District drops federal lunch program
By Jessica Brown in Cincinatti.com
Lunch at Fort Thomas Independent
Schools may include more French fries, fewer vegetables and larger portions
this year. One thing that won't be on the menu: federal dollars.
The Campbell County district is
opting out of the federal school lunch program, forfeiting hundreds of
thousands of dollars in federal funding.
The reason: Kids didn't like their
healthful lunches.
"The calorie limitations and
types of foods that have to be provided ... have resulted in the kids just
saying 'I'm not going to eat that,'" Fort Thomas Superintendent Gene
Kirchner said.
The 2,800-student district joins a
small but growing number of school districts across the country – mostly
wealthy districts who can afford to forfeit the money – who have dropped out of
the federal program in the wake of stricter nutritional standards.
Schools said students don't like the
unsalted potatoes, low-fat cheese or the mandatory fruits and vegetables. They
throw food away or decide not to eat at all.
In Kirchner's district, 166 fewer
students bought lunch every day last year – 30,000 fewer a year. Instead they
brought lunch from home, went to nearby restaurants or skipped lunch
altogether.
That's a problem because students
were going hungry or choosing unhealthful fast food or snacks instead of school
meals.
It's also a financial problem for
the district. If kids don't buy lunch, the district loses money and has to dig
into its general fund.
Money that could pay for textbooks
and technology must be redirected to pay for green beans and whole-grain hot
dog buns.
It simply wasn't economically
feasible anymore, said Kirchner. "The program is heading in the wrong
direction," he said.
So his school board opted out. It
will still offer lunch – a healthful lunch, he said – at the same prices.
Children who get free or
reduced-price lunches – about 17 percent of the student body – will still get
them at that price.
Only now, the school district will
absorb the cost – more than $260,000 a year – rather than use federal funding
to cover it.
Schools throughout the nation are
grappling with the same decision.
Nationwide, 1 million fewer students
are choosing a school lunch each day, according to the National School
Nutrition Association.
Last year, it said, 47 percent of
school meal programs reported that their overall revenues had declined – and
when kids don't buy school lunches, the district loses money.
It's unclear how many schools or
districts have dropped the program because of the new nutrition guidelines.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
says the number is small. Its blog post in September 2013 said only 146 of the
schools surveyed, or 0.15 percent, had left the program because they wouldn't
comply with the new standards.
"But we've seen a lot more
schools pop up," said Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the School
Nutrition Association. "I've seen stories out of New York, Michigan,
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania." She thinks the number will increase this year
as the standards expand to include "a la carte" items at school snack
bars, which are often money-makers for schools.
Locally, Fort Thomas is the first to
drop the program districtwide. The Oak Hills school district in Hamilton County
dropped it at several schools, including the high school, 33 years ago. Even
back then school officials say too-strict regulations were to blame.
Districts who drop the program have
something in common: Their student body is fairly wealthy. They have few enough
students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches that they can afford to
cover that cost.
For higher-poverty districts,
though, dropping the program simply isn't an option.
"Gracious, no," said
Cincinnati Public Schools Food Service Director Jessica Shelly, when asked
whether her district could afford to drop it. Around 74 percent of the 33,000
students there qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
"I get $1.8 million a month in
(federal) reimbursement," she said, "so there's no way I could
operate this without the federal government."
Other school districts, like Lakota
in Butler County, are on the bubble. Like Fort Thomas, 18 or 19 percent of
Lakota students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches.
"We've looked at the option (of
dropping the program) every year," said Food Service Director Chris
Burkhardt.
"We definitely see kids throw
food away. We try to educate them,... but we're having a tough time changing a
mindset that's been around since the beginning of time to just take what you're
going to eat," he said. "That's what my parents said. Now they're
saying you have to take a fruit or a vegetable."
The district of 16,700 got $1.3
million in federal subsidies last year for the lunch program. Participation has
gone down about 5 percent since the standards came along.
Right now dropping the program
doesn't make economic sense. Someday, though, it may, Burkhardt said. It's more
expensive to provide whole-grain pasta or low-sodium cheese, he said.
Manufacturers have had to reformulate all their recipes and often pass the costs
on to school districts.
Then, there are the fruits and
vegetables. "Even if a student doesn't want it, they're required to take
it," said Burkhardt. "That could be 20 cents or 50 cents per day.
When you're dealing with increased cost from manufacturers and unfunded
mandates, those pennies can really affect your bottom line."
The district raised lunch prices 10
cents this year because of the increased costs. If it drops the federal lunch
program it likely would raise prices even more.
