Healthy Schools Campaign

Good News for Illinois School Cafeterias!

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Last week, Governor Quinn announced that the state of Illinois has awarded $3.6 million in Federal Recovery Funds to improve school cafeterias. The grants have been awarded to 254 schools across the state. The Illinois State Board of Education reported that funding priority was given to schools with plans to purchase equipment that:

• Lends itself to improving the quality of nutrition to meet dietary guidelines;

• Improves the safety of food served;

• Improves the overall energy efficiency of the school nutrition operations;

• Allows schools to support expanded participation in a school meal program.

The full report is here. [pdf]

We applaud the words of State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch:

"Good nutrition gives children a better chance to succeed in the classroom... These funds will help schools improve their cafeteria equipment and the quality of the meals served for some of our neediest children across the state."

Friday Kids' Recipe: It's about Thyme!

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it's so easy and fun to make with kids. It requires no knives or other sharp objects, and little chefs can do practically every step of the process. I've had great success making this recipe with children as young as three -- they loved snapping the beans, pulling apart the thyme, squeezing the lemon juice. And in the end, they love eating the tasty, crunchy summer salad!

Summer bean salad
½ pound green beans, ends snipped
½ pound yellow beans, ends snipped
Ice water bath
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp mustard
1 tsp garlic, chopped
½ tsp honey
Salt, pepper to taste
6 tbsp olive oil
1tsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp chives, chopped
4 cups leaf lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to boil in saucepan. Add beans. Cook for 4 minutes. Drain. Immerse in ice water bath for 5 minutes. Drain. Whisk lemon juice, mustard, garlic, honey, salt, and pepper, in bowl. Continuing to whisk, slowly pour in olive oil. Adjust seasonings to taste. Toss beans with 2 to 3 tablespoons of dressing. Add chopped herbs, toss again. Mix beans and lettuce together. Add additional dressing to taste.

Enjoy!

 

Child Nutrition Committee Work to Begin This Fall

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director 

 

With the current Child Nutrition Act set to expire at the end of September, we have been closely following discussions about when committees in Congress will begin work on the Act’s reauthorization.

Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently announced that he hopes his committee's work on the legislation will begin in October or November. This means that Congress will need to approve an extension of the current Act so it can continue operating at current funding levels until reauthorization.

In addition to this announcement about timing, Harkin shared some insight into his current thinking about how the Act will address the school food environment. He went on to say that the Agriculture Committee would begin with a draft for reauthorization that would give the USDA, which currently oversees the school meals program, authority to regulate all food sold in schools -- not just cafeteria meals, but also vending machines, school stores, a la carte lines and other sales. Harkin said that the USDA's authority over this food would ensure that junk food could not undermine school nutrition programs. 

We look forward to seeing the draft of this legislation and working with our Congressional leaders to ensure that the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act supports schools’ efforts to provide all students with fresh, healthy meals and important lessons about nutrition. To learn more, take action, and stay posted for updates, be sure to visit our Child Nutrition Act resource center. 

Report Gives U.S. Low Marks for High Obesity Rates

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

A new report, F as in Fat, was recently released by the Trust for America’s Health in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In addition to sharing alarming statistics on obesity in both adults and children, the report assesses state and federal policies that address the nation’s growing obesity epidemic.

It also provides recommendations for further action: I was especially interested to see that the report points out the importance of the school environment in addressing childhood obesity.

Obesity prevention should be a high priority in health reform, the report suggests. Recommendations for health reform include:

• Increasing the number of programs available in communities, schools, and childcare settings that help make nutritious foods more affordable and accessible and provide safe and healthy places for people to engage in physical activity;
• Ensuring that every adult and child has access to coverage for preventive medical services, including nutrition and obesity counseling and screening for obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes; and
• Reducing Medicare expenditures by promoting proven programs that improve nutrition and increase physical activity among adults ages 55 to 64.

The report also calls for a national strategy to combat obesity, with schools very much in focus. It recommends policies that:

• Provide healthy foods and beverages to students at schools;
• Increase the availability of affordable healthy foods in all communities;
• Increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity at school;
• Improve access to safe and healthy places to live, work, learn, and play;
• Limit screen time; and
• Encourage employers to provide workplace wellness programs.

