After just one year, some schools around the country are
dropping out of the healthier new federal lunch program, complaining
that so many students turned up their noses at meals packed with whole
grains, fruits and vegetables that the cafeterias were losing money.
Federal officials say they don’t have exact numbers but have seen
isolated reports of schools cutting ties with the $11 billion National
School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools for meals served and
gives them access to lower-priced food.
Districts that rejected the program say the reimbursement was not
enough to offset losses from students who began avoiding the lunch line
and bringing food from home or, in some cases, going hungry.
PlayVideo
The Lunch Express brings meals to kids in need in rural Tenn.
“Some of the stuff we had to offer, they wouldn’t eat,” said Catlin,
Ill., Superintendent Gary Lewis, whose district saw a 10 to 12 percent
drop in lunch sales, translating to $30,000 lost under the program last
year.
“So you sit there and watch the kids, and you know they’re hungry at
the end of the day, and that led to some behavior and some lack of
attentiveness.”
In upstate New York, a few districts have quit the program, including
the Schenectady-area Burnt Hills Ballston Lake system, whose five
lunchrooms ended the year $100,000 in the red.
Near Albany, Voorheesville Superintendent Teresa Thayer Snyder said
her district lost $30,000 in the first three months. The program didn’t
even make it through the school year after students repeatedly
complained about the small portions and apples and pears went from the
tray to the trash untouched.
Districts that leave the program are free to develop their own
guidelines. Voorheesville’s chef began serving such dishes as salad
topped with flank steak and crumbled cheese, pasta with chicken and
mushrooms, and a panini with chicken, red peppers and cheese.
In Catlin, soups and fish sticks will return to the menu this year,
and the hamburger lunch will come with yogurt and a banana – not one or
the other, like last year.
Nationally, about 31 million students participated in the guidelines thattook effect last fall under the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Dr. Janey Thornton, deputy undersecretary for USDA’s Food, Nutrition
and Consumer Services, which oversees the program, said she is aware of
reports of districts quitting but is still optimistic about the
program’s long-term prospects.
“Many of these children have never seen or tasted some of the fruits
and vegetables that are being served before, and it takes a while to
adapt and learn,” she said.
The agency had not determined how many districts have dropped out,
Thornton said, cautioning that “the numbers that have threatened to drop
and the ones that actually have dropped are quite different.”
The School Nutrition Association found that 1 percent of 521 district
nutrition directors surveyed over the summer planned to drop out of the
program in the 2013-14 school year and about 3 percent were considering
the move.
Not every district can afford to quit. The National School Lunch
Program provides cash reimbursements for each meal served: about $2.50
to $3 for free and reduced-priced meals and about 30 cents for
full-price meals. That takes the option of quitting off the table for
schools with large numbers of poor youngsters.
PlayVideo
USDA, First Lady makeover school lunches
The new guidelines set limits on calories and salt, phase in more
whole grains and require that fruit and vegetables be served daily. A
typical elementary school meal under the program consisted of
whole-wheat cheese pizza, baked sweet potato fries, grape tomatoes with
low-fat ranch dip, applesauce and 1 percent milk.
In December, the Agriculture Department, responding to complaints
that kids weren’t getting enough to eat, relaxed the 2-ounce-per-day
limit on grains and meats while keeping the calorie limits.
At Wallace County High in Sharon Springs, Kan., football player
Callahan Grund said the revision helped, but he and his friends still
weren’t thrilled by the calorie limits (750-850 for high school) when
they had hours of calorie-burning practice after school. The idea of
dropping the program has come up at board meetings, but the district is
sticking with it for now.
“A lot of kids were resorting to going over to the convenience store
across the block from school and kids were buying junk food,” the
17-year-old said. “It was kind of ironic that we’re downsizing the
amount of food to cut down on obesity but kids are going and getting
junk food to fill that hunger.”
To make the point, Grund and his schoolmates starred last year in a music video parodyof the pop hit “We Are Young.” Instead, they sang, “We Are Hungry.”
It was funny, but Grund’s mother, Chrysanne Grund, said her anxiety was not.
“I was quite literally panicked about how we would get enough food in
these kids during the day,” she said, “so we resorted to packing
lunches most days.”
When he signed the National School Lunch Act 69 years ago this month, President Harry Truman said
that the law would go a long way toward “strengthening the nation
through better nutrition for our school children.” As schools across the
nation continue to implement the updated nutrition standards that took
effect in 2012, a statewide poll from the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods
Project finds that 82 percent of Minnesota voters overall and 76
percent of those with children in public school support those standards. Pollster Memo (PDF) | Full Results (PDF)
Support for Nutritious Food in School Is Overwhelming
We asked: Do you think that serving nutritious foods in schools is very
important, somewhat important, not that important, or not important at
all in helping to ensure that children are prepared to learn and do
their best in school?
Total Important (%)
Registered voters
97
Parents of K-12 public school students
96
Source: Minnesota School Nutrition Survey, February 2015
Specific parts of the updated nutrition standards garnered as much or
even higher levels of support from Minnesota voters than the standards
broadly. Nearly all voters and public school parents say school lunches
should include a serving of fruits or vegetables, and more than 7 in 10
believe schools should provide whole-grain foods with every meal and
should limit the amount of salt.
Key Nutritional Improvements Receive Strong Support
We asked: Do you think public schools should be required to do the following with every school meal? And do you feel strongly about that? Include a serving of fruits or vegetables
% Yes
(Strongly)
Registered voters
96
(90)
Parents of K-12 public school students
94
(86)
Provide foods made from whole grains
% Yes
(Strongly)
Registered voters
74
(52)
Parents of K-12 public school students
73
(48)
Limit the amount of salt
% Yes
(Strongly)
Registered voters
79
(55)
Parents of K-12 public school students
72
(46)
Source: Minnesota School Nutrition Survey, February 2015
Nutrition standards for meals served under the National School Lunch
Program have been updated regularly since the program’s inception in
1946. Since the start of the 2012-13 school year, lunches and breakfasts
have included more lean protein, low-fat dairy products, and fruits and
vegetables, while avoiding excess fat, salt, and calories. As of
December 2014, the vast majority of Minnesota schools (98.8 percent) are
certified as meeting these healthier standards.
Support for updated nutrition standards for school meals was seen
across the ideological spectrum, with 75 percent of Republicans, 76
percent of independents, and 91 percent of Democrats in favor.
Seventy-five percent of voters and 69 percent of parents also support
the USDA’s new “Smart Snacks in School” rule, which took effect in the
2014-15 school year and sets basic limits on fat, salt, sugar, and
calories in food and drinks sold in vending machines, at snack bars, and
on a la carte cafeteria menus.
Our survey also asked whether certain changes beyond those needed to
meet national standards would further improve school meals. More than 7
in 10 voters and public school parents think meals would be better if
prepared in the cafeteria’s kitchen instead of being prepackaged and
reheated. And 70 percent of voters and 65 percent of public school
parents believe that offering a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole
grains improves school menus. Although many schools have made such
adjustments to their menus and cooking approaches, others are hampered
by outdated or limited kitchen facilities. In a survey of school food
service directors, 96 percent of Minnesota districts reported needing at least one piece of equipment—at a median cost of $47,000 per school—to better serve nutritious foods.
