Back to school|Healthier school meals due at last year’s price
Published 12:00 am Sunday, July 19, 2009
This year’s nutrition at last year’s prices means a better value for parents who will send their kids to school with meal money when school starts Aug. 4.
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A new “wellness policy” enacted by the Vicksburg Warren School District board of trustees in June requires less frying, lower-fat meals and restrictions on extra purchases, such as chips, snack items and dessert. Calories, too, are limited in those items offered for extra purchase — they must contain fewer than 200 calories. Fresh fruit is always an option.
Even though the cost of food and energy has increased, breakfast and lunch prices will not be going up, said Gail Kavanaugh, child nutrition director for the district.
Meal prices will remain steady at $2.25 for lunches at all schools, and for breakfasts, $.75 for elementary students and $1 for junior- and senior-high-schoolers. Prices for adults, whether staff or visitors, are $2 for breakfast and $3 for lunch.
“We are trying to watch our budget,” Kavanaugh said, as the district does not want to have to raise prices.
About 69 percent of Vicksburg’s public school children receive free or reduced-price meals, a figure that has been steadily increasing over the last few years at the rate of about 1 percent a year, Kavanaugh said. Reduced-price breakfast is 25¢ and reduced-price lunch is 40¢.
Another important change this year is a new policy that states no home-prepared foods can be brought to school to be shared with classmates for classroom parties and other activities.
Party items must be purchased and brought to school in their original containers, labeled with ingredients, place of purchase and expiration date, or, to make it even easier, the nutrition department has developed a party-food list and will do the shopping for any parent who wants to simply fill out an order form. Crackers, ice cream, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and other popular items can be ordered.
“This will be a big change for parents, we know that,” Kavanaugh said, “but because of allergies and various food regulations, teachers need to be able to see ingredient lists. We ask that parents do this for the protection of all students.”
The new wellness policy also requires more physical activity for students, including physical education classes as well as structured activities within classrooms. Teachers are encouraged to incorporate 5 to 10 minutes of physical activity sessions in teaching subject area lessons and for transition times.
The district updated its wellness policy largely in response to congressional legislation, though many of the mandated policies had already been implemented, she said. “One of the reasons Congress initiated this was they saw the writing on the wall with regard to health issues. If we don’t do something we’ll end up paying in the end — shorter life spans, less productive lives, costly health care.”
Young people in Mississippi continue to be the fattest in the nation. The annual obesity rankings prepared by the Trust for America’s Health, released July 1, show that 44.4 percent of Mississippi children are overweight. Mississippi also ranks highest in adult obesity at 32.5 percent.
Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust, named healthier school lunches as one way of combating the high levels of obesity among children.
If Kavanaugh has her way, the current generation of students at Vicksburg Warren public schools will help dethrone Mississippi as the nation’s fattest state.
“We have been reducing fried products and trying to replace fryers with combi-convection ovens,” Kavanaugh said. “The majority of our food is baked. Maybe once a month or a little less frequently we may do fried chicken. Fried foods are not all bad — it’s just how much you eat of them.”
So far, combi-ovens have been purchased for two schools in the district, Bovina and Sherman Avenue Elementary. Bovina actually has two of the ovens, and no fryer, Kavanaugh said, because the kitchen there had to be set up when the school was reopened last year after being closed for about a decade.
Sherman Avenue got a single combi-oven last year when one of the school’s ovens went out.
The ovens cost about $32,000 to purchase and install, with costly changes to plumbing and electrical work required. With a budget cut about 5 percent this year because of falling revenues from both state and local sources, the district’s plans to buy one a year and equip each school in turn have been put on hold.
“I would love to have one of these in each school,” Kavanaugh said. “It turns out a beautiful product with a crisp, crunchy texture and you don’t have to fry.”
Schools in the district serve about 3,000 breakfasts and 7,500 lunches each day. Superintendent Dr. James Price said the student population is expected to hold steady in the 2009-2010 school year with about 9,000 students — about 5,000 in elementary grades and close to 4,000 in the junior high and high schools.
For more information about VWSD school meals, including a virtual cafeteria, cost and nutritional comparisons and links to articles of interest to parents, visit the office’s Web site at www.destinationhealthymeals.com.
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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com
Food policy changes
• Less frying, more baking of prepared meal components such as chicken and potato wedges.
• Extra purchases (not including beverages) will be limited for all students. Elementary and junior high school students may purchase one extra sale item. High school students may purchase two.
• Chips must be whole grain and baked.
• Desserts are limited to low-fat ice cream selections.
• No home-prepared food may be served to students through sale, service, class or club parties. All such foods offered to students must be purchased and brought to school in the original sealed, labeled container that includes where and when the product was purchased and its expiration date. (The policy does not apply to lunches brought from home for personal student consumption.)
Meal prices
• Breakfast — $.75 for elementary students; $1 for junior high and high school; $2 for adults.
• Lunch — $2.25 for all students; $3 for adults.