Budget Problems Mean Healthy School Lunch Problems

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

This great article reinforces so many important messages about the importance of healthy school meals. I'll try to summarize with my own perspective:

1) Wellness teams have made a huge impact in schools
2) School need more money for better food
3) Kids not only will eat healthy food - but they prefer it!

A little more detail:

First, wellness teams have made a huge impact in schools.

In Ridgway Colo., the elementary school food program serves "wholesome, made from scratch meals crafted from fresh ingredients. And more nutritious, delicious meals aren’t all the innovative school meal program has brought to Ridgway’s schools; teachers report that kids are more ready to learn after eating a whole grain and fresh fruit and vegetable-hearty meal at Ridgway’s lunchrooms."

This healthy food program was created because of a community-led wellness committee (established from the 2005 Child Nutrition Act) that pushed this program forward. This shows how parents can make real change in a school, and that federal policy has a significant impact at the local level.

Second, schools need more money for better food.

Although many schools run creative, healthful school lunch programs, these programs often (if not always) cost more than the federal reimbursement of $2.57. Schools may be subsidizing the extra cost from their general revenue, a decision that gets even more difficult when budgets get tight. If we expect more schools to improve the quality of their meals, we need to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with more funding for school food programs.

Third, kids not only will eat healthy food - but they prefer it!

This program turns conventional wisdom on its head. We constantly hear that kids won't eat healthy food. But according to the article:

"The toughest critics – the students – love their lunchroom fare. At the Secondary School, where juniors and seniors are allowed to go off-campus at lunchtime, more than 80 percent of the student body chose to remain on campus and eat at Colby’s kitchen, making the lunchroom a school family room of sorts."

And after a discussion about needing to cut back their program, one parent sums it up: “I just can’t imagine our kids with hotdogs and tater tots.”

Comments

[Tonya Peele]

If parents want an avenue into the school wellness scene, I am proof that school wellness teams/councils are the answer. Many schools are under resourced and welcome parent involvement in implementing health promoting initiatives. Through parent-school partnerships, significant strides can and should be made to improve school food and fitness.