School Lunch

School lunch program, cafeteria workers great The week of Oct. 15 is National School Lunch Week. This special week is set aside to recognize not only the school lunch program, but also the many cafeteria workers who provide nutritional meals to students every day that school is in session. What most people don't realize about the Carroll County Public School System's food services program is that it is self-supporting. Approximately 20 percent of the food services income comes from federal reimbursements.

Adelfeus Cole sees a lot of kids who are unmotivated in the classroom. Tyana Palmer wants to know why the cafeteria can't serve students more vegetarian meals. And Kyle Rivers wonders whether Baltimore County will change its traditional school calendar. The high school students questioned Superintendent Dallas Dance about those issues Wednesday at his first of two planned "student town hall meetings. " Throughout the event, hands shot up from the crowd of about 70 students from a dozen schools gathered at Chesapeake High in Essex.

THIS ASSAULT on America's children will be stopped," declared Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Vermont's governor, Howard Dean, was even more strident: This is "the most despicable, mean-spirited legislative proposal I have seen in all my years of public service," he told the New York Times. "Children will go hungry."What they are talking about is the plan, by the Republican majority in Congress, to make changes in the way the school lunch program is administered.Here is an issue tailor-made for Democrats and the interest groups they represent.

The PalmSecure system should not be allowed in a food service setting ("Palm scanner concerns Carroll County parents," Oct. 3). It involves children placing their hands over a common scanning pad and sharing bacteria with other children passing through the cafeteria line. It is filthy, dirty and unsanitary. For decades, we have conducted school lunch programs without using such a highly invasive and unsanitary system. I am surprised that the state health department has not evaluated this plan.

School lunch prices will stay the same this fall, the schoolsystem's director of operations told school board members at yesterday's meeting.Robert Lazarewicz, the director, said elementary school lunches will cost $1, and middle and high school lunches will cost $1.35. Super lunches and coach's corner lunches will cost $2 and adult TTC lunches $1.80, he said, and the price of a half-pint of milk will remain at 25 cents.By comparison, elementary school lunches cost $1.10 in Anne Arundel County, $1.50 in Baltimore County and $1.30 in Harford County, Mr. Lazarewicz said.

WASHINGTON -- For years as a consumer advocate, Ellen Haas complained about contaminated food, junk food, overpriced food -- and especially about the food served to youngsters in school lunches, sanctioned and supported by the federal government.Now, as the nation's school lunch chief, she can do something about those "high-fat, high-sodium" lunches that she says are "putting children knowingly on a fast-track to health risks" such as heart disease and cancer.Maryland school food administrators still are bristling from Ms. Haas' October visit to Lansdowne Middle School.

Brad Herling received a surprisingly warm reaction several years ago when he banned cupcakes and candy during holiday parties in the name of health at Clarksville Elementary School in Howard County. He's being welcomed with equally open arms this school year as he prepares to lead Centennial Lane Elementary School in the same direction. Parents at his new school have been waging their own war on childhood obesity with a campaign to limit the number of sweet and high-fat snacks served during lunch.

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Newt Gingrich was forced to cancel a luncheon appearance before 2,500 county executives yesterday after hundreds of protesters burst through the doors of a hotel ballroom to decry changes in the school lunch program.The well-orchestrated demonstration by ACORN, a grass-roots group that works for the poor and lower-wage workers, was the first major act of civil disobedience prompted by the Republicans' "Contract with America," and some observers said more could come.

Students will pay more for their school lunches this year in Harford County schools. School officials say rising prices, primarily in milk and cheese, are to blame. The price of an elementary school lunch will be $1.70 and secondary school lunch will be $1.80, starting this fall. The cost of lunches are increasing by 20 cents, marking the first price rise since August 1998, officials said. Reduced-price lunches will remain at 40 cents. Community college trustees to meet The board of trustees of Harford Community College will meet in open session at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Chesapeake Center Board Room.

If you ever think about school lunch, it's probably only in those periods of warm reminiscence when you recall how kindly Mrs. dTC Greeley kept you in for recess back in the fifth grade because you absolutely refused to eat what was described -- generously, it seemed -- as mystery meat.But it's time to think again.Because the question now is whether all kids are entitled -- the emphasis is mine, and I'm wondering if it's not yours, too -- to eat lunch of some description while at school.Is this a radical idea?

