A change in food service management has yielded dividends for Lehighton Area School District.

In its first year of a contract with the Nutrition Group, the district unanimously renewed the agreement for a second year during Monday night's board meeting."After the first year of changes there have been only positive comments from parents and student and staff," said Rocky Ahner, chair of the district's wellness committee. "This was achieved by our great cafeteria staff working together with the federal guidelines."The contract can be renewed annually up to five years.Lehighton pays for the actual costs of labor, food and supplies, plus an administrative management fee of $42,300. The management fee is capped each year at the consumer price index."The Nutrition Group has been highly visible in the district and a lot of the students have told me the pizza is fantastic," Gloria Bowman, board president, said before voting to renew the agreement.Lauren Williams, food service director with the Nutrition Group, said they have instituted different initiatives at Lehighton such as "Wellness Wednesday" and having different themed meals from around the world."The daily sale of lunches has increased due to the variety and quality of the food," Ahner said. "One of the interesting things is the foods from around world. I think that has added a real variety to our offerings."The first Wellness Wednesday was held in October with a focus on fruit and vegetables. The featured recipe was a pineapple salsa.Students have taken notice to the positive changes.Lehighton Business Manager Brian Feick said lunch sales have increased a little over 4 percent with the addition of the Nutrition Group at the start of the 2014-15 school year."That equates to 700 more lunches per month than last year," Feick said.