Districts Make Changes To School Lunch

WAITSBURG - At the beginning of this school year, school staff members began hearing complaints that students weren't eat- ing enough to feel full and energized after lunch. Now, some local schools are stepping up to accommodate kids and prevent their tummies from rumbling in fourth period.

Susan Wildey, the food services supervisor for the Waitsburg School Dis- trict, said in September the amount of food offered for breakfast and lunch by the district's cafeterias has been reduced this school year.

The change in nutritional guidelines for all school districts across the country is because of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The legislation au- thorizes funding and sets policy for United States Department of Agricul- ture's core child nutrition programs, according to the act's website.

" The Healthy, Hun- ger-Free Kids Act allows USDA, for the first time in over 30 years, opportunity to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children," it says on the site.

The guidelines are being doled out in a tier system, becoming stricter each school year.

The guidelines have increased the amount of whole grains, fruits and veggies the students are given at lunchtime, but the meals are lower in calories.

A parent spoke out at a Prescott School Board meeting recently and said her student has been complaining about being hun- gry at school and asked the school board what it can do to help.

The strict guidelines are also adding more work to the job of food service supervisors, who have to measure out all nutrition values and calories of the food they serve students for each meal, said Waitsburg Superintendent Dr. Carol Clarke. Not doing so could mean the federal govern- ment won't reimburse the school district for those meals.

To help Wildey out with the time commitment of counting calories and reporting to the federal gov- ernment, the Waitsburg School Board last week approved a few changes. First, it approved Wildey once a month to hire a substitute in the kitchen to cook while Wildey files paperwork. Also, the board approved adding 30 minutes a day to the food services assistant's work schedule, from 7 hours to 7.5 hours. This change was effective Nov. 19 and will cost the school district an extra $850, Clarke said.

In addition to the kitchen staff help, Waitsburg Sec- ondary Principal Stephanie Wooderchak said each of the three buildings have re- frigerators and microwaves students have access to as needed and the district has provided this to students for some time. The schools do have students who store food items in the refrigerators and (with supervision) access microwaves to prepare food items when needed, she said.

Prescott Principal Jodi Thew said Prescott pro- vides a microwave and refrigerator for student use if they need to bring extra food for lunch.

"We also provide a mid- morning snack for high school students, and snacks for Prescott athletes between the end of the school day and the start of practice," Thew said.

In September, Dayton Superintendent Doug Johnson said he hadn't heard complaints of his students going hungry and as of last week the new guidelines still seemed to not have much negative impact in his schools.

But, he added one change in the kitchen. The district recently added a new position for helping during the lunch rush. The new paid position replaces student helpers who have in the past have helped in the kitchen, he said.

"Much of the reason for this change is at teacher request - they felt it was detrimental to the students' classroom efforts if they missed 1 hour of class time every day to help in the kitchen," Johnson said. "The change was made to help meet education needs not because of new federal guidelines."