After 20 years of working in and around school cafeterias, Lin Von Paris says she has more than enough material to fill a book. Her working title: "It's Just Lunch."

She jests. School meals are much more than "just lunch" nowadays, admits Von Paris, a field representative for the county's Food and Nutrition Service.

In a society increasingly concerned with obesity, diabetes and a host of other childhood health risks, the nutritional value of the food is scrutinized more than ever.

In addition, costs are on the rise and the number of students eating school lunches has slipped -- due in part, perhaps, to a menu that must appeal to some of the most finicky palates around.

A report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2008 found this "trilemma" -- nutrition, cost and participation -- was the most pressing issue facing school meals nationwide.

It is certainly true in Howard County.

In the past decade, school lunch prices in Howard have risen 85 percent, while the recent adoption of an aggressive "wellness" policy led to an ongoing face-lift for cafeteria meals and snacks.

Just this school year, white pizza crust was replaced with whole wheat and popular sugary cereals, doughnuts and flavored milks were yanked from the breakfast menu.

As for participation, the number of cafeteria lunches consumed daily is down by about 850 from last year, despite a slight growth in overall school enrollment.

Pizza loses pizazz

The economy and menu changes might bear some of the blame for the decrease.

Once hands-down the single most popular lunch item, pizza plummeted in popularity this school year after local officials sought to make the pizza healthier by adding whole-wheat crust.

At Burleigh Manor Middle School, cafeteria manager Judith Shure said her pizza sales have dropped more than 50 percent, from roughly 40 sales a day last year to about 10 a day now, with some days as few a five sales.

The new crust was universally panned by students interviewed during recent lunch services. At Long Reach High School, junior Colin Stang, 17, said he preferred the white crust. An eighth-grader at Burleigh Manor called the new crust "sick" and third-grader Sarah Montgomery, 8, at Bellows Spring Elementary School, likened the new crust to a "graham cracker."

"It doesn't feel good," Sarah added.

The swift student response to the new crust triggered something of a panic for Mary Klatko, administrator of the county's Food and Nutrition Service. She meticulously examined the new pizza, trying to pinpoint what else could be done to win back the youngsters.

Does the sauce have enough zip? Does the mozzarella cheese melt in a visually appealing way?

"It's not like we let the complaints sit," she said. "We're trying to respond to them. After all, they are our customers. ...

"The only way (a meal) is going to benefit a child is if they eat it," Klatko said. "If they don't like what we're offering, they won't eat it. Then we're back to square one."

Balancing act

This sort of balancing act is nothing new to Klatko and her colleagues, whose work always is subject to evolving health trends.

Von Paris, a staff member responsible for ensuring that every combination of food offered on a given menu meets USDA requirements, said she has ushered in many changes over the years in response to shifting trends.

First were the concerns over fat (since regulated in school meals to 30 percent or less of calories in a week's menus), followed by concerns over saturated fat (now regulated to 10 percent or less). Next came scrutiny of trans-fats (none are allowed in school meals), followed by more recent concerns over sugar (not yet regulated).

With each change comes student feedback, either in vocal complaints or through their purchasing habits.

This year's pizza debacle could be likened to the cafeteria salad bar fiasco of a decade ago, when full-flavor dressings were replaced with fat-free ones, Von Paris recalled.

The switch "tanked," Von Paris said, destroying the popularity of the salad bar. Participation at Centennial High School dropped from 150 students a day to 20.

"Every week, every day, there's a new diet," she said. "We're continually balancing the students' tastes and preferences with the expectations."

After any change, sales eventually rebound, according to Diane Enos, cafeteria manager at Long Reach. She said her greatest challenge in recent years was explaining the absence of popular items such as Little Debbie snack products, which were pulled from schools following the 2006 adoption of the countywide "wellness" policy. The policy seeks to purge junk food from schools and increase physical activity.

School meals defended

Von Paris said she's tired of school meals being a scapegoat for childhood obesity. She figures that if a student eats a school lunch every school day, it would account for 16 percent of the total meals that child consumed during a calendar year. And she firmly stands behind the nutritional content in those school meals.

"If you take a test and only get 16 or 17 percent of the questions right, you're going to fail. Well, that's how we feel about school meals," she said.

Enos echoed the sentiment.

"We take so much time to make sure there are good choices. A parent once told me, 'I thought you guys just heated things up.' Oh no, we make things from scratch," she said, showing off one of the kitchen's kettles that can hold 150 pounds of ground beef. "People don't cook at home anymore. It's really a major change in the population."

And, as Shure pointed out at a recent lunch shift at Burleigh Manor, it's the students making the choices.

Under the school system's "offer versus serve" policy, the students must take at least three of the five items offered to them to create a balanced meal and hopefully eliminate some waste. Only a handful of students that day asked for peas, while the majority stuck with a chicken patty sandwich, fries and milk.

Likewise, a healthy snacks pilot at Centennial Lane Elementary has not taken off as successfully as Klatko had hoped. The pilot, in which students were given free samples of organic granola bars and yogurt in hopes they would later purchase the items, will not be used in other schools for now, she said.

Room for improvement

Although the most recent inspections of the county's meals program by state officials and the USDA found it to be in compliance, not all school meal programs pass muster.