Watermelons and tomatoes from Deep Run Farms, apples from Baugher's Orchard and potatoes from Wike Farm — all were served up this past week in Carroll County Public Schools as part of the celebration of Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week. The statewide focus, which ran Sept. 17-21, called upon school systems to feature locally grown produce in their school lunch menus. Signage was created to accompany the products when possible, identifying for students the farms where the food was purchased.

Hunger and obesity are serious challenges that face far too many children in our state and across the country. At a quick glance, it may seem that attempts to reduce hunger and promote healthy eating are competing goals. Yet, evidence shows us that expanding participation in federal nutrition programs (like school meals) reduces childhood hunger and improves children's diets. At the same time, improving the quality of these federal programs, with a primary goal of preventing obesity, may well increase participation.

Back-to-school season means dusting off the lunchboxes and stocking up on brown paper bags. It's lunch-making time. For many kids, that means a daily dose of PB&J with a side of sliced apples. But sandwiches get boring - both for kids and for lunch-packing parents. One way to get out of the sandwich rut? Go ethnic. Ethnic flavors have been commonplace in American cooking for years. Salsa outsold ketchup for the first time back in 1991; in 2008, U.S. salsa sales totaled $931 million, compared to $621 million for ketchup.

(Guest post by Laurel Peltier, free-lance writer, GreenLaurel.com blogger and mother of three.) Back-to-school means arranging carpools again and sitting through soccer practices, but also packing school lunches. To make this daily chore easier, a recent Coupons.com survey found that almost 70 percent of parents rely on store-bought, pre-packaged foods for their kid's lunch.  Convenient?  Yes, but there is a downside to pre-packaged lunch foods. First demerit: Juice boxes and individually wrapped 'grab and go' foods generate tons of lunch-time trash -- 67 pounds per child annually, according to a survey by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

Nicole Pace told the school nurse that her daughter was deathly allergic to peanuts and had her 5-year-old's allergist provide Hillcrest Elementary School in Frederick with a pre-measured dose of medicine, just in case. But a cafeteria worker - unaware of the danger peanuts posed to the girl, Liana - gave her a peanut butter sandwich. "The child immediately began experiencing an anaphylactic reaction; her airway and eyelids began to swell, and she became lethargic and confused," according to court records.

I was delighted to read the newU.S. Department of Agricultureguidelines requiring schools to serve meals with twice as many fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less sodium and fat, and no meat for breakfast ("Taterless tots," Aug. 24, 2011). The guidelines were mandated by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act signed by President Obama in December of 2010 and will go into effect with the next school year. The new guidelines offer a welcome change from the USDA's tradition of using the National School Lunch Program as a dumping ground for meat and dairy surpluses.

Baltimore County students, who already face some of the highest school lunch prices in the metropolitan area, will pay an additional 5 cents this fall under an increase the school board approved unanimously last night.The price of an elementary school lunch will increase to $1.45; secondary school lunches will go to $1.55. A la carte entrees will go up to $1.50, and the larger, Big Bite entree will cost $1.Prices on other a la carte items, including fruits, vegetables and french fries, as well as desserts, beverages and such foods as bagels and popcorn, will not increase.

My daughter Arielle had her first day of kindergarten last week. Parents were invited to stay in the classroom through circle time. As I sat cross-legged next to my wife on our portion of the magic circle, I listened to morning announcements with a renewed sense of interest - not as a parent, but as a food marketer. I have spent a good portion of the past 13 years working with manufacturers to sell food and beverage products into school lunch programs. And while I'm well versed in federal and state guidelines, including "bread equivalents," whole grain requirements, commodity programs and menu cycles, I have not looked at school lunch from the vantage point of the gatekeeper audience: parents.

Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week is Sept. 12-16. A kickoff celebration for the fourth annual is being held on Friday, Sept. 9 at the Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in St. Mary's County, from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The program is designed to help educate students about where their food comes from, how it is produced, and the benefits of a healthy diet as well as to expand markets for Maryland farmers. There's more information here . The video describes a successful farm-to-school program in Harford County.