More about the poll
The Minnesota statewide poll was conducted by Public Opinion
Strategies and Hart Research Associates for the Kids’ Safe and Healthful
Foods Project, a collaboration between The Pew Charitable Trusts and
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Data were collected via landline and
cellular telephone surveys Feb. 17-19, 2015, among 500 registered
voters, including 200 parents or guardians of children in K-12 public or
charter schools. The margin of error on the sample of 500 is plus or
minus 4.4 percentage points, and the margin of error on the sample of
200 is plus or minus 6.9 percentage points.
The poll is the latest in a series of state surveys
conducted for the project. Each has revealed overwhelming support for
the nutrition standards that are in place for school lunches and
breakfasts as well as the snack food and drinks sold separately.
Similarly, a June 2014 poll showed strong support for these policies among K-12 parents nationwide.
Paula Hible
Deep-fried popcorn chicken, tiny taters, bread, barbecue sauce,
ketchup, milk. That high-fat, high-sodium, low-fiber menu is a typical
lunch at a typical American elementary school. We know about it because
Mrs. Q., a grade-school teacher, decided to eat her school’s lunch every
day for an entire school year and report anonymously to the world on
her blog, “Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project”
(fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com). What she discovered about our kids’
midday meals is sobering if not surprising: Menu mainstays routinely
feature fatty items such as pizza, french fries, hot dogs, and a mystery
pork product called “ribicue.” She’s eaten beef with fake grill marks
and lots of sweetened fruit cups.
Mrs. Q. didn’t know when she started documenting each meal that she
would become a prominent voice on a hot-button issue that has galvanized
not only high-profile chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Rachael Ray but
also First Lady Michelle Obama. “I’m normally not subversive in any
way,” Mrs. Q. says of her unexpected though anonymous celebrity status —
we promised not to reveal her identity when we interviewed her. “But if
you’re a parent you may not have a clue about what your kids are really
eating. Lunches at my school are like overly packaged TV dinners gone
bad.”
It doesn’t have to be this way. At Galtier Magnet Elementary School,
in St. Paul, Minnesota, menus include whole-grain bread and pasta, along
with unsweetened applesauce for dessert. There’s also a salad bar
stocked with greens, carrots, peas, and grape tomatoes. A sauce station
offers seasonings — low-fat ranch dressing, soy sauce, Louisiana hot
sauce. Many of the kids in St. Paul still eat tacos and macaroni and
cheese, but the cafeteria makes lower-fat versions of both. They also
get edamame and chicken stew, which add vital nutrients into their diet.
While even detractors acknowledge that the quality of most American
school lunches has steadily improved over the past 15 years, everyone
from nutritionists and public-health experts to the First Lady — not to
mention a growing number of extremely frustrated parents — believes that
our children’s school lunches are still overprocessed affairs laden
with unhealthy preservatives, sodium, sugar, and trans fat. Nutritional
quality varies widely from district to district, but according to the
USDA a typical school lunch far exceeds the recommended 500 milligrams
of sodium; some districts, in fact, serve lunches with more than 1,000
milligrams. The USDA also reports that less than a third of schools stay
below the recommended standard for fat content in their meals. “School
lunches hardly resemble real food — they serve items such as chicken
nuggets, which are highly processed, with additives and preservatives,
and list more than 30 ingredients instead of just chicken,” says Marion
Nestle, Ph.D., professor of nutrition food studies and public health at
New York University. Nuggets are only one example of how schools rely on
too many foods that are heavily processed and high in sugar, sodium,
and chemicals. The problem isn’t simply that kids are eating unhealthy
foods for lunch. The cafeteria’s offerings also give a seal of approval:
“Kids associate school with education; therefore they get the wrong
impression that these kinds of foods are healthy,” says Dr. Nestle.
And we’re not just talking about the stuff on the hot-lunch menu.
Provided through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to children
who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and breakfasts (and also
offered to students who can pay full price), it meets the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans. While NSLP meals — eaten by more than 31
million children, over half of all American students — need to be
improved, the worst food lurks in what’s called à la carte service.
That’s where any kid can buy anything from cake to pizza or brand-name
junk food. These heavily marketed choices are essentially unregulated.
(Hard candy and gum are not allowed to be sold but chocolate bars are,
for example.) “We offer many choices in the school library but no
pornography,” says Janet Poppendieck, Ph.D., author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. “We should offer an array of meals in school, but nothing unhealthy.”
Meals Gone Bad — and Good
Paula Hible
That disconnect shocked Lolli Leeson, a wellness educator and parent,
when she volunteered in her kids’ lunchroom in Marble-head,
Massachusetts. After 15 minutes, the students were allowed to throw out
their lunch and buy junk food, such as cookies, candy, and chips, from
the à la carte menu. “The kids were taught a bit about nutrition in the
classroom, but the school was being hypocritical in not modeling it in
the lunchroom,” she says.
We take it for granted that these are the foods that kids want to
eat. But most experts disagree. Sam Kass, Mrs. Obama’s food-initiative
coordinator, has been spending a lot of time visiting schools and
hosting children at the White House garden as part of Mrs. Obama’s Let’s
Move! campaign. “When the First Lady planted and harvested the garden
with kids and then cooked a meal with them, those kids ate salad like it
was going out of style — like it was french fries — and they ate peas
like they were the best thing they had ever tasted,” says Kass.
The food kids eat for lunch around the world is evidence that what we
think of as kid-friendly is more nurture than nature. In France, menus
include beet salad, pumpkin soup, and veal stew. Korean students eat
kimchi and stir-fried beef with carrots.
In fact, the successes at Galtier Magnet School, where 80 percent of
all the elementary students eat what’s prepared at school, and at other
districts throughout the country, prove that it is possible to serve
meals that are healthy, appeal to kids’ taste buds, and offer important
lessons about the value of good nutrition — instead of being based on
children’s whims. “We don’t allow kids to not learn about Shakespeare,”
says chef Ann Cooper, aka “The Renegade Lunch Lady,” who overhauled the
Berkeley, California, and Boulder, Colorado, school-lunch programs. “Why
would we allow kids to decide that they don’t want to eat green food?”
The urgency over what our kids are eating is due to some scary facts:
Children born in the year 2000 have more than a 30 percent chance of
developing diabetes during their lifetime, according to a study
published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 16.9
percent of children between the ages of 2 and 19 are already obese.
