsocket’s living narrative. And for seventeen years Sodexo has demonstrated not only a commitment to working class values and practices, but also the ability to realize that commitment time and time again.

The great playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote, “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.”

Since 1993 you have honored Sodexo by allowing us to place our corporate hand next to yours on Woonsocket’s helm. We are pleased to continue to steer a steady, profitable, productive, enriching course for our community.

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When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is not “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow is a disease. – V. L. Allineare

Let’s get the ball rolling. As some of you may know, in 2009 Island has implemented new nutrition requirements (RINR) for all public schools. Sodexo applauds these standards, and we remain committed to meeting and even exceeding them.

Here’s What’s Changed

Grains – All grains served (rice, breads, pasta, cereal, pizza etc.) are now whole grain or wheat products.

Fruits/Vegetables – Students are offered three servings of fruits and vegetables at lunch: one serving will be dark green or orange, and another will be a fresh or raw vegetable or fruit

Cooked Legumes – One or more servings of cooked legumes (dried beans, peas or lentils) are offered each week.

Sodium – Lower the sodium intake are accomplished by serving low sodium products.

Milk/Juice – The following choices are available each day:

1% or skim, non-flavored milk.
Flavored milk with 1% or less fat and no more than 4 grams of total sugar per ounce.
100 % juice

The sales of extra entrées are no longer available at elementary schools.

WINTER/HOLIDAY NOTES – 2010 – 2011

We are in the midst of the season for which New England is celebrated around the world – the season for harvesting and for giving.

And in this lovely spirit, Sodexo is proud to break the following news:

ITEM – The Woonsocket Backpackers Program is expanding! The Sodexo Foundation, in partnership with the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, will expand its award-winning Backpackers Program so that Woonsocket’s elementary schools will be served along with middle schools and high schools.

Each week, Special Needs students at Woonsocket Middle School and High School fill backpacks for their peers in need. In doing so, they develop important life skills. And they lead by example, setting standards for caring that all of us will be challenged to meet in our daily lives.

The search for the heroes among us leads directly to these extraordinary young men and women.

ITEM – Woonsocket Education has eight Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grants from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Thanks to the efforts of Ellen Shalvey, our Sodexo General Manager who submitted the Applications, and the elementary school administrators and teachers who deliver its promise, a total of $144,000 for the 2010-2011 school year will be spent to bring fresh fruit and vegetables – and nutrition education – to our children two days per week. Ellen conducts the research and writes the material upon which principals base their mini-nutrition lessons delivered on days when the food is served.

ITEM – Sodexo is pleased once again to sponsor a Thanksgiving Gift Basket program. Each Woonsocket school will have a basket to deliver to a needy recipient.

ITEM – Every elementary and secondary school in Woonsocket now boasts a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Bar with increased healthy choices at lunchtime.

ITEM – Ours is designed to be an interactive website. Its growth and effectiveness will depend in large measure upon your willingness to be a part of all that happens here. Please share your ideas and express your needs to us. They will be reflected in these pages.

This website will be updated regularly, and all of us hope that you’ll be a frequent visitor to www.sodexori.com.

There is so much news to report. There are so many new standards to be set, met, and exceeded.

And it’s all up to us.