On their own, the statistics shared in this report are alarming: nearly two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese and nearly one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

Among adults, obesity rates continued to rise. If there is some good news here though, it is that researchers at the CDC report that there was no statistically significant change in the number of children and adolescents (aged 2 to 19) who were overweight or obese between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006.

This is the first time the rates have not increased in more than 25 years.

To me, this highlights the importance of the work already underway to prevent childhood obesity, and speaks to the need for increased efforts to reduce the rates that are already staggeringly high.

As this report points out, creating a healthy school environment is a critical part of the solution to the complicated problem that our nation faces in addressing the obesity epidemic. As lawmakers roll up their sleeves on health care reform, we urge them to take these recommendations to heart.

Nutrition Facts on Restaurant Menus Could Help Kids Make Healthy Choices

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

A new bill in the Senate would make tallying up nutrition info for your restaurant meal even more straightforward than calculating the tip. A national menu labeling provision [pdf - see page 399] would require restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to post calories on menus, menu boards (including drive-thrus), and food display tags, with additional information -- fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sodium, protein and fiber -- available in writing upon request. Self-serve items, food on display, alcohol, and vending machines would be covered. Specials (on the menu for less than 60 days) and market tests would be exempt.

Like the act which currently requires nutrition facts labeling on packaged foods, this legislation would require national uniformity. This means that states and localities would not be able to require additional nutrient information on menus but would be able to compel things such as food safety warnings, nutrition symbols or sodium warnings. With a uniform national system, the industry will be able to more easily comply with the requirement and consumers will quickly come to expect this information from restaurants.

HSC believes that the menu labeling requirements would help to make nutrition education in schools more actionable: students would be better able to make informed food choices when they purchase food away from school. While that may seem like a small benefit, it is actually quite important. As Rochelle discussed in a Sept. 2008 blog, we often hear from principals and others who work in schools that they are frustrated to see students visit nearby restaurants (often fast-food stops) to pick up unhealthy snacks and drinks before and after school. The school environment must support healthy eating, both by providing healthy food choices and the nutrition education that helps students make healthy choices outside of school. This menu labeling act would support students’ ability to put their nutrition education to good use and do just that.

How Universal Meals Could Revolutionize School Food

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

The challenges of serving a healthy school meal are numerous – logistics, cost, and even the paperwork all create barriers to providing healthy meals to the students who need them.  

One source of paperwork is the requirements around providing free and reduced-cost meals to students whose families qualify. Currently, 10 percent of the federal reimbursement for school lunches goes toward administration and oversight of the program. If this amount is reduced – by, say, increasing efficiency and reducing the amount of paperwork and administration – school food directors could spend more of that money on higher quality and more nutritious food.   

Fortunately, several bills have been introduced to address this very issue. A "universal meals" program would reduce paperwork while promoting broad access to school food. In such a program, schools wouldn't have to fill out the tedious paperwork to apply for federal reimbursements. Rather, “the government reimburses schools based on the percentage of eligible students. The school absorbs the costs of the remaining free meals, which… evens out because of the money saved on administrative costs.” As explained in one recent AP story: 

Universal meals mean better nutrition and a better educational experience for a greater percentage of low-income children, said Wilson, who is also president of School Nutrition Association. "We have all the science that shows good nutrition helps kids succeed in the classroom," she said. "We need to look at it as part of the school day." 

Recently Sen. Sherrod Brown (D. Ohio) introduced legislation to improve and expand the universal meals program. This is a no-brainer. Rather than spending our education dollars on paperwork, let’s spend it on making better food programs. 

To learn more and take action:

• Check out our past blogs on how Philadelphia provides kids with free breakfast or lunch thanks to universal meals, and how the stigma of traditional free lunch programs makes some students skip eating. 
• Visit our partner, the Food Resource and Action Center (FRAC) to learn more and contact your legislators in support of this bill. 

New Bill Asks: How Does Food Marketing in Schools Affect Kids?

By Amanda Chablani, HSC policy intern

As we gear up for Child Nutrition Act reauthorization later this year, we’re keeping a particularly close eye on any legislation that concerns nutrition, school and kids.  Recently, we spotted the Food Marketing in Schools Assessment Act, to be introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, which will require that the Secretary of Education, along with the Division of Adolescent and School Health and the Centers for Disease Control, study the effect of marketing foods and beverages in elementary and secondary schools.

