1-Color
March 21, 2014 Arapahoe County, Colorado | Volume 13, Issue 17 A publication of
centennialcitizen.net
School lunch prices to rise But better quality will make them worth it, say LPS officials By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Jillian Taylor, left, and Easton Beckett play the xylophone during their March 16 visit to deKoevend Park. The youngsters were in town to help their great grandmother celebrate her 91st birthday.
PLAYING AT THE
park
Centennial resident Rick Dennison swings his son Trey during their March 16 visit to deKoevend Park. A steady parade of people took full advantage of the day’s warm temperatures and bright sunshine.
DeKoevend Park was a happening place March 16 as joggers, cyclists and dog walkers passed through, taking advantage of the nice weather. Parents and kids played on the playground and a youth lacrosse tournament filled the park with cheers and laughter. Payton Tennison of New Mexico opted to play on the swings instead of watching his cousin skate at the figure skating competition at South Suburban Ice Arena. “My son really likes the playground,” said his mother Sylvia Tennison. “He wasn’t interested in watching the skating so we came down to the playground.”
PHOTOS BY TOM MUNDS
Firefighter calms the chaos Centennial resident Jon Adams named ‘firefighter of the year’ By Chris Michlewicz
cmichlewicz@colorado communitymedia.com
Jon Adams, South Metro Fire Rescue’s firefighter of the year, thanked his colleagues and supporters after receiving the award March 8, singling out his wife and three kids for their sacrifices. Courtesy photo
To Jon Adams, bringing stability and a sense of calm to an emergency situation is “the greatest thing in the world.” Most people wouldn’t last two minutes in his position. But Adams has become proficient enough to be named South Metro Fire Rescue’s “Firefighter of the Year,” an honor not taken lightly by the 17-year veteran of the fire service. He received the award during a ceremony March 8. Adams doesn’t directly fight fires or rescue people trapped
in cars. Instead, he is the guy who stands on the sidelines, continually evaluating and weighing the risks involved with each operation. As a safety officer, Adams monitors radio traffic from command staff and instructs personnel accordingly. For all of the jobs that require split-second decisionmaking skills, his is arguably the most important. And there are always variables. “We have a set playbook — our standard operating guidelines — but you can’t write a policy for everything we go on,” he says. “It’s a fine balance. We know what we do is risky, but the risk we’re taking is worth the benefit.” The Centennial resident has worked scenes of unspeakable tragedy; he responded to New York City days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to shore up
debris to allow for victim recovery. He also went on a 30-day deployment to the Gulf Coast after it was ravaged by successive hurricanes — Katrina and Rita. Most recently, he served as a safety officer for the Black Forest fire and the Boulder-area floods. Every deployment has been voluntary. Emergency response is a constantly-evolving discipline. Adams joined Colorado Task Force One in spring 2001, not knowing what was to come. Now he and his colleagues must be prepared for everything from school shootings to terrorist attacks to hazardous material spills. Adams also leads continuing education courses for South Metro’s veterans and newbies. Chaos continues on Page 22
Littleton Public Schools officials appear likely to raise meal prices by 20 cents or more in May, but they want the public to know about a tangled web of reasons why. Diane Doney, LPS chief operations officer, laid it out succinctly: “It’s much more expensive to serve nutritionally dense food.” In 2010, the federal government implemented the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Starting this year, it requires school districts to give every child a half-cup serving of fruit with lunch, regardless of whether they want it or eat it. Next year, that requirement will apply to breakfast, as well. “That alone could mean a $200,000 increase to our food costs,” said Paula Buser, the district’s new director of nutrition services. She brought in two registered dieticians to help the schools implement all of the new requirements. Five schools are getting new food-service stations this summer to help get the ball rolling. They will more closely resemble salad bars than serving lines, and will let kids choose from among five items, of which one must be fruit. “We want to provide healthier choices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more choices,” said Buser. The act also requires districts to ensure the federally supported free and reducedprice program doesn’t carry the entire meal program financially. LPS sells substantially fewer subsidized lunches than the national average, so it needs to either increase the price of the paid lunches or get a lot more kids to eat them, or both. Buser said programs in districts with a higher rate of subsidized meals are actually more financially sound, because there is higher participation overall. “Parents need to realize there’s no stigma regarding free and reduced lunches,” said Doney, noting that money for many special programs depends on those numbers. Buser is proposing a 20-cent hike to all meals except for high school lunches, which would go up a dime, though the federal regulations require a minimum of just 10 cents. That means lunch at elementary schools would rise from $2.40 to $2.60. Still, said Buser, “I don’t think it’s going to cover our total food-cost increase, just counting the fruit.” Lucie Stanish, LPS board president, owns Downtown Dinners, a meal-preparation retail outlet in Littleton. She said she’s well aware of the rising cost of food. “I’m really questioning whether we’re raising it enough,” she said. “I would like for us to be realistic about what it really costs.”
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