By WILL PERKINS
Glasgow News 1
Local farmers aren’t the only ones growing food for Barren County cafeterias — students have been rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands in the dirt.
“We have purchased over 2,000 pounds of student-grown food, and that’s just in this first semester,” said CheyAnne Fant, director of nutrition services and after-school programs for Barren County Schools, during the district’s January board of education meeting. “The Kentucky Department of Agriculture recognized our nutrition services department to be in the Top 3 in the state of Kentucky for local food purchasing.”
Fant said the school district is working with 14 farms and 10 student-led farming organizations. She said 14 percent of the district’s food budget is spent locally, “which goes back into the local economy.”
When Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell visited Red Cross Elementary last year, he said Barren County Schools is “at the forefront” of getting locally sourced food inside their cafeterias.
Last summer, Barren County High School agriculture teacher Andy Joe Moore was announced as the school district’s Farm to School coordinator.
“Advocating for the value and significance of quality food has been a driving initiative throughout my life,” Moore said in a district press release at the time. “Food doesn’t exist without agriculture, and the model of agricultural education has become a time-tested success story like no other.”
Last spring, Barren County High School Future Farmers of America members visited Red Cross Elementary and helped students construct a garden behind the school.
Matthew Estes, who was a senior at the time, said he really enjoyed how inquisitive and excited the younger students were to participate in the process. When he told the elementary students they would eventually get to eat the vegetables, their eyes lit up.
“That was a really cool moment,” Estes said. “They thought that was pretty special, that they’re planting what they will be eating in the cafeteria one day.”
In addition to being recognized for using local food in its cafeterias, Barren County had 10 campuses honored for being healthy schools.
Austin Tracy, Eastern, Hiseville, North Jackson, Park City, Red Cross, Temple Hill elementaries, along with Barren County Middle, the Trojan Academy and Barren County High School have all been named America’s Healthiest Schools by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The organization states this designation recognizes schools “for implementing best practices to support student, staff, and family health.”
In 2025, the alliance assessed 1,120 schools from 34 states and Washington D.C. It found that 168 schools nationwide achieved all-star designations, with 15 in Kentucky and 10 within the Barren County school district.
“We are very excited about that,” Fant said during her January director’s report to the school board.
An all-star designation is the highest level of distinction available in the program, according to the alliance. It is achieved by obtaining recognition in all nine categories: supporting school health sciences, strengthening emotional health and learning, implementing local school wellness policies, promoting a tobacco-free school, improving nutrition and food access, cultivating staff well-being, bolstering physical education and activity, increasing family and community engagement, and enriching health education.
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