Specifically, the bill calls for an assessment of the nutritional quality of the types of food being marketed to kids and the media (brands and logos on posters, book covers, school supplies, etc.) being used to deliver the messages, as well as an examination of any educational incentive programs, television, radio, newsprint, and even podcast marketing, or market research studies being conducted within school facilities.

If this bill passes, I can imagine what this report will find.  The variety of ways our kids are subjected to marketing in school (for instance, Channel One, a TV program broadcast to schools around the country and owned by a marketing company) is particularly insidious given that students are a captive audience. And, they are in their institution of learning where they are being taught skills, habits, and behaviors meant to last a lifetime. To paraphrase one parent advocate we work with: because schools hold a respected place in our culture, we assume that the messages coming from schools must be good ones.

But in reality, I don’t have to imagine what the report will find because California has already done the research [PDF]  and made clear recommendations to eliminate the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages at school.

In terms of national legislation, it is great to see progress in such an important area. While we all have a responsibility to teach our own kids how to make smart food choices, it is easy to forget that the food industry has a huge budget directed toward kids (the Center for Science in the Public Interest has a good summary of the issues here), and they make sure their voices are heard on the same important legislation we care so much about. We hope the additional data from this report will support any forthcoming effort to keep this kind of marketing out of schools.

P.S.:  Back in March, our own Jean Saunders blogged about the influence of food industry lobbyists on the upcoming school food program reauthorization. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the film clip she posted is a Who’s Who of participants in the upcoming debate on the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization. 

Happy, Healthy Fourth of July! And a Festive Picnic Recipe

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Happy Independence Day! As we prepare for picnics, barbecues and fun celebrations this weekend, the question arises: what to eat?

This simple treat is easy to put together and hits a fun, festive note with bright-colored bounty from the farmer’s market. It’s easy for kids to assemble and for picnic-goers of all ages to enjoy!

Festive Fourth of July Berry Parfait

• 1 cup yogurt (You can use plain and sweeten with 1 tsp honey)
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• ½ cup blueberries
• ½ tsp sugar

Divide strawberries in half. Sprinkle half with sugar and crush. Spoon ¼ cup yogurt into a parfait glass or other cup. Add ¼ cup of the crushed strawberries to each. Cover the crushed strawberries with the remaining yogurt. Top with blueberries and sliced strawberries.

Enjoy!

With Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization, Schools Need More Money for Better Food

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Whew: school is out for summer! And for many of us, one of the (many) great things about summer is that we don’t have to think about what to send for school lunch. Well, maybe not all of us. Just as school ended for most students around the country, members of Congress are starting to work on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.

This law provides the funding and guidance for the Federal child nutrition programs, to ensure that low-income children have access to healthy and nutritious foods. Every day, more than 30 million children participate in these programs, eating lunch and breakfast at school. Every five years, Congress reviews the child nutrition programs through the reauthorization process, which provides an important opportunity to improve and strengthen these programs. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 is set to expire on September 30, 2009.

 

Earlier this month, Chicago Tribune reporter Monica Eng wrote about her impressions of school lunch in Chicago. Eng wrote a lot about nachos; she also shared some important information about the challenges that school districts face in running their school meal programs. Schools have a dwindling number of working kitchens, minimally trained labor and -- most significantly -- the current level of funding for the national school lunch program is insufficient to cover the full costs of serving a school meal that meets the USDA nutrition standards that school must follow.

Eng writes, “Districts are still given only $2.57 to pay for each meal. After covering labor, overhead, and equipment, that leaves only about $1 for food.”

 

With this situation in mind, HSC is urging members of Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with more money for better food. Increased funding will allow school food service operations to allocate more of their meal budgets to the food ingredients, so that they can include more fresh fruit and vegetables, more whole grains and fewer high fat, high sodium, highly processed foods. HSC is also calling on the USDA to improve the quality and variety of the food available to schools through the USDA Foods (commodities) program so that more fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are available for schools to choose from.

Get involved now by supporting a strong and well-funded Child Nutrition Act!

Michelle Obama Speaks Up for School Food at White House Garden Harvest Day

Yesterday was harvest day at the White House kitchen garden, and Michelle Obama took the opportunity to raise awareness of the particular challenges and opportunities ahead for children’s health. Mrs. Obama celebrated harvest day with the fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School who have been helping her look after the garden and spoke with them in detail about school food.