Lunch Lessons
At its core, the National School Lunch Program is a noble
institution. Started in 1946 by President Truman to provide lunches to
school-age children, the program was founded on the principle that
keeping children healthy is vital to America’s prosperity. But even that
basic mandate has become a complicated issue. Take milk, for example:
Chocolate milk, for decades a school-cafeteria staple, has double the
sugar content of unflavored milk, and some school districts, including
Washington, D.C., have banned it while others are trying to reposition
the drink as a dessert and limit when it’s offered. (For example,
Chicago schools serve it only on Friday.) But flavored milk’s defenders
can be found among the ranks of parents who fear that their children
will miss out on crucial vitamin D and calcium because they won’t drink
the unsweetened variety. The dairy industry, naturally, is also
supportive: “It’s important to know that flavored milk provides the same
nine essential nutrients as white milk, while contributing only 2
percent of the added sugar in a child’s diet. There are more valuable
places to look if you’re trying to reduce sugar, like sports drinks,
sodas, and other empty-calorie beverages,” says Ann Marie Krautheim,
R.D., a spokesperson for the National Dairy Council.
Paying the Tab
It’s unfair to place all the blame on the schools, especially in
these budget-strapped times where lunch programs are under pressure to
break even. As Mrs. Obama told a national meeting of school-nutrition
professionals back in the spring: “If you asked the average person to do
what you do every day, and that is to prepare a meal for hundreds of
hungry kids for just $2.68 a child — with only $1 to $1.25 of that money
going to the food itself — they would look at you like you were crazy.
That’s sad, but that’s less than what many folks spend on a cup of
coffee in the morning.” When districts do want to make changes, even
what seem like small tweaks start to add up; switching to 100 percent
whole-wheat bread (which contains more protein, fiber, vitamins, and
minerals than white bread) costs Seattle Public Schools an extra $20,000
each year.
Both Dr. Nestle and Dr. Poppendieck recommend making school lunches
free to all students. Doing so, they argue, will allow schools to put
money spent on administering the current tiered system into improving
the actual meals. With less pressure to lure paying students into the
lunch line, food-service departments could concentrate on healthier
foods.
But many of those sweeping changes aren’t in the cards yet. In fact,
President Obama’s plan to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act has been
scaled back to call for only six additional cents per meal. Although the
funding increase is not enough to ensure that every American child will
eat like the students in St. Paul, experts agree that the attention
school lunches are getting in the media and the halls of Washington,
D.C., should make it easier for parents to change their communities’
school lunches.
What should those changes be? Margo Wootan, the nutrition-policy
expert at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), along
with other advocates, says the first priority should be to increase the
amount of fruits and vegetables offered at every meal. They would also
like school-nutrition services to set maximum calorie targets rather
than minimums — a practice that was started when the goal was to fight
malnutrition. Switching to whole grains and low- or nonfat milk, getting
rid of products that contain trans fat, and limiting sodium are the
other goals rounding out their wish list.
Moms Make a Move
As anyone who has gone up against a school-lunch program knows,
change can take years. That’s why even if your child is just a toddler,
it’s not too early to start pushing for better food. When Weston,
Connecticut, mom Amy Kalafa realized what was being served in her
children’s lunchroom, she made Two Angry Moms, a documentary about
what’s wrong with school lunches and how parents can improve them.
Kalafa’s film follows the efforts of Susan Rubin, a mom who had been
working for more than a decade to improve the lunches in her children’s
schools in Westchester County, New York. The film takes viewers through
Rubin’s successful crusade to get items such as neon-green slushies,
supersize cookies, and greasy fries off the menu.
Since making the film, Kalafa has seen improvements across the
country, including chicken served on the bone, hearty soups, and
vegetarian options. Change is possible. The CDC reports that while junk
food is rampant in schools, the percentage of schools in which children
are not permitted to buy it is increasing. But even though the
government is advocating for change, parents still need to push for
improvements at the district level. “Go into any school that has joined
the school-lunch revolution and you will see kids eating unprocessed
food, helping themselves from salad bars, and actually eating the meals,
all within the typical 20-minute lunch period,” says Dr. Nestle.
“Teachers in these schools swear that the kids behave and learn better,
do not bounce off the walls after lunch, and show fewer signs of
learning disorders. Can we teach schools to care about what students
eat? Of course we can.”
Don’t Just Get Angry … Do Something
Be Realistic
In an ideal world, schools would serve more organic food, but most
experts say that the current economic climate means that we need to set
doable goals. Focus on requesting more fresh fruits and veggies, and
adding whole-grain bread products. Say No to Junk
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the notion
that schools need to sell junk food to raise revenue is a myth. USDA
studies have shown the average school uses revenue from NSLP meals to
offset the costs of producing à la carte options. Say Yes to Tastings
Kids love events with food. Hold a fruit festival where parent
volunteers offer pears, papayas, and more. Or get students invested in
what’s being studied in class. If they’re learning about the Middle
East, try a tasting with hummus and tabbouleh. Get Kids Growing
Plant a school garden, connect with a local farm, or just plant pots of
herbs for the classroom windowsill. “When children grow food themselves,
they want to eat it,” says the founder of the fresh and local food
movement in the United States, chef Alice Waters. Recess Before Lunch
Researchers at Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, found that
when recess was scheduled before lunch, students consumed significantly
more food and nutrients than when play was after lunch. Go to the Cafeteria
Everyone from lunch reformers to cafeteria managers insists that the
best way to be informed is to experience it yourself. Reading weekly
menus is no substitute for seeing, smelling, and tasting the food — as
well as checking out the ambience.
Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign
Courtesy of The White House
First Lady Michelle Obama has set an ambitious goal: to end the
childhood-obesity epidemic within a generation. To do so she’s
advocating for better food labeling, encouraging increased physical
activity, engineering access to nutritious food for all Americans, and
demanding healthy food for our nation’s schools. As she told us in June
when Parents visited the White House, “The school piece remains a
critical part [of the campaign], because millions of kids are getting
two meals a day at school.” The plan: fighting against the conventional
wisdom that children won’t eat food that’s good for them by encouraging
everything from school gardens to partnerships between local chefs and
lunchroom staff.
Even if you’re packing lunch this year, your kids could be on the cafeteria line next year.
Check out these resources for advocating for nutritious school food. The Lunch Box Chef Ann Cooper offers information and
advice for parents and schools wanting to make the transition to
healthier meals. Includes everything from recipes to budget planning. Food Politics Nutrition and food-policy expert
Marion Nestle, Ph.D., has a site that’s a must-read for staying in the
know about how politics shapes what goes on our kids’ plates. CSPI School Foods Tool Kit Includes downloadable guides with tools, strategies, case studies, and advice
Just when the backlash over first lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch
menu leveled off, students in a handful of Twin Cities schools got a
taste of what could be another controversial food fad.
The main course? Non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) meals.
“Having the GMO awareness day for our district was to really show
that whether you agree with consuming GMOs or not, consumers should have
the right to make that choice,” said Laura Metzger, Westonka schools’
director of food and nutrition services.
The Hopkins, Minneapolis, Orono, Shakopee and Westonka school
districts served up the issue in November to underscore society’s
increasing reliance on plants, animals and organisms that are
genetically modified to enhance food nutrition and production. Most
processed foods in the United States contain ingredients such as GMO
canola, corn, cotton, soy, sugar beets and other products.
As word spread, at least one critic in the agricultural press accused the schools of going too far under the headline “school is for factual learning, not anti-GMO rhetoric.”