Results from a USDA study released in 2007 revealed that less than one-third of schools in the country served lunches that adhered to the limits for fat and saturated fat. The USDA's School Nutrition Dietary Assessment has released similar findings dating back to 1991.

Despite Howard's good standing, many see room for improvement.

After complaints from a Guilford Elementary School teacher in October, school officials cut several cereals and other items from the breakfast menu. The cereals -- Trix, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch -- were eliminated, as were chocolate and strawberry milk and doughnuts.

The teacher, Colleen Morris, told the Board of Education that she was fed up watching her students begin the school day by topping sugary cereals with flavored milk. She said the offerings flew in the face of the wellness policy.

"I just don't get it," Morris said. "We're sugaring them up. They don't brush their teeth after eating this. ... I wouldn't let my son eat that, no way."

The decision to cut the breakfast items ultimately was made by Raymond Brown, the system's chief financial officer, who oversees Food and Nutrition Service.

"In evaluating them, the grams of sugar per serving, in my estimation, was a little high," Brown said. "It wasn't that they didn't meet the USDA guidelines. ... The goal is to be out in front, to be a leader in that area. There are going to be some areas where we set a higher standard."

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user comments (4)

user brianmeshkin says...

The issue of our children's nutritional health is one of the most critical issues facing our school system. It is not only an issue that affects our students' academic, behavior and health today, but it has a tremendous impact on their future. I appreciate the efforts of the HCPSS to improve school lunches, but there is a fierce urgency of now that is being ignored. All because pizza crusts and salad bars have been changed in a way that failed, does not mean that changing school lunches to healthy foods is a bad idea. All of us have had healthy and unhealthy foods that taste good and bad. Taste and health are not related to each other. Nutrition and health are. The facts are obvious: Obesity will soon surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.(1) Since 1970, the rates of pediatric obesity for children ages 6 to 11 has increased 370%. (2) 33% of children are obese or overweight (3) which has been associated in published studies with internalizing problems (anxiety and depression) starting in the 1st grade (4). Studies show that students who eat well and get regular physical activity perform better in school (5) and reduce their risk of developing type-2 diabetes by more than 50%. (6) Being overweight reduces wealth by $1,300 or 8 percent per point in Body Mass Index (BMI). (7) Do school lunches cause pediatric obesity? Of course not. But segregated schools did not cause racism either, and it did not prevent our schools' responsibility to end the plague of segregation and teach tolerance and embrace diversity. Did school smoking areas cause smoking addiction? Of course not. But smoking areas did facilitate and provide tacit consent for behavior which is now the leading cause of preventable death in America. The school lunch program in the HCPSS has to change. Our school lunch hamburgers and chicken nuggets are less healthy than what's offered at McDonalds. Let me repeat as this information is available to anyone with an internet connection. Our children can eat healthier hamburgers or chicken nuggets at McDonalds - the poster child of poor nutrition and bad eating habits - than our school system provides to our children in school lunches. We have a moral responsibility to improve our school lunch program. At a time when our school budgets are restricted and our financial ability to spend more is confined, we still have a responsibility to raise educational excellence and improving school lunches would have a demonstrable impact on student academic performance -- without spending one incremental budget dollar. At a time when our school system has employed policies to significantly reduce the smoking rates of our students over the past ten years as the leading cause of preventable death in America, it is time NOW for our school system to employ policies to reduce pediatric obesity -- which within the next couple years will become the leading cause of preventable death in America. This is an academic performance issue. This is a budget issue. This is a moral issue. This is a health issue. This is a student behavior issue. This is a "life and death" issue. Very few issues are as clear as this, and it is incumbent upon us to approach it with the clarity that it deserves. I am personally committed to this effort. I am the Co-Chair of the PTA Council of Howard County Health & Wellness Committee. I am a member of the School Health Council. I am a published researcher in the field of health and wellness and I have worked in the field of nutritional and digestive health for almost a decade. I hope that parents, students and members of the community will join in this effort to improve student academics, behavior, and health, while saving the school system and taxpayer money in the process -- one of the true win-win's in a difficult budget time. 1 – CDC; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 2 – CDC 2006 3 - AMA; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2006; Ogden et al., 2006 4 – Bradley et al. Journal of Pediatriacs, 2007 5 – Journal of Pediatrics 2008 6 – NASSO 2004 7 – Zagorsky, 2005

Posted 9:20 AM, 02.15.09 | Permalink

user milton says...

Instead of ranting about the problem, perhaps the above commenter could offer a few healthy menu items that would appeal to students and meet the budget requirements?

Posted 4:58 PM, 02.15.09 | Permalink

user mark says...

Brian, I totally agree with your point. I am interested in the citation reference #5. I looked in Medline and could not find any 2008 article in J Pediatrics that discussed nutrition, exercise and academic performance. Could you please provide a specific reference? Thanks.

Posted 6:48 PM, 02.16.09 | Permalink

user intheoffice says...

What about parents? What about parents' responsibilities to their children to feed them nutritious meals? School lunchs in theory should account for 33.3% of a students dietary intake for the day. How about the other 66.7%? It is time for parents to stop allowing the 'system' to raise their children. Parents need to pay attention to the needs of their children and provide them with nutritious meals and snacks. It is not a school's responsibility to raise your children, its yours. Turn off the TV and computer! GO OUTSIDE! Cook dinner at home!

Posted 2:55 PM, 02.19.09 | Permalink