Here at HSC, we were very encouraged to hear what the First Lady had to say about child nutrition:

And the USDA’s National School Lunch Program serves approximately 30 million meals each year to low-income children.  And because these meals are the main source of consistent nourishment for these kids, we need to make sure we offer them the healthiest meals possible.

So to make sure that we give all our kids a good start to their day and to their future, we need to improve the quality and nutrition of the food served in schools.  We're approaching the first big opportunity to move this to the top of the agenda with the upcoming reauthorization of the child nutrition programs.  In doing so, we can go a long way towards creating a healthier generation for our kids.

We couldn’t agree more with Mrs. Obama’s statement about the importance of serving the healthiest school meals possible.

We were also thrilled to see the First Lady, who has spoken in general about the value of healthy eating, speak in specific terms about the Child Nutrition Act and the role of legislation in bringing that value to the nation’s children at school.

HSC urges Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with increased funding for better food in schools. You can lend your voice to this campaign by sending a letter at our Child Nutrition Act action center.

For a detailed account of the harvest day celebration and the political significance of  Mrs. Obama’s remarks, check out Obamafoodorama.

Good News for Students in Philly!

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Since 1991, the School District of Philadelphia has offered either breakfast or lunch at no cost to 121,000 of the District's 167,000 students. This Universal Feeding Program was conceived as a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the School District of Philadelphia. Established as a pilot program, it replaces the normal practice of requiring applications to be filled out, returned and processed to determine eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches. Instead, a socioeconomic survey establishes the approximate eligibility rates at select schools.

Earlier this year, the USDA had announced that it would adopt a decision by the Bush administration to end the Philadelphia pilot program after the 2009-2010 school year. Following that announcement, Philadelphia school administrators and Pennsylvania elected officials, including Sen. Arlen Specter and Gov. Ed Rendell, protested the USDA’s decision to end the Universal Feeding Program.

On June 5, USDA Secretary Vilsack accepted a plan put forward by Congressman Chaka Fattah and others that would have the Universal Feeding Program program continue through the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, operating as it had throughout the duration of the pilot. Said Fattah, “We both agreed that the reauthorization process was the best context in which to consider the future of the pilot”

School administrators in Philadelphia such as Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, attribute the success of the pilot to the fact that it is paperless. Because student eligibility is based on demographic surveys of family income rather than individual application, a higher proportion of eligible students participate in the school meal program. When students are responsible for providing the information, forms are often incomplete or are not returned.

Families with the lowest incomes and in the greatest need are often the least likely to return complete applications. In the Philadelphia pilot, this problem is averted and the children have access to meals they need to stay healthy and learn.

Philadelphia school administrators and elected officials have pledged to work with the committees who will take up the Child Nutrition Act later this year – in the  House of Representatives, the Education and Labor Committee, and in the Senate, the Agriculture Committee  – to ensure that the lessons learned in the Philadelphia pilot are reflected in the final legislation. 

We applaud Congressman Fattah’s commitment to finding a permanent and national universal paperless school lunch program.

Legislation Would Update Nutrition Standards for “Other” Food Sold at School

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

On March 5, U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)  introduced the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009.  This bill would “amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to improve the nutrition and health of schoolchildren and protect the Federal investment in the national school lunch and breakfast programs by updating the national school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of school meals to conform to current nutrition science.”

We applaud Representative Woolsey  and the 101 co-sponsors of this bill.

This legislation would improve the minimum nutrition standard for food sold outside of school meals -- including food sold in vending machines, school stores, cafeteria a la carte lines, and other spots throughout the school.

Current federal standards have been in place since the 1970s to protect the integrity of the school lunch program and the health of all children in all states. It is, most simply put, time to update these standards to reflect the realities of today’s health concerns and the changing marketplace. (Click here [pdf] to learn more about the current standards and why they need to be updated.)

Many states, including Illinois, have adopted nutrition standards for food sold in schools (in addition to current federal standards). In many cases, however, these state standards are not comprehensive. In Illinois, for example, the standards apply only to kindergarten through eighth grade, not to high schools. And of course, the standards themselves vary from state to state.

We encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative to voice your support for this legislation.

