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.
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
Technology solutions for the cafeteria and beyond. The Lunch Cashier
System software is designed for schools and businesses that need to
manage meal accounting information.
In order for parents to create an account, they must know their
students activation code. Parents can retrieve the activation code by
emailing Mrs. Harriet Wood at woodh@burnsscitech.org or Mrs. Crystal
Faulkner at faulknerc@burnsscitech.org.
All pre-payments made online will instantly reflect on the students account.
The Bearcat Diner receives a Grant each year
through the USDA to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to students at
Bryant, Central and Emerson Elementary Schools and KEC as a daily snack.
FUN FACTS
Did you know that…
• Unlike most fruits, pears ripen better off the tree.
• Figs provide more fiber than any other common fruit or vegetable.
• British sailors used to be called “Limeys” because they ate citrus fruits to prevent scurvy on long sea voyages.
• Some Chinese varieties of peaches are flat like donuts.
• Strawberries are the only fruit that have their seeds on the outside.
• Bell peppers can be green, red, yellow, orange or purple.
• Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same.
• Many of the nutrients in a potato are located just below the skin.
• Hawaii is the leading producer of bananas in the U.S.
• Lychee trees can live for more than 100 years.
• The first carrots were white, purple and yellow.
• Ancient Greeks awarded celery to winners of sports events.
• Broccoflower is a cross between cauliflower and broccoli. It has more
vitamin C than oranges and more vitamin A than either broccoli or
cauliflower.
The Bearcat Diner Mission Statement
The purpose of Kearney Public School’s
Bearcat Diner is to prepare and serve nutritious and appealing meals
that meet the dietary guidelines to students, staff, and community in a
positive, cheerful manner, while maintaining financial soundness, and
contributing to the quality and excellence of a student’s education
experience.
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 from
discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability,
age, ore 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 (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape,
American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or
local) where 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 made
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:
ttp://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 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
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410
(2) Fax: (202) 690-7442; or
(3) Email: program.intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. Bearcat Diner Office Location & Phone Number
4611 Ave N
Kearney, NE 68847
308-698-8158
Alexandria Public Schools - School Lunch Program / Nutrition Software
VIEWING FAMILY MEAL ACCOUNT DETAILS
Improvements
have been made to how families access their meal account information.
If you have previously registered with your family number and PIN, you
do not need to re-register. If this is your first time accessing your
family account in Wordware, please call 320-762-3315 to obtain your
Family Key number. To register your account, go to family.wordwareinc.com and follow the instructions.
Once registered, you will be able to access your account balance, view transactions, make payments, and more.
Pine
City Schools are excited to offer parents a more convenient way to
deposit funds into their family lunch accounts. Parents will now be
able to add funds directly from their Wordware family site with a simple
button click. Parents will no longer need to manage separate usernames
and passwords for other sites to make lunch payments. Parents can
determine the payment method and the amount they would like to add to
their account, as well as some added functions for automatic low balance
notifications and recurring payments. This easy-to-use method will
make adding funds to your student’s account much easier and faster.
This solution provides:
Secure online payment processing (PCI compliance)
Flexible payment options
An easy to use, intuitive interface
Receipts plus much more
PARENT QUICK STEPS
Parent Steps to Use FEEZEE- Add Funds
Log into your Family site for Wordware
Click Add Funds
First time users- Select Add Payment Method (One time only setup or when changing payment methods)
Fill out Payment Profile and click Save
Select Add Funds
Enter the amount you would like to add
Click Add Funds
Review payment information
Click Submit
You will then have an option to print a receipt
The next time you click Add Funds, you will simply enter the amount and complete the process
Need help? We're just a call away.
Wordware,
in partnership with FEEZEE (Pine City’s online payment solution),
understands you may need assistance signing onto the site or learning
how to use it, and we are here to help you. If you would like to get set
up, but need assistance, please contact us at the number below.
Support for the Wordware Family Site for the Pine City Public School District
844-533-3933, press 2 for Technical Support
Support Hours 7:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday - Friday www.wordwareinc.com www.fee-zee.com
National School Breakfast Week
is coming up: March 7-11. At PCPS, students can get a breakfast
complete with fruit, 100% fruit juice, whole grains, and milk for $1.10.
All kindergarten students eat free breakfast this year!
Pine
City Elementary School will have several guest servers throughout the
week, new menu items, small give-aways, taste testing and student
voting.
Pine City High School will be offering taste testing, a new menu item and student voting.
Nutrition Education in the Classroom Former
Food and Nutrition Director, Abby Olson RD, and Dietetic Intern, Hannah
Colby, taught several kindergarten classrooms a lesson on trying new
foods through a book called "I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato"
by Lauren Child. Students also gave examples of new foods they tried
and liked when they thought they would not like the new food by just
looking at it. Students were given samples of a dessert hummus and tried a fruit many had never tried before, a mango!!! The snacks were a big hit with the kindergarten students! Check out some photos below.
After
trying the dessert hummus students were given quick surveys. They were
asked whether or not they liked the dessert hummus and a whopping 95% gave a thumbs up to liking the hummus!
May
1st is School Lunch Hero Day. This is a day to recognize the kitchen
staff that work hard to prepare meals for students, staff and guests
everyday! Please give a big thank you today and everyday to your lunch
ladies!
Check Out the TED talk below about why lunch ladies are awesome!
ONALASKA, Wis. – Here’s a scenario: You’re an Onalaska parent,
and you give your high school student, Junior, $2 per day to buy lunch in the a
la carte line.
You hope he chooses a
balance of nutritious foods, but you have no way of knowing whether he’s blowing
the whole $2 to buy cookies every day.
Next year, if you doubt
Junior’s dining decisions, you need only phone somebody at the school
district’s food service program to get a report of his a la carte purchases,
thanks to a new software program approved Monday night by the Onalaska School
Board.
The ability to generate
such reports is only one advantage for the district, said Sue Black, who runs
the food service program.
TheWordware software program,which already is being used in
Holmen and West Salem, also will make it easier for the district to collect
money and parents to pay money.
With the software, each
family will have one account to cover any number of students. Parents deposit
money into the account, and the students are each assigned a four-digit code
they punch in when they get food at school.
Black said parents can pay
for two weeks worth of lunches at a time or a whole semester, depending on
their preference.
Parents will be notified,
probably by mail at first, when it’s time to put more money into the account.
Sometime next year, Black said, she hopes to have an automatic telephone
notification system.
The software will mean less
work for school personnel collecting the money and passing out lunch tickets,
Black said.
Black said problems with
students using another student’s code have been rare in other districts, and to
make sure it doesn’t happen, Black plans to have a picture appear on the
terminal that should match the face of the student who punches in the code.
The software will cost
about $18,000, which will be paid for out of a $69,000 surplus in the food
service fund. Superintendent John Burnett told the board that money could not
be used to help with the district’s budget woes in the general fund.
In all, the food service
budget will use $43,000 of that surplus next year, including money for new
lunch-related equipment at the high school and Irving Pertzsch Elementary.
The board also approved a
nickel per meal increase for next year, except for adult lunch prices.
In other business,
n The board approved a
$429,550 capital improvements budget for next year, including $263,000 in
spending given immediate approval. The other roughly $166,000 in spending must
wait until at least October, at which time enrollment figures will be in and
the district will have a better handle on its final budget.
The board approved
establishment of an American Sign Language club at the high school next year.