"We try not to pass costs on to
consumers, but we're still a business," he said.
Andi Sempier, the mother of a
third-grade student at Fort Thomas' Woodfill Elementary school, said she's glad
the district did away with the standards.
"I'm lucky my daughter will eat
her vegetables. But it was very wasteful from what I've seen from being in the
cafeteria," she said. "And the lunch purchases have fallen off.
That's a huge indicator it's not working."
At the tiny Silver Grove school
district in Campbell County, just down the road from Fort Thomas, 85 percent of
students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches. The district can't afford
to drop the program.
Students have noticed the difference
since the new standards kicked in.
"I don't like it," said
Rachael Garza, a junior. "They got rid of all the good food, and it
doesn't taste good."
Her favorite side, macaroni and
cheese, is no longer on the menu. Students were required to take green beans or
applesauce with their chicken sandwiches Friday. Most of the green beans went
in the garbage.
"I eat it because I'm
hungry," she said. "But it's not a good thing."
Josh Pollitt, a senior, misses the
salted, seasoned french fries. He doesn't like the pizza because the low-fat
cheese doesn't taste as good. But he does like the tacos.
So what does he think of the
standards?
"I think we should have a
choice," he said. "I think if they offered a choice, we might choose
higher-calorie food, but we're pretty active students so I think we'd work it
off."
School Nutrition Director Nancy
McCarter said most students have adapted well and that very few refuse lunch.
"Our kiddos, they take the
food," she said. "No one really misses the white buns versus the
whole-grain buns." She said students usually eat at least some of what's
on their plates, and she said broccoli has become one of the more popular menu
items.
Many districts, especially those
unable to opt out, are getting creative to make sure less food ends up in the
garbage.
"If they're throwing it out,
that sends red flags to say, 'Why are they throwing it out?' Have I asked them
what they like? Have I tried different recipes?" said CPS' Shelly.
"My kids aren't like, 'Yay – vegetables!' But that's my staff's job so I
can at least encourage them to try it."
Some school districts are working with chefs or
other consultants to improve their food's flavor. Lakota will experiment this
year with an induction cooker and cooked-to-order stir fry.
Cincinnati Public Schools and Lakota
have added "spice bars." Instead of salt, students can pick cumin or
garlic or other no-sodium spices to season their food. Kids like a little
control over some aspects of their meals, said Shelly.
The right equipment also makes a
difference. Cincinnati Public Schools offers salad bars and installed steamers
and ovens so it could bake foods instead of deep frying them.
Shelly is working on a hamburger
with mushrooms in it to reduce the sodium and fat content. Another option
removed the soy and substituted prune fibers to make it gluten-free.
Now, she's searching high and low
for whole-grain oyster crackers to serve with their three-way meal – a meal
that already has whole-grain spaghetti, low-fat chili and low-sodium cheese.
"We're 14 days from the start of school, and I'm still struggling to find
a whole-grain oyster cracker that doesn't taste like cardboard," she said.
"So those are the things we struggle with."
School leaders and the Nutrition
Association say they support more healthful lunches. They oppose the timing,
though, and the way the standards have been rolled out.
"I think the standards are
absolutely a good thing," said Burkhardt. "They address childhood
obesity. My biggest regret is that they weren't phased in over time. I think I
speak for most directors when I say we'd like a year to catch our breath and
market the program a little bit before we take the next step."
About the standards
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
came up with new nutrition standards in 2010 calling for lower sodium, more
whole grains and more fruits and vegetables. It was a way to combat growing
childhood obesity and encourage healthy eating. It also put limitations on fat
and calories. The standards went into effect last year.
The act is up for re-authorization
next year but the issue has already become a political football as lawmakers
quarrel about whether to grant waivers from the requirements.
Here are some of the changes:
Vegetables
Before: No specifications as to type of vegetable
Now: Weekly requirements for dark green, red/orange, beans/peas
and starchy vegetables
Whole grains
Before: "Encouraged"
Now: All grains must be whole-grain rich
Milk
Before: Variety of fat contents allowed
Now: Must be fat free or 1 percent low-fat
Sodium
Before: No targets
Now: Less than 1,230 milligrams for K-5, 1,360 milligrams for
6-8 and 1,420 milligrams for 9-12
Calories
Before: No maximums
Now: Maximum of 650 calories for K-5, 700 for 6-8, and 850 for
9-12
The original article can be found at: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/education/2014/08/09/district-drops-federal-lunch-program/13847169/
No comments:
Post a Comment