On Capitol Hill, Taking Action for Healthy School Food

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

These are exciting times for school food policy, as advocates and school food leaders take their message from the cafeteria to Congress! 

This month in Washington, school food service directors from around the country gathered for the 2009 Legislative Action Conference to learn how their voices can shape school nutrition policy. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addressed the conference attendees, urging them to continue advocating strongly for healthy school meals.  Calling childhood hunger a “moral outrage,” he asked the audience to continue working toward President Barack Obama’s goal of eliminating childhood hunger by 2015.  Secretary Vilsack vowed to improve the nutritional value of school meals and to increase funding for school meals, a step already started with the President’s budget request. (To learn more about Sec. Vilsack's approach to school meals, check out Rochelle's recent blog.)

In a separate address to the conference attendees, Ed Cooney of the Congressional Hunger Center in Washington made an important observation – that two advocacy organizations, the Child Nutrition Forum and the NANA Coalition, are working together for the first time ever on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. (You can learn more about the Child Nutrition Act at HSC's website.)

Cooney said: “There will be a [Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization] bill; it will have nutrition standards [and] will address competitive foods standards. A reasonable conversation is ongoing."

HSC is proud to work with both the Child Nutrition Forum and the NANA Coalition. The Child Nutrition Forum is a diverse group of national organizations that has developed a statement of principles outlining key issues to be addressed in the 2009 reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. HSC is among the hundreds of organizations that have signed on to this statement of principles.

The NANA Coalition (the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity) advocates for national policies and programs to promote healthy eating and physical activity to help reduce the illnesses and premature deaths caused by unhealthy diets and inactivity. HSC staff have been working with members of NANA to develop a set of comprehensive recommendations [pdf] for the 2009 Child Nutrition Act reauthorization.

You can be part of this advocacy by voicing your support for a healthy Child Nutrition Act!

School Lunches: No Time for Healthy Eating

By Lindsay Muscato, HSC Writer/Communications Specialist

When students must speed through their lunches, schools may be reinforcing bad habits, experts say. In a recent New York Times blog post, Dr. Arthur Agatston -- creator of The South Beach Diet -- urges schools to schedule longer lunch periods so that children have adequate time for healthy eating. Agatston says:

Schools are rushing kids through meals really quickly just like they’re eliminating exercise. The kids have to be preparing for standardized tests all the time, but it means they are missing out. The kids will be happier and do better if they can have a somewhat leisurely meal in a positive atmosphere.

Schools around the country have shortened meal times in order to accommodate more students -- and some students eat either very early or late in the day. In Chicago, for example, some students may eat lunch around 9:30 a.m., The Chicago Tribune reported last year. 

But experts say that eating quickly often leads to over-eating. Parents also worry that children may not have time to eat much at all -- leading to lagging attention spans at the end of the school day.

Julie Parrish, a parent and former school food service director in Oregon, told HSC that her children often come home with uneaten food from their lunch boxes and describe the rush in and out of the cafeteria. When she was food service director, Parrish says she timed students going through the lunch line and found that students at the end of the line had less than 7 minutes to eat.

"Kids need fuel in order to learn," Parrish says.

HSC’s school wellness director Jean Saunders reported that one unique characteristic of the school lunch programs she visited in France (as part of the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment) was that students had plenty of time to sit down for their mid-day meal and focus on fresh, healthy foods that engage the senses.  Read more about French school lunches in Jean’s blogs from the Forum.

Also – check out Jean’s post on Agatston’s other research and the promising results from his school lunch “lab” in Florida.

The Food Lobby Goes to School

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

American News Project documentary filmmaker Steven Greenstreet has recently created a short film, “The Food Lobby Goes to School, ” that is generating buzz online about the politics of  school food.  In this short piece, Steven profiles a recent meeting of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) where health advocates and industry lobbyists presented their positions on school food to IOM scientists.

At the request of the USDA, the IOM is reviewing and providing recommendations on  ways to update the nutrition standards and meal standards for the National School Meals Program. The IOM’s report, expected in October 2009,  will include the specifics of updated nutrition standards and meal standards.

Greenstreet points out that with more than $10 billion per year at stake, representatives from all parts of the food industry will be working hard over the next few months to encourage the adoption of standards that would keep – or bring – their particular food in schools. (The film highlights representatives of specific corporations as well as industry groups such as the National Pork Board.)

