LONGVIEW, Texas — Longview ISD approved several items on the agenda during Monday's school board meeting, including a plan to convert two of its old school buses into food trucks.
"This was an idea brought to us by Dr. Hockenberry after talking with Mr. Brewer about changing how we serve our lunch at the high school," said Chardee Snoddy, chef and culinary trainer for Longview ISD's Child Nutrition Department. "Working with students, it's all about keeping up with the trends and as we all know as of right now, one of the major food trends is food trucks."
The food truck will be operated by the district's Child Nutrition Department with various food options for students.
"We will have Mexican food, freshly grilled hamburgers, fresh hot dogs, grilled chicken sandwiches, anything snack-wise that the kids love like smothered and covered French fries, things of that nature," Snoddy said. "There will still be healthy options for the kids to eat as well."
The district also plans to roll out one of those food trucks during the Friday night football games at Lobo Stadium.
"We're hoping to be able to utilize it for concession use for football games, which would help out a lot and bring in a lot of different foods that we don't already serve in our concession," Snoddy said.
Snoddy said she's also looking forward to seeing the food trucks' impact on the district's summer food program.
"Being able to take the buses out and set up in centralized locations where parents aren't able to come to the campuses that we have opened," Snoddy said. "They can meet us at one of these buses to get their kid a meal for the summer."
Snoddy hopes everyone will enjoy this endeavor at Longview ISD.
The food trucks will be used during the lunch hour at Longview High School. The meals will be free for students and a charge will be added for staff and faculty.
The school district plans to have the two food trucks ready for service by the 2023-24 school year.