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Community
Nov. 3 – 16, 2012
www.SanTanSun.com
School lunches from page 1
is that meat and meat alternate portion sizes are less,” says Audri Knutson, also a CUSD nutritionist. Although students can eat as many fruits and vegetables as they wish, Knutson says, “for a lot of kids, that’s not what they want. They’d rather have two tacos or two enchiladas instead of one. Unfortunately, we don’t get to make the choice anymore.” Parents are expressing mixed emotions. “There are parents who feel it is not a school’s responsibility to monitor what they are feeding their children, for example, when they pack a lunch from home,” says Ryan Elementary Parent
Teacher Organization (PTO) President Christina Nguyen. “There are other parents who welcome guidelines on how to pack a healthy lunch and limits on acceptable foods on campus.”
Ahead of the curve
The current USDA ruling supports measures CUSD has already begun implementing. “At Chandler, we’ve been doing a lot of this for years,” says Delbridge. “We’ve already been meeting these new requirements. The biggest impact this year is requiring students to take fruits and vegetables, but this has had a positive effect on the kids.”
LUNCH TIME: Two Carlson elementary students chat during their lunch break. STSN photo
Delbridge notes students are selecting the healthy items more frequently than ever before. New prepackaging and portion distribution methods for fruits and vegetables have been praised as more hygienic than the previous self-serve salad bar concept and reduce the risk of tainted food. A dark-green leafy vegetable requirement has also garnered positive response with most parents excited that schools are stepping up efforts to provide quality meals to students. Though the new menus are largely welcomed, the funds needed to implement these changes are a source of concern. Prices for school lunches are rising, up a quarter from last year to $2.50 for elementary, $2.75 for middle and $3.25 for high school lunches throughout Chandler.
SAFER: Providing prepackaged foods not only controls portions, but makes food handling safer. STSN photo
Prices tied to federal funding
School lunch prices were increased as mandated to meet federal standards for funding. The Equity in School Lunch Pricing provision requires schools to, “charge students for paid meals at a price that is on average equal to the difference between free meal reimbursement and paid meal reimbursement.” Schools charging less are required to increase the price of paid lunches. “We raised everything a quarter this year because we had to,” says Knutson. “When we did the equation we were not where we needed to be with our free reimbursement.” Some districts increase prices by a quarter to cover costs for a few years and to avoid yearly visits to school boards for price hikes, says Knutson. While lunch prices are subject to change,
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