Minnesota agriculture relies heavily on GMO-based crops, research and
biotech companies that produce enormous benefits to the state economy.
The one-day educational event unfolded in the neighborhood of one of
the world’s most powerful food distributors and proponents of GMO
products — Cargill, headquartered in suburban Wayzata.
Kate Kompas, kkompas@stcloudtimes.com 12:37 p.m. CDT October 9, 2015
FOLEY — State department officials dined with Foley High School
students Tuesday in the cafeteria as they got an up-close look at the
results of the district’s “Farm To School” program. The farmers who were
responsible for the fresh produce being served at lunchtime ate there,
too.
On Tuesday’s menu: chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy with rosemary
and thyme right from the school’s garden, along with a homemade roll,
squash, watermelon, bananas and more. Patty Donahue, cook manager for
grades 4-12, said she based the gravy recipe off one used by the Food
Network’s Ina Garten.
Foley is among more than 200 districts statewide in the Farm to
School program, which serves half of Minnesota’s students, according to
information provided by the state. The Foley district has participated
since 2012. Farm to School has awarded money to districts to help them
participate in the program; Foley received about $11,000 from the state
for fiscal year 2015. Story continues below.
The Foley school district gets fresh produce from Stoney Brook Farms
and Novak Farms, both near Foley. Representatives from the farms as well
as the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Center for
Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which awards
grants related to Farm to School, are visiting schools around the state.
The Foley district is buying a tilting braising pan so it can make more meals from scratch, too.
Farm to School means more prep time for kitchen staffers, Foley
school service director Cheryl Pick said. The benefits far outweigh the
time, though.
“The kids enjoy it, and that’s why we do it,” she said.
School officials said up to 87 percent of high school students take hot meals; Foley High School has about 1,600 students.
Many high school students at lunch Tuesday had banana peels or green
strawberry tops on their trays. Students can take unlimited amounts of
fruits and veggies.
“You see so much color on their plates,” Foley High School Principal Shayne Kusler said. Story continues below.
The farms provide everything from sweet corn to kohlrabi for the lunches.
“It’s good to promote the fresh vegetable aspect of it for the kids,” said Mark Chmielewski of Stoney Brook Farm.
Greg Novak of Novak Farm recently sold 48 quarts of strawberries, an
800-pound bin of watermelon and cucumbers to the district. Farm to
School is good for his business. His only request: He wishes Minnesota
schools could start earlier so Foley could get the best of his harvest,
but he likes closing out the season with the district. (And when he was a
student at Foley, no, he doesn’t believe he had such healthful choices
at lunchtime.)
Ellie Manderfeld, a Foley senior, admitted she likes fruits more than veggies.
“When we have the options, it’s nice,” she said.
Many of the students were busy getting big cups of what looked like
ice cream at lunchtime. School officials had to break it to them that it
was frozen yogurt. Follow Kate Kompas on Twitter @copygirlkate, or call her at 259-3620.
You
can lead students to nutritious food, but can you make them bite? The
answer to that increasingly relevant question is yes, if you get
creative.
At Saint Paul Public Schools,
in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Jean Ronnei, director of nutrition and
commercial services for the school district, is sharing her personal
passion for fresh, healthy food with students. A few years ago, Ronnei
and her staff began testing healthy recipes in the district’s nutrition
center, and they’ve been doing it ever since.
In addition to serving students only whole grains and brown rice,
rather than less nutritious white bread and white rice, Ronnei and her
team have come up with a few hits (a fresh corn-and-barley salad with
tomato and cilantro, for instance) and some flops (kids turned their
noses up at her veggie meat loaf). They recently tested teriyaki chicken
edamame over brown rice, which students loved. “I’m extremely proud of
that one,” she says.
From Portland, Oregon, to Atlanta, school menus are being redone with
health in mind, even as budgets shrink and parents tighten their
wallets. Managers are finding more appealing types of food to serve and
more appetizing ways to serve it. And part of that appeal is education.
So, along with their fruits and veggies, many students are now getting a
serving of nutrition smarts.
Calories Down, Dollars Up
By now, we all have heard the gloomy statistics: According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the prevalence of overweight kids is some 17 percent for those ages
6-19. And research shows even higher rates for African American and
Hispanic children. Obesity is considered a national epidemic, and
concerned officials have begun to focus their attention on the school
lunchroom.
More than 30 million American children eat federally subsidized meals in the National School Lunch Program,
giving cafeterias leverage to make a positive difference in student
diets. Even though the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutritional
standards have become more stringent, the 2007 School Nutrition Dietary
Assessment Study indicated that only about one in four elementary
schools served lunches that met the fat requirements. For high schools,
the number was one in 12. Adding to the problem are such à la carte
items as pizza and cheeseburgers that don’t allow for portion control,
because kids can buy unlimited amounts.
As cafeterias move toward offering healthier options, some
food-services programs are having trouble meeting their budgets, because
whole grains or fresh vegetables tend to cost more. In the 2008-09
school year, the federal government reimbursed $2.57 for each free lunch
served, $2.17 for each reduced-priced lunch, and $0.24 for a paid meal.
But the average actual cost of a reimbursable meal is around $2.91.
As the economy has dipped, the demand for school lunch has risen, so
it may become even harder to incorporate better nutrition. “It’s been a
juggling act,” says Katie Wilson, president of the School Nutrition Association.
“In the last 15 years, we’ve been changing what we sell, reducing
portion sizes, meeting calorie levels, reducing fats and saturated fats.
But it’s the perfect storm. We’ve all been required to meet nutrient
standards, but the federal government is not giving us the revenue to
support it.”
Still, schools are finding ways to recalibrate their budgets and transform menus. Ricardo Medina, president of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents,
says many of the changes he’s seeing in the nation’s school cafeterias
are cost neutral. Food-services managers, for example, may skimp on some
items so that they can splurge on fruits and vegetables.
Some districts, like the Los Angeles Unified School District, are
using their immense purchasing power to bargain for cheaper prices on
healthy foods; smaller school systems are banding together to increase
their buying power as well. “It’s about a change in ideology that really
isn’t an additional expenditure,” says Medina. “It’s more about finding
a balance in what they serve.”
Keeping It Fresh and Local
When Roel Gonzalez became superintendent of the Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent Schools,
in Rio Grande City, Texas, six years ago, he was shocked by the
unhealthy nutrition habits of families in the surrounding Starr County.
The county is 98 percent Hispanic and one of the nation’s poorest, and
it is estimated that more than 50 percent of adults there are overweight
or obese.
The superintendent knew his students weren’t far behind, so he
developed a long-range plan. “We had to do it in phases,” he explains.
“If you sell something too quickly, people tend not to be as responsive
to it.”
Gonzalez started with the lunch menu. He worked with the
food-services director to cut out all fried foods, then sugary snacks.
They traded whole milk for 2 percent milk and then switched to skim
because he didn’t want to go cold turkey on the kids. They cut portion
sizes, emptied vending machines of junk food, and reinvented the kids’
favorite recipes, like enchiladas and burritos, with low-fat cheeses and
lean meats.