In this context, it is even more important than ever for parents, food service directors, advocates and others who support healthy food in school to make sure that your voice is heard.

One of the most time-sensitive ways that we can all raise our voices for healthy school food in the coming months is by supporting a health-promoting reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. To learn more and add your name to a petition in support of healthy school meals, click here.

Check out Greenstreet’s video, “The Food Lobby Goes to School:”

The Most Important Meal of the Day

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Mom was right, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) has designated this week, March 2-6, as National School Breakfast Week. At schools across the country, food service directors will encourage students to participate in school breakfast programs. This year, many schools will promote their breakfast programs with the “Power Up with School Breakfast” campaign, a program that uses super heroes to promote the benefits of eating breakfast.

I thought this was a good day to take mom’s advice to heart and make a healthy breakfast of oatmeal. This time, I made my morning oatmeal with steel cut oats. (These take about 30 minutes to cook – you can  use old fashioned rolled oats or quick or  instant oats if you are in a hurry.)

This recipes makes about two servings:

2 cups water
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup  dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, etc.)
½ cup steel cut oats
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
2 table spoons plain yogurt (optional)

Add salt, and dried fruit to water, bring to a boil. Slowly stir in oats. When oats begin to thicken (after about 5 minutes), reduce heat. Simmer for about 25 minutes, or until desired consistency. I added a little plain yogurt and honey to my steaming bowl of oats – yummy!

Does your child’s school serve breakfast? What was on the menu today?

Kitchens, Funding & Fresh Meals: Alice Waters Discusses School Food Reform

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

In a New York Times editorial on Friday, Alice Waters, renowned chef and president of the Chez Panisse Foundation, reminds us that, “Every public school child in America deserves a healthful and delicious lunch that is prepared with fresh ingredients.”

Waters calls for a major overhaul of the National School Lunch Program so that all schools can serve meals that are cooked from scratch in a well-designed and fully functioning kitchen. (Today, many schools have kitchens that are equipped only for re-heating rather than scratch cooking.) Waters describes programs around the country that have made great strides in this direction.

Currently, considerable outside funding would be required to operate programs like these – much more than schools currently receive from the federal government. Waters estimates that about $5 per meal (or $27 billion per year) plus an additional one-time investment in kitchen upgrades would sufficiently fund programs like these for the whole nation.

The current funding provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for each lunch served by school ($2.57 for free lunches, $2.17 for reduced-priced lunches and $0.24 for paid lunches) is widely acknowledged as inadequate to cover the costs of preparing and serving lunch to students. Even without increasing the amount of fresh cooking that goes into meals, schools need more funding to cover the basic costs of serving nutritious meals. This is confirmed in the School Nutrition Association’s Sept. 2008 white paper, “Heats On:  School Meals Under Financial Pressure” [pdf] which reports that 79 percent of school districts indicated that the reimbursement they receive from the federal government is insufficient to cover the costs of producing the school meals they serve.  A full 98 percent of programs generate additional revenue through a la carte sales. 

In this context, I was pleased to see that the stimulus bill [pdf] signed last week reflects a commitment from Congress and the Obama administration to address child health through school nutrition; the bill includes approximately $100 million in funding to improve school kitchen facilities around the country. This funding can help take many schools a step closer to the ability to cook from scratch, an important foundation for the type of fresh meals that Waters describes.

We applaud Waters for taking a strong position on this important issue and for helping raise awareness of the many issues involved with feeding children good, fresh food.

Alice Waters is one of the best-known and most influential American chefs since the 1970s, often credited with single-handedly creating a culinary revolution in the U.S. It is when Alice and others like her speak out about the importance thinking differently about our food – and in this case, the programs that deliver food to children – that people around the country begin to listen and think about the importance of the issues.

Next week, congressional briefings about child nutrition will take place in Washington. The central theme in these briefings will be the important contribution that school meals make to children’s health and education. At HSC, we believe that healthy students are better learners and that healthy school food is an important part of kids’ education.

One of the most concrete and time-sensitive ways that we can all raise our voices for healthy school food in the coming months is through support of a strong, robust reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. To learn more about HSC’s policy recommendations and sign a petition in support of healthy school meals, click here.

Happy, Healthy Valentine’s Day -- With a Little Chocolate!

This blog is part of our new Friday-morning series on fun, healthy snacks and recipes.

