With the start of the new school year quickly approaching, many of us are finding ourselves consumed with planning and preparing for our children’s “first day” back at school. From buying new clothes and backpacks, to ordering school supplies and coordinating afterschool activities and sports, there are countless chores and “to do lists” to tend to in such a short amount of time. And, if this isn’t enough, concerns about school lunch add to this boundless list — Do we pack lunches or do our children buy lunch from the school cafeteria? Is the food similar to fast food or do healthy alternatives exist?
My personal preference has been to make my children’s lunch. They are still young and I want assurances they will eat the highest quality of foods while at school. I have never felt confident that our school district’s cafeterias offer the quality of foods I would approve of.
Last year, my family moved out of the city into a suburban community. After a few months, I decided to get involved with the school lunch program. I wanted to participate and influence positive change in the foods offered in our local schools. I also recognized that my own children will soon be in middle school, where the thought of bringing lunch from home more than likely, would not be too appealing to them. You know, peer pressure!!!
My timing was perfect! The district was in process of forming a nutrition committee to support the upcoming selection process in hiring a new food service provider. Subsequently, in February 2008, I was appointed co-chair of the SCA Nutrition and Wellness Committee.
We began with surveying our three district cafeteria facilities. During our inspection, it was obvious many of the foods and beverages served were poor quality. It was interesting to notice that although the facilities had working stoves, no one was cooking. The cafeteria staff was only heating and serving. Foods were frozen made with “trans fats”, “high fructose syrup”, artificial colors and sweeteners. All vegetables were heated and originated from a can. Disappointedly, we found the fruit juices were made in South America and many of the milk cartons were expired. If that wasn’t enough, the staff chose to place colorful Gatorade bottles next to Poland springs water bottles. Clearly, we can guess which the children would choose of the two.
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You can imagine how horrified and in disbelief we were. We immediately scheduled meetings with the district heads and food service manager. Thankfully, some immediate improvements were made. Gatorade, South American  juicesand hydrogenated fats were eliminated. The kitchen cook began “cooking” again making homemade soups and cooking fresh vegetables. Frozen french toast sticks and French fries were removed and replaced with homemade egg sandwiches and baked homemade fries.
Although we were encouraged by some of the immediate changes, we knew more work needed to be done. As such, we all agreed to conduct a district-wide survey to parents and kids. Since many of our children were not eating the school’s prepared lunch, we wanted to gather feedback from these participating parents and children. The results of the survey came as no surprise, when we read about the bad tasting, moldy, and stale foods. Parents and children consistently reported their disapproval over the quality and taste of the lunch food. However, there was some good news—overall most of our parents wanted change and were  willing to support our committee’s initiatives.
So our last initiative was to support rewriting the district nutrition and wellness policy. We learned this document is instrumental because the guidelines are what the incoming food service provider needs to adhere to during the bidding and selection process. Our district policy had not been updated in many years, and consequently many of the bad quality foods we found in our cafeterias were still being allowed. As a result, we made a number of positive changes in this document which will enable our children to learn to make smart food choices given the quality of food. Needless to say, I am excited and enthusiastic about these new changes. Although it may not be perfect, I feel we are heading in the right direction towards a more natural and healthier food cafeteria.
This past year, I learned the importance of being flexible and understanding the internal politics within our school district. Changing old habits and policies takes time and patience. I have confidence my community and our school administrators are united in sharing my desire to offer healthier foods. I am grateful for this opportunity and motivated to continue this work.
I hope you enjoy my recap and if anyone is interested in making changes in their local schools, please don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail at donna@nourishourkids.com.
Healthy Regards,
Donna |