Saint Paul’s Jean Ronnei makes up for any splurges in menu items by
cycling in cheaper foods like tater tots (baked, of course). They save
money by preparing many items in bulk and from scratch, like their
energy bars and banana chip bread.
“It’s not Utopia here. We have chicken nuggets,” she says. “But we’re
careful with how we spend our money. There are some things we can’t
serve very often but it’s nice to introduce the kids to.” Case in point:
Ronnei’s roasted rosemary potatoes. (See the recipe below.)
In Oregon’s Portland Public Schools,
nutrition-services director Kristy Obbink buys locally produced items
like pizzas with lower-fat cheese, and whole-grain nutrition bars,
because they’re price competitive with national brands — and she gets to
choose the ingredients.
To get kids excited about eating more fruits and vegetables, the
district launched Harvest of the Month: Obbink chooses 12 fruits or
vegetables to feature throughout the year; then students learn about the
farmer who grew them and where the foods come from, and they get to
taste them, an approach many farm-to-school programs employ. “Instead of
buying a truckload of a national brand and paying for storage,” she
says, “I can just place my weekly order.”
Variety, Spice, Life
Expanding the palette is essential to better nutrition. In Saint
Paul, Ronnei held a coolest-new-veggie contest, offering kids
nutritional education about four new foods they could taste — portobello
mushrooms, beets, jicama, and red and yellow peppers. The most popular
offering, which turned out to be jicama, was on menus the following
school year.
Many schools are encouraging sampling, a tactic popular in grocery
stores, under the assumption that if you taste something and like it,
you’ll come back for more. In the Atlanta Public Schools, elementary-age
kids at two schools can pick and choose at a fruit-and-vegetable bar
(four fresh items, one canned) in the cafeteria, and at all the
elementary schools there is one vegetarian entrée option served daily.
“Our middle and high schoolers are set in their ways,” says Laura
Lowe, a dietician with the Atlanta Public Schools. “My hope is that if
we can build a foundation in elementary school, then in a few years we
can make drastic changes in middle and high school.”
One key to getting kids to eat better may lie in cues in the lunch
line. Marketing research finds that items displayed in prominent
positions tend to be chosen more often than other items, suggesting that
carefully placed healthy items — fruit put where the chips and candy
normally go, for instance — may lead to better decisions.
Sometimes mere suggestion is enough. A 2007 Yale University study
found that 70 percent of students ate a serving of fruit at a meal when
they were asked if they would like fruit or fruit juice, while only 40
percent ate a serving of fruit when they weren’t prompted.
It’s difficult for a school district to improve nutrition if its
kitchens are geared to deep frying, or if there are no kitchens at all.
As part of the new federal administration’s economic-stimulus plan,
schools have been able to apply for grants to update their kitchens with
such high tech equipment as “combi” ovens, which allow staffs to steam
and bake in large quantities.
Another creative way to get an injection of cash is to apply for
federal stimulus dollars to fund, say, a reading program and then use
the freed-up money to improve nutrition education, which is what
Gonzalez is hoping to do in his schools in Texas. “You know how we’re
always helping with reading, writing, and math?” he says. “I think that
we should do the same thing for physical activity and wellness.”
Brooke Lea Foster, a former editor at the Boston Globe Magazine, is a freelance writer in New York City.
Teriyaki Chicken and Edamame
Serves 9
1 1/2 lbs. cooked chicken, diced
12 cups cooked brown rice
1 1/2 cups teriyaki sauce
2/3 cup edamame
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2/3 cup chopped cilantro
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Combine chicken with rice. Stir to mix.
2. Add teriyaki sauce and stir until sauce is completely blended in.
3. Transfer to baking dish, cover, and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from oven. Add edamame, pepper, and cilantro. Stir to combine.
5. Cover and return to oven for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until a temperature of 165 degrees is reached.
Credit: Courtesy of Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Services
Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
Serves 4
1 lb. potatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/8 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary or 1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Toss potatoes with other ingredients until evenly coated.
2. Spread potatoes on a baking sheet.
3. Roast for 30 minutes or until potatoes are slightly browned and are easily pierced with a fork.
4. Enjoy!
Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Serves 16
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
8 oz. plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup banana, mashed well
2/3 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
1. In bowl of mixer, combine brown sugar, salt, butter, and baking soda for one minute at low speed.
2. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for an additional minute at high speed.
3. Add eggs and yogurt to creamed mixture and mix for two minutes at medium speed.
4. Combine flours in separate bowl, add to creamed mixture, and mix
for one minute at low speed. Scrape bowl, then mix for another minute at
high speed.
5. Add banana and mix for one minute at medium speed.
6. Add chocolate chips and mix for one minute at medium speed.
7. Spread mixture in greased 9-inch x 13-iinch pan. Bake for 40-55
minutes. The center should be slightly springy to the touch, and a
toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
Credit: Courtesy of Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Services
Energy Bars
Serves 18
1 cup navy beans, canned
1/2 cup butter, salted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup, packed brown sugar
2 eggs, medium
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup white flour, enriched
1/2 cup wheat flour, ultragrain
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups oats
8 oz. chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
1. Do not drain beans. Purée beans and liquid until a thick paste is formed. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars with mixer. Add beans and continue to cream.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; blend well.
4. Mix flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl.
5. Add to bean mixture; mix until combined.
6. Add oats and chocolate chips and continue to mix until blended.
7. Place mixture in a greased 9-by-13-inch pan.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, until done in center and top is golden brown.
9. Cool on wire rack.
Recipes courtesy of Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Services
MINNEAPOLIS -- Governor Mark Dayton is calling on state
legislators to add $3.5 million to the school lunch budget in the state,
so that children who now pay a reduced price for meals will be able to
get them FOR free.
Dayton made his remarks Tuesday in the wake of a statewide survey of school districts by Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, showing that some districts deny food to children who are behind on lunch payments.
"No child in Minnesota should be denied a healthy lunch," Gov. Dayton said in a prepared statement.
"We cannot expect our students to succeed on an empty stomach."
Dayton
endorsed a bill authored last session by Rep. Yvonne Selcer of
Minnetonka in the House and Sen. Jeff Hayden of Minneapolis in the
Senate.
Students from families with incomes at or below 130
percent of the poverty level qualify for free lunches already. That
level is roughly $25,000 for a family of four.
Children from
families between 130 percent and 185 percent of poverty level, or
$36,000 for a family of four, qualify for a reduced price lunch. Those
students are expected to pay 40 cents per meal out of pocket currently
in most school districts.
"These are very poor kids and we have the resources," Jessica Webster, the Legal Aid attorney who wrote the report summing up the survey of schools, told KARE.
"There is no reason to punish children in this way."
The
Legal Aid study found that 46 districts in the state have policies, at
least on paper, that allow cafeteria staff to withhold lunch from
students who have fallen behind on those lunch payments.
The
majority of schools, a total of 166 districts, told Legal Aid that they
give peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and milk to students who stop
paying, rather than the full fledged hot meal at lunch.
