A proposal to increase prices for elementary and middle school lunches was rejected by members of the Bethlehem Central Board of Education.
The proposal was made on Wednesday, June 18, by chief business and financial officer Judith Kehoe. As sales of lunches continue to decrease, the plan called for increasing middle school and elementary lunches by 25 cents and milk by 10 cents.
“We were originally figuring on a loss of $75,000 for the year, but we did a lot better then initially expected,” said Kehoe.
Figuring in the need to purchase some new kitchen equipment, the district’s food services program is expected to lose $63,000 this year. Although that numbers seem bad, Kehoe said it is a sharp improvement from the more than $100,000 loss from last year.
The money was made up mostly by changes made to the cafeteria at the high school.
The Bethlehem Central School District made the decision to opt out of the National School Lunch Program at the high school level after district administrators presented information showing a “steep decline” in the number of lunches purchased last school year. The new federal guidelines were said to be limiting the items that could be served and the portions sizes of food for the older students.
The amount of money the program made was increased by ramping up efforts at the high school snack bar, coffee shop and a la carte menus. The food services staff also began an after-school cafe where students could purchase paninis and other hot food items.
However, lunches sold at the middle and elementary schools continued to decrease, with many parents opting to pack their child’s lunch. Kehoe thought increasing the price might help offset the costs, but some board members felt the real problems began not with the federal regulations, but when the board increased lunch prices by $1 in 2010.
“It was a fairly dramatic reduction,” Kehoe agreed.
Some Board members wondered why the proposal was to increase prices of the normal lunches and milk rather than the other items served.
“Why are we charging more for the healthy lunch that kids are relying on, over the bag of Doritos,” asked Board of Education member Joanne Cunningham. “If we’re looking to increase prices, at a minimum, I don’t think we should be increasing prices on things we are trying to encourage kids to eat.”
The other members of the board agreed.
“My question would be if we had more volume in the number of meals sold, would that be able to subsidize the loss,” said Board Member Diane Giacone Stever, suggesting the meals prices be lowered.
Kehoe also announced that a new food services director had been found following the departure of former director Paul Franchini in April. Allissa Eiser, who currently works at a school district in Washington, will take over the role in August.
Superintendent Tom Douglas said Eiser did two interviews via webcam before flying out to Bethlehem. Once here, she did another interview and then did an “Iron Chef-type” challenge where she was asked to create a meal using ingredients in the high school cafeteria and following specific guidelines.
“Having Allissa Eiser cook for us as part of the final interview process was a way to test her creativity and resourcefulness, while also assessing how she interacted with our staff,” said Douglas in a later interview. “Her ability to create meals that are appealing to students while maintaining a nutritious and balanced menu is a quality in a food services director that we look for.”
Eiser created a chicken dish using honey and various spices. She was told only Douglas and Kehoe would be testing the food, but then was surprised when six high school students were also selected to participate.
“Everyone liked what she created. Not only was it nutritious, but it also tasted good,” said Douglas.
Eiser will be revamping the menus, mostly at