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and, around the country, classroom celebrations are underway. Teachers and parents are wrestling with the question of how to create a fun celebration that reflects the traditions of Valentine’s Day but also sends the right message to students about making healthy choices.

I’ve learned firsthand that involving teachers, parents and students in planning the event is an important step to creating a celebration that meets everyone’s expectations for a fun Valentine’s Day.

Two years ago I wrote about a Valentine's day that was a little too "sweet," but last year I wrote about how the principal, parents and teachers at my son’s school were able to create healthy celebrations – and by all reports, the Valentine’s Day parties were a huge success with many fewer candies and sweet treats than in previous years.  Be sure to check out HSC’s Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness for ideas for healthy treats and celebrations.

My son is in middle school now, and I’ve learned that middle-schoolers don’t have Valentine’s Day classroom parties like younger kids do. So at my house, we’re focusing on what we’re going to do at home. Yesterday, my son asked if there was something special I’d like to have on Valentine’s Day, and I have to admit that my mind went straight to chocolate! 

When you decide it’s time for a small chocolate treat, here’s a recipe to help – for a  (slightly!) healthier version of flourless chocolate cakes. They are healthier because the serving size is small and because the fat is reduced by using just egg whites instead of whole eggs. I’ve made these little cakes many times – I  think they a great way to enjoy a chocolate indulgence, with a little fruit on the side.

If you really want to impress your special Valentines, you can decorate the top of the cakes with a heart. To do this, take a piece of paper larger than the cake and cut out a heart shape (making a heart-shaped stencil). Lay the stencil over the cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Carefully remove the stencil. Et voila, a pretty white heart!

Mini flourless chocolate cakes with berry sauce

4 tablespoons butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
4 egg whites
4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Heat oven to 400 F. Spray muffin cups with pan spray.

Combine chocolate and butter in  a double boiler and melt. Stir in cocoa powder and salt. Remove from heat. Using mixer,  beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Mix in sugar and continue mixing egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry. Whisk in ¼ of the chocolate mixture to the egg whites to temper. Fold in remaining chocolate. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake until tops are firm, and centers are soft, about 8 minutes. Remove cakes from muffin cups and serve with berry sauce.

Berry sauce
1 ½ pints mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries). Use frozen if fresh berries are not in season.
3 tablespoons sugar
Juice from half a lemon
Zest from one lemon, chopped finely

Combine berries, sugar, lemon and lemon zest in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until fruit is softened. Remove from heat and puree in food processor. Strain through a sieve and serve over mini chocolate cakes.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Kids May Go Hungry to Avoid Stigma of Free Meals

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Last July, Kate Houston, Deputy Under Secretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services made a presentation to the House Education and Labor Committee where she stated: “I want to reiterate USDA’s commitment to help ensure that no one in America goes hungry.”

Each day, the USDA's National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) serve more than 31 million school children. But I wonder how well the USDA -- and all of us who work on school food issues -- are doing at ensuring that no child is going hungry at school due to the stigma attached to participating in these free meal programs?

In March of this year, the NY Times reported that, “Free Lunch Isn’t Cool, So Some Students Go Hungry:"

"Lunchtime 'is the best time to impress your peers,' said Lewis Geist, a senior at Balboa and its student body president. Being seen with a subsidized meal, he said, 'lowers your status.'"

The article also stressed that the set-up of the lunch lines is a key part of this issue:

"Many districts have ... one line, in the cafeteria, for government-subsidized meals (also available to students who pay) and another line for mostly snacks and fast food for students with cash, in another room, down the hall and around the corner."

Although school districts have introduced systems using swipe cards or debit cards as a method of payment for meals, to help make it less apparent who’s eligible for the school meal program, high school students know the score. If you’re in the line for a school meal, there’s pretty good chance that you're getting a free lunch.

The unintended consequences of this dual set-up were apparent at the high school profiled in the NY Times article. “A group of classmates who also qualify for federally subsidized lunches sat on a bench," it reported. "One ate a slice of pizza from the line where students pay for food; the rest went without.”

But, this doesn’t have to be the case. In Chicago, more than 4,000 middle and high school students at the Noble Network of Charter Schools or at Perspectives Charter Schools have no idea who’s getting free lunch. There is only one lunch line. At these schools and a growing number of schools around the country, the same food is offered to students who pay and those who receive subsidized meals.