"I would
argue that is by no means a nutritionally balanced meal for a kid, and
the federal government agrees with that because we've had all of these
healthy mandates come down," Webster said.
Another subset of 97
districts, including the Minneapolis Public Schools, have decided to
provide hot lunches to all children who are eligible for reduced price
lunch regardless of whether the children are making payments. In fact,
in Minneapolis the school board decided to go ahead an absorb that 40
cent per meal cost of feeding students who only eligible for reduced
price lunches.
Webster has been working on the school lunch issue
for six years but the idea has gotten very little traction at the
legislature.
But in January story out of Utah drew national
attention to the issue of cafeteria finances. Cafeteria workers at a
Salt Lake City school were ordered to pull lunches away from 40 children
who had already gone through the line only to discover their lunch
money accounts were empty. Because the food had already been served it
had to be thrown in the trash, in keeping with food safety regulations.
"People didn't want to believe the same thing is happening here, but it is," Webster remarked.
"Maybe
it's not 40 children in one cafeteria on the same day, but it's
children all over the state who have to deal with this through no fault
of their own."
She also decried the practice, which still exists
in some schools, of stamping the word "money" and "lunch" on children's
hands as a way to alert parents that their lunch money accounts are
depleted.
Two of the districts that made the list of 46, the Osseo
Schools and the West Saint Paul - Mendota Heights Schools, took issue
with the Legal Aid survey's description.
Barb Olson of the Osseo
Schools said that the district policy, in writing, sounds as though
students can be denied meals. But she said in reality no child in Osseo
is ever turned away without some type of lunch such as a sandwich and
piece of fruit.
Carrie Hilger of the West St. Paul Schools said
children never have to worry about having their lunch trays pulled back,
but they may be fed an alternative lunch such as a sandwich and milk
rather than that day's regular menu selection.
Some Minnesota children go to school hungry and leave even hungrier.
A
majority of public school districts in this state deny hot lunch - or
any lunch at all in some cases - to children who can't pay for them.
Some schools take the meals from students in the lunch line and dump
them in the trash when the computer shows a deficit in their lunch
accounts.
Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda
Cassellius on Monday called the report "troubling," and fired off a
letter to district superintendents.
"Like me, I know that
none of you would deny a child a nutritious lunch intentionally," she
wrote. "I am hoping you will speak with your food service directors
regarding this information and find ways to ensure children are never
turned away from receiving a hot meal."
About 62,000
low-income children and teens take part in Minnesota's reduced-price
lunch program. That should mean that for 40 cents, they get a hot,
nutritious lunch, with the remainder of the cost covered by public
funds. But if students fail to come up with even 40 cents, some schools
respond by denying or downgrading students' lunches, as Mid-Minnesota
Legal Aid discovered when it surveyed 309 public school districts.
Some
school districts send students home with a verbal warning for their
parents or a hand stamp visible to all that says "LUNCH" or "MONEY."
Others hand children a bread-and-butter sandwich and carton of milk in
lieu of a hot lunch.
In a survey released Monday, 46
Minnesota school districts told Legal Aid that they immediately or
eventually refuse to feed students who have insufficient funds in their
lunch accounts. More than half the districts in the state - 166 of them -
provide an alternative meal, typically a cold cheese sandwich, once the
money runs out. Another 96 school districts, including the Minneapolis
public schools, provide a hot lunch regardless of a child's ability to
pay.
Students qualify for free lunch if their family makes
less than about $25,000. After that they qualify for reduced-price lunch
if their family makes less than $36,131. Above that, students must pay
full price - an average of $10 per week per student.
A
school in Utah made national headlines last month for throwing lunches
in the trash if students couldn't pay. The headline of Legal Aid's
report on Monday: "It's Not Just Utah."
"Lunch trays will be pulled" Despite
Casellius' admonitions, it may take more than a letter from the state
to change things. In some districts, lunch denial is intentional - a
written mandate approved by school administrators or school boards. "Lunch
trays will be pulled from a student if there is not enough money in the
account," officials in Anoka County's St. Francis School District wrote
in a notice to parents of students in grades six through 12. "We do not
enjoy pulling trays from students and it slows the lines for other
students trying to get through."
St. Francis Superintendent
Edward Saxton did not respond on Monday to calls for comment. A
full-price lunch in the district costs $2.20 for students in grades K-5
and $2.40 for students in grades six through 12.
The Lake
Crystal Wellcome Memorial School District's official lunch policy
states: "Once the lunch account is at a zero balance there will be a
grace period for 2 days. After that the student will need to bring a
sack lunch. The student will be allowed to eat hot lunch again when they
have a positive balance in their meal account."
Marshall
public schools switch students over to cheese sandwiches when they run
out of money in their accounts. If the account remains in deficit, the
student will continue to receive sandwiches, but their parents may be
referred to a collection agency and social services "for possible
neglect."
"No reduced-price eligible child is turned away
from a meal," Marshall Schools Superintendent Klint Willert wrote in
response to Legal Aid's data practices request. He did not respond to an
interview request from the Star Tribune. "The child will be given
something to eat."
This is the second time Legal Aid has
surveyed school lunch policies. The number of districts guaranteeing a
hot lunch has increased since the initial survey in 2012, but so has the
number of districts turning students away as school costs increase and
budgets shrink.
"They have budgetary pressures and they
have new federal mandates for healthy foods, [and] food has gotten more
expensive," said Jessica Webster, staff attorney for Legal Aid's Legal
Services Advocacy Project, which conducted the survey with support from
the group Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. "Many just see this as a
parental responsibility. Some districts don't see refusing to serve food
as turning children away. They say, 'We give you a cheese sandwich for
three days and then it's your parents' responsibility.' "
Cassellius,
however, urged schools to find a way to guarantee a hot lunch for any
student who needs one, regardless of their parents' ability or
willingness to pay.
"As you know, for too many of our
children, school meals may be the only nutritious meals they receive,"
she wrote. "We also know that children learn best when they have
nutritious meals throughout their days."
The state could
expand the free lunch program to all students who now receive
reduced-price lunch for an estimated $3.35 million. The Legislature
debated such an expansion last session, but the proposal failed to make
its way into the education budget bill. Rep. Yvonne Selcer,
DFL-Minnetonka, is preparing to push the bill again this year.
The National School Lunch
Program and School Breakfast Program help schools provide nutritious
meals to students each school day. These are U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) programs that are administered by the Minnesota
Department of Education. Participating schools receive Federal and state
funds for meals that meet established nutrition standards.
General Program Requirements
You may qualify for this
benefit program if you have child(ren) who attend a Minnesota school
(high school or under) that participates in the National School Lunch
Program / School Breakfast Program. Almost all public schools and many
private schools participate in these programs.
Your Next Steps
The following information will lead you to the next steps to apply for this program.
Application Process
Schools send school meal
applications home at the beginning of each school year. However, you
may apply for school meals at any time throughout the school year by
submitting a household application directly to your school. Your school
will provide you with an application upon request.
If
you have further questions contact the Minnesota Department of
Education, Food and Nutrition Service at 651-582-8526, 1-800-366-8922
(Minnesota toll free), or email to:fns@state.mn.us
Published in Print: March 5, 2014, as Bertrand Weber
Minneapolis Leader Turns School Cafeterias Into 'Real Kitchens'
Bertrand Weber Focus of Strength: Student Nutrition Position: Director, Culinary and Nutrition Services District: Minneapolis Public Schools
Bertrand Weber had devoted his professional life—in boutique hotels
and high-end restaurants—to pleasing the most discerning of palates.
But the breaded chicken nuggets and canned fruit swimming in syrup he
saw on his son's lunch tray pushed the longtime hotel and restaurant
manager to swap a career in stylish hospitality for the decidedly less
posh world of school cafeterias.
He was determined to transform what K-12 students in Minnesota eat at school.
"We were pumping our kids with processed food," said Mr. Weber. "I became an angry parent."
Now, more than a decade later, Mr. Weber is the director of culinary and nutrition services
for the 36,000-student Minneapolis district, where he is overseeing a
massive shift in what students in that city encounter in their
cafeterias.
He is steadily phasing out prepackaged meals assembled in a central
kitchen and trucked to school lunchrooms and replacing them with meals
made from scratch and featuring fresh fruit, vegetables, and meats and
other ingredients that are locally sourced.
Butternut-squash turkey chili, heirloom-tomato salsas, and fresh
salad bars are becoming fixtures in Minneapolis' school lunchrooms.
What makes the ongoing transformation in Minneapolis remarkable is
that Mr. Weber has done it with a food-service budget considerably
smaller than those of similarly sized districts. When he came on board
in January 2012, Minneapolis' food budget was $15.6 million, compared
with $23 million across the Mississippi River in the neighboring, and
slightly bigger, St. Paul school district.
And he's doing it in a district where most of the 62 schools do not have fully functioning kitchens.
"It's a really smart tactic he's using to raise the image of his
program so that participation rates go up and [he can] raise more
revenue to do all the things he wants to do," said Jean Ronnei, the
chief of operations for the St. Paul district and the vice president of
the School Nutrition Association. "For 30 years, if you talked about
school food in Minneapolis, you were talking about airline-type food. He
is completely changing that, and with it, completely changing people's
minds about what food is in that school system."
Personal Mission
Born in Switzerland, Mr. Weber, 57, brings a missionary's zeal to the job of school food. And for very personal reasons.
His son, at age 7, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, requiring daily doses of insulin and close monitoring of his food intake.
"I went to lunch with him every day in that first year after his
diagnosis," Mr. Weber said. "The last things he needed were exactly the
things being served in the cafeteria every day: highly refined
carbohydrates and canned, syrupy fruit. I complained endlessly about the
food."
A short time later, his son's district—Hopkins, in surburban
Minneapolis—launched a search for a new food-services director who had a
hospitality background like Mr. Weber's.
—Jenn Ackeman for Education Week
"My family said to me that if I didn't apply for the job, I could
never complain about school food again," he said. "They were right."
He landed the job. Mr. Weber led the food-services program for three
years in the 7,400-student Hopkins district, where he was able to
introduce more fresh produce, purchase local food products, and involve
students and the community in the planning of menus. He pushed hard to
eliminate trans fats in Hopkins, years ahead of the recent federal
mandate to so do.
From there, he left for a job overseeing nutrition and culinary
standards for a privately owned food-management company that helped more
than 180 districts across Minnesota and other Midwestern states bring
fresh fruit and vegetable bars to school lunchrooms. He also got
involved in the growing movement known as Farm to School and currently
serves on the national network's executive committee.
"That was a great opportunity to impact more kids," he said.
Then, in 2011, the Minneapolis district's longtime food-services
director retired, and prominent members of the city's local food
movement urged Mr. Weber to go after the job.
First, he did some due diligence. He found that lunch participation
districtwide was 58 percent, a dismal rate compared with St. Paul, where
participation was at 78 percent. Cincinnati, a district of similar size
and demographics, had a 70 percent participation rate. There was lots
of room to grow, he thought, and the challenge of expanding and
improving the meals program within the constraints of a public school
district's budget appealed to him.
But he also thought his candor in the job interview might backfire.
"I was very straightforward that if they wanted someone to do the
status quo, go right over me," Mr. Weber said. "And I said, if you want
me for the job, it's going to be about changing the system for kids."
'A Real Kitchen'
In his first few months on the job, Mr. Weber went face to face with
parents and students in multiple community meetings, soliciting their
critical feedback.
"People were appalled by the food service, and I told them I was just
as appalled," he said. "I told them some ideas we had for making things
better, but I also was very upfront that this was going to take time. I
couldn't just flip one switch and go from a food-packing plant to a
real kitchen."
For starters, even the district's central kitchen had been stripped
of nearly all its cooking equipment in the mid-1990s. There were no
ovens. No steamers.
Still, to deliver as soon as possible on promises to bring real, or
"true" foods into lunchrooms, Mr. Weber and his team began installing
salad bars in some of the city's schools. To pay for the first few, he
tapped into his existing budget, but then quickly began seeking grants
and other outside sources of revenue to cover the expenses.
As of last month, half the district's schools were offering the
fresh-produce carts, which feature items such as spinach, cherry
tomatoes, cantaloupe, pears, three-bean salad, and couscous salad.
"It was important for us to get kids off fruit wrapped in plastic
packages," he said. "And it was a way to get skeptical parents paying
for their kids to eat lunch at school again."
Mr. Weber also began making immediate changes to the menus. Hot dogs
were sourced from a local cattle company that raises grass-fed beef and
were served on buns baked by school district cooks. And Tater Tot hot
dish—a beloved school lunch item in Minnesota—was revamped to be cooked
from scratch by the district's head chef in the central kitchen and
assembled by school-based cafeteria staff.
But beyond parents, Mr. Weber had two other critical groups to
persuade to embrace his vision for real food: students and his
food-services staff.
To reel in students—especially hard-to-impress teenagers—he decided
to test new recipes and menu items one day a week in select schools.
Students at one high school quickly dubbed Thursdays "Real Food Day" and
were enthusiastic about many of the new offerings like Asian cole slaw
and fresh-baked ciabatta bread.
A year and a half later, lunchroom meals in some high schools have
become so popular that students who usually left campus for lunch are
staying, but not everyone who wants to eat in the cafeteria can because
of time and space constraints.
"We're maxed out in our high schools," he said.
Mr. Weber said the biggest pushback he got initially came from older
employees in food services and the union that represents them."Some
people worried we were making too many changes that were affecting
people who had been here a long time," he said.
To help ease the transition, Mr. Weber offered culinary classes and
prep-cook training for staff members who needed support in moving away
from the assembly-line approach to food service.
Attracting Customers
Bernadeia H. Johnson, the superintendent in Minneapolis, credits Mr. Weber for "revolutionizing" school lunches in the district.
"Our students are eating healthier meals that keep them satisfied for
a day of quality learning and instruction," she said in a statement.
"Lunch menus are full of variety and often introduce students to new and
different fresh ingredients, including foods that reflect the
ethnicities of our students."
Since Mr. Weber started just over two years ago, overall
participation in the district's meals program has grown from 58 percent
to 66 percent, most of it among the 35 percent of students who pay full
price. Participation among those who qualify for free- and reduced-price
meals has also ticked up, from 72.5 percent in 2011 to 87.5 percent. To
help pay for the array of food and nutrition initiatives spearheaded by
Mr. Weber, lunch prices have been raised by a dime,but only for
students who pay full price. Mr. Weber also has begun serving breakfast
in classrooms in 20 schools, with plans to expand.
With 30 more salad bars to install and most schools still without
kitchens and equipment to do on-site cooking, though, Mr. Weber and his
team have hustled to raise private money to keep their momentum going. A
local fitness company and General Mills are among the benefactors who
are backing the efforts.
He's also found creative ways to buy local, organically raised food products within his budget.
Among the 60,000 pounds of local produce he bought for the district
last fall was one farmer's entire kale crop, damaged in a hail storm.
"We were going to chop it up anyway," he said. "And it gave us a healthy vegetable to introduce to our kids."
Mr. Weber has also drawn on his deep connections to local chefs and
restaurant owners to persuade them to get involved in recipe development
for the district. In turn, the chefs have agreed to endorse the recipes
they create for school lunches on their own menus.
"He's getting great support and publicity for what he's doing," said
Ms. Ronnei of the St. Paul district. "Chefs endorsing school food? What a
message that sends to the community."
It is a program that pays for all or part of the cost of breakfast and
lunch for children at school. By offering healthy and nutritious meals,
the program also helps children to learn and grow.
Who can get free or reduced-price meals from the School Meal Program?
Children attending public and private schools grades K-12. All foster children can get free meals. If your family is getting
help from Food Support (stamps), MFIP, or FDPIR (Food Distribution
Program on Indian Reservations), you can get free meals. Otherwise,
if you are not on these programs, your family has to have an income
below the limits to get help. Some families can get free meals and
others can get a reduced (lower) price on their meals. The most you
will pay for a reduced-price lunch is 40 cents.
Are there any asset limits for the School Meal Program?
No. This program does not look at your assets to see if you can get
help. (Assets are money in a checking or savings account or other
things of value that you or your family own.)
If I already get Food Support, MFIP or FDPIR, or if I have a foster child, do I have to apply to get help?
Maybe. If you are on these programs, you may get a letter in August
that says you are already going to get free meals. If you don’t get a
letter, or if the letter doesn’t cover all of your children, you will
have to apply to get help. If you get Food Support, MFIP or FDPIR, when
you fill out the School Meal application you only have to write in the
names of your children and your case number(s) and sign your name. If
you are applying for a foster child, you only have to write the child’s
name and the amount of foster care money for personal use, and sign
your name. You have to fill out a seperate application for each foster
child.
How do I get an application?
You can pick one up in the office at your child’s school. It may be
mailed to your household during the summer with other school papers. It
is called
the “Application for Educational Benefits.” The application is
available in English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Khmer (Cambodian),
Laotian, Vietnamese, Arabic and Russian. You can also get an
application on
this website by clicking here.
When can I apply?
You can apply at any time during the school year. Applications are not
accepted during the
summer. If you intend to enroll your child in the program, you must
wait until the school year begins to submit your application. Even if
your child was enrolled before, you must fill out a new application
each school year.
If your income goes down, or
your household size goes up, you may be able to get help — even if you
didn’t qualify for help before.
What is the application like?
It is one page long. It will ask for the names of all the children and
adults in your household and how much money they make each month. The
adult who fills out the application also has to write his or her Social
Security Number. If you don’t have a Social Security Number, you can
say that and your family can still get help.
What else do I have to do to apply?
Just turn in your application in to the school office. A small group of
people will be asked to show proof of their income. The school may also
check to make sure the information you gave them is correct.
What happens after I turn in the application?
The school will send you a letter to let you know if you qualify for help.
You will find out in about two weeks.
How long can I be on the School Meal Program until I have to apply again?
Once you are on the program, your child can get free or
reduced-price meals all school year. Some schools also cover 30 days
into the next
school year. You will have to apply again every year. If your income or
household size changes during the year, you do not have to tell the
school.
Do I have to be a U.S. citizen to get help from the School Meal Program?
No. Even if you, your children, or other people living with you are not U.S. citizens, you can still get help.
I am an immigrant. If I get help from the School Meal Program, am I a public charge?
No. You are not a public charge if you use the School Meal Program. Schools cannot tell USCIS (INS) if you get help.
Can I get help paying for breakfast also?
Some schools also have a breakfast program. If your child gets free or
reduced-priced lunches, he or she will also get free breakfast if your
school offers breakfast. You do not have to apply again for breakfast.
Does it matter how long I have lived in Minnesota to get help?
No.
Do all schools have the School Meal Program?
No, but most schools do.
Will other kids know that my child is getting a free or reduced-price meal?
No. The school has to make sure no one can tell who is getting a free or reduced-price meal.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the National
School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP) and After
School Care Program. USDA provides cash reimbursement to public schools,
private nonprofit schools and residential child care institutions for
nutritious meals and snacks served to children in preschool through
grade 12 at a minimal cost.
Families may apply for meals served
free or at a reduced-price based on the income level of the household.
Residential child care institutions and juvenile correctional facilities
may serve meals to children and youth 20 years of age or younger.
Reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool programs is
based on the income level of the households living in the local area or
the enrolled children. Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Improving child nutrition is the focal point of the Healthy,
Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA). The legislation authorizes funding
and sets policy for the National School Lunch Program, the School
Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program and the Child and
Adult Care Food Program. HHKFA upgrades the nutritional standards for
school meals, increases the federal reimbursement rate for school
lunches by six cents, increases access to school meals, provides more
meals for at-risk children, and works toward improving the quality of
foods supplied to schools. For resources on how schools can best meet
the new regulations, see the related links at right.
Farm to
School is a nationwide collaborative effort to connect school districts
with local farmers for the purpose of serving healthy school meals while
utilizing local fresh foods. Farm to School aims to meet the diverse
needs of school nutrition programs in an efficient manner, to support
regional and local farmers and thereby strengthen local food systems and
to provide support for health and nutrition education. View more information and resources on Farm to School.
Meet the Challenge and Become a HealthierUS School. The
HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) recognizes schools that have taken
a leadership role in helping students learn to make healthier eating
and active lifestyle choices. HUSSC is a voluntary certification program
for schools participating in the National School Lunch Program. Select
the HealthierUS School Challenge link to learn more.
Nondiscrimination statement:
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its
agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or
administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on
race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or
retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity
conducted or funded by USDA.
Persons
with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for
program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign
Language, etc.), should contact the agency (state or local) where they
applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have
speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service
at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made
available in languages other than English.
To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, (AD-3027) found online at: http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html,
and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide
in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a
copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed
form or letter to USDA by:
(1) Mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
Kate Kompas
Credit: Courtesy of Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Services
Credit: Courtesy of Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Services
