School nutrition leaders can work to address and change food and social disparities in their districts.

Laura Benavidez toured many cafeterias and kitchens across Boston Public Schools when she arrived there four years ago, ready to assume the position as the district’s new Executive Director of Food and Nutrition Services. She wanted to observe and experience how meals were being served at each site. What Benavidez discovered was that school foodservice—what menu items were available, how many choices, how meals were served, food quality and the dining environment—varied from site to site to site. What’s more, those inequities were as deep as the foundations of the school buildings themselves. She knew where her work needed to begin...