When more students eat the meals served at school, fewer kids will go hungry. More kids will have the food they need to concentrate, study, and succeed at school. And we will really make strides to accomplish the USDA’s goal for the school meals programs, “to strengthen our country by safeguarding the health and well-being of the Nation’s children.”

As members of the Senate and House of Representatives Agriculture committees of Congress begin their work on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, I urge them to consider providing adequate resources for the school meals program that will allow school food service directors to establish programs that encourage every student to eat, without stigma, lunch and breakfast at their schools. (If you'd like to take action on this issue, you can add your name to HSC's petition for a healthy child nutrition act.)

Interested in learning more about this issue and the school meals program? Check out some of these other interesting articles and resources: 

• For the 2007/2008 school year, the USDA spent about $8.3 billion to provide free and reduced-priced lunches for 30.6 million children whose families are at or below 130 percent of the national poverty level, or about $26,845 for a family of four. The program also provides reduced-priced meals for students who are between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level, or $38,203 for a family of four. When student participation in the school meal program increases, the school district also receives more revenue to cover the cost of delivering its meal program. The USDA provides a reimbursement of $0.23 per meal to school districts when students purchase a school meal (in addition to other USDA school meal funding).

• This month, the School Nutrition Association issued a new report, Saved by the Lunch Bell:  As Economy Sinks, School Nutrition Program Participation Rises [PDF]. The SNA’s survey of 137 school districts in 38 states showed that the majority of districts have seen an increase in the number of students applying for participation in the federally funded school meals program. This translates to more than 425,000 meals, compared with the previous school year. Plus these increases come during a slight decline in the number of students enrolled in public schools in the 2008-2009 school year.

• News outlets from ABC’s KOAT in Albuquerque to News Channel 5 in Cleveland have reported recently on increased school meal participation in their states. I wonder how many students eligible to receive free and reduced priced school meals in these states are actually eating the meals they are eligible to receive? 

• HSC has been working hard to ensure that the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act fosters healthy school meal programs.

The Edible Schoolyard, Where Students Nurture Their Own Garden

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

On November 5, while most of Chicago was still celebrating that we’d send the next president to Washington, I got up early and got on a plane headed for California. What started out as a long-awaited trip to visit a good friend also turned into an exciting opportunity to pay a visit to a very special school, Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle in Berkeley, California -- home to the Edible Schoolyard.

No doubt many of you are familiar with the Edible Schoolyard or perhaps have even been lucky enough to have visited it for yourself. Taking a tour at Edible (as it is fondly known) has been on my short list of must-see places for a long time!

The mission of the Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School is to, “ create and sustain an organic garden and landscape that is wholly integrated into the school's curriculum and lunch program. It involves the students in all aspects of farming the garden – along with preparing, serving and eating the food – as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.” (For more information about their program, be sure to check out Garden Lessons at the Edible Schoolyard website.)

The Edible Schoolyard is made possible in part by funding from the Chez Panisse Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by Alice Waters, chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

Prior to my visit, I’d read a lot about how the gardening and cooking programs at the Edible Schoolyard are so carefully integrated into the school's curriculum. And, through the cooking in the classroom and gardening projects I’ve been involved with, I’ve seen how powerful it is for students to relate to their academic studies through food and cooking. I just knew I’d be impressed, but I hadn’t expected to have my already high my expectations blown away!

So what blew me away? I think more than anything, it was seeing first-hand the power of this project to engage and inspire not just students, teacher, parents and those directly involved with the project but those from the broader community and really from across the country. 

The folks at the Chez Panisse foundation  describe it so well: “Using food systems as a unifying concept, students learn how to grow, harvest, and prepare nutritious seasonal produce. Experiences in the kitchen and garden foster a better understanding of how the natural world sustains us, and promote the environmental and social well being of our school community.”

This morning, as I look out at the frozen ground that was my front lawn just a few short weeks ago and reflect on what I saw and learned about in Berkeley, I know that there are a host of geographic, climate, economic and policy obstacles that stand in the way of there being an “Edible” at my son's middle school or at the thousands of middle schools across the country. But, if we look at those same obstacles through a lens that recognizes the importance of “using the food system as a unifying concept," I am confident that we can come up with a way to provide all students with similar experiences.