Each year that I have been at our school, I have heard about the struggles of those before me who have failed in their attempts to change the food served in our district.  Needless to say, it wasn’t very motivating.  Perhaps our timing was perfect – the buzz surrounding Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver was too great to ignore.  Maybe our team was too persistent to brush off.  Regardless, it is clear that Elena, our food service director, was also ready to improve our program.

Before I tell you about our meeting this week, I have a juicy email from Elena to share.

Hi Michelle, It’s a go.  High Tech Burrito will be once a week.  The day will rotate around the schools so that high tech can produce enough burritos per day.  It is an 8 ounce pinto bean and cheese burrito – and thanks to the slick negotiations of Miguel up in Novato, and the fact that we are buying 2000 a week, our cost is affordable!  Also, High Tech has gone through all the work to make sure the burrito meets the nutritional guidelines for my auditors.  This has got me thinking – maybe we can find a pizza restaurant in the area that can do the same thing??

Yes, we are pretty darned excited.  And if the number of parents and kids stopping me on the street is any indication, they are excited too.  Parents are thrilled that they now have the opportunity to take a break from the tedious task of preparing sack lunches, and can take advantage of burrito day.

Before I talk about this week’s meeting, let’s summarize all that we have accomplished so far:

• We have opened the lines of communication between the school district and the community, both through our regularly scheduled lunch reform meetings and through the articles on this blog.
• We have added additional protein choices in the breakfast program and have eliminated sugar cereals from the menu.  The muffins are now appropriately sized and we have said “farewell” to the honeybun.
• Every school will have a High Tech Burrito Day – that’s 2000 burritos, all prepared fresh at the Miracle Mile location.  (Let’s try to support them – they aren’t making a profit on this, so they deserve some additional business, don’t you think?)
• There are also some discreet discussions going on with another local vendor for another favorite meal – but more on that later!

Many of the parents on our lunch reform committee are involved in the “Green Teams” in their respective schools, and have expressed concern for the amount of waste that gets generated during the lunch period.  The good news is that Marin Sanitary District is going to work with our schools to do a cursory audit of our trash.  Based on these results, we will decide if they should do a full audit at certain sites.  The goal is to increase our recycling efforts and reduce waste management costs.  The district is interested in setting up a compost program to deal with food waste from schools and the central kitchen, and to use the grass clippings from landscape maintenance.  From a fiscal perspective, it would save the district money on their waste management bill, plus they may be able to earn some money from selling the finished compost.  You gotta love a win-win like that!

Among other concerns are the uber-processed snacks that are currently available in the A La Carte Bar at Davidson.  Staff is reporting that many of their students avoid any real food all together, instead opting for several bags of chips for lunch.  We will discuss these issues at our next meeting and will select more suitable items to be offered instead.  In the meantime, we suggested to Elena that she stop placing orders for hot-cheetos and allow the surplus to run dry so that we can start fresh with better choices.

It’s ironic that over 50% of our students are on the free and reduced lunch program, but so many kids choose to purchase junk when they have the chance.  You would think that their bodies would crave better nutrition.  We had two guests at our meeting last week to discuss making fresh produce available at snack time to children who need it.  They work for the San Francisco Food Bank and have successfully set up food pantries at several schools in our community, where parents are encouraged to come and pick up bags of groceries.  But these gentlemen are eager to bring in additional produce to be served to hungry children during the school day.  Unfortunately, the food service staff, who has an upcoming audit in January, responded negatively and expressed concern that this might put them out of compliance.  Clearly, all of us are working towards the goal of feeding children better food.  After some discussion, the district staff said that they would see if they could come up with a way to collaborate with the food bank efforts.  Many of us were unclear about the details of this situation, but I’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

As we strive to make positive change in our school lunches, it seemed only appropriate that we revive the discussion about chocolate milk.  My school, Glenwood, is the only school in the district that still offers chocolate milk on a daily basis.  While the American Academy of Pediatrics remains an advocate of chocolate milk (as a vehicle to increase calcium consumption), we feel that it sends the wrong message to kids.  The extra sugar contributes to the obesity crisis that is plaguing our nation.  If parents feel that the only way to get their kids to drink milk is to add a chocolate elixir, then they can serve it at home.  It has no place in the schools.  (Nor, for that matter, do the gummy-like-candies shaped like Curious George.)  When Elena attempted to remove it from the menu, she was met with resistance from several parents who claimed that they had already paid for their milk for the remainder of the year.  As all parents know, we have to pick our battles – so we have decided that we will let this slide for now.  But in the fall, you can expect to see only white milk on the menu.

What’s next?

• A “No-List” of items that we will no longer tolerate on the menu
• Farm-to-Fork programs that may allow us to procure produce from local farmers
• Changing the items on the A La Carte Bar at Davidson
• Changing the presentation of our menu, so that it clearly explains what the kids are getting and displays nutrition information

I’d love to hear from you – what changes are you most excited about? What other changes would you like to see?  We have another meeting in a few weeks, and I need your feedback.  Please use the comments section below to share your thoughts.

Check out these posts that document our school lunch reform efforts:

• http://whatscookingblog.com/2010/04/14/school-lunch-reform-central-kitchen-renovation/
• http://whatscookingblog.com/2010/03/27/school-lunch-reform-2nd-meeting/
• http://whatscookingblog.com/2010/03/05/san-rafael-school-district-task-force-on-school-lunch-1/
• http://whatscookingblog.com/2010/02/11/changing-school-lunches-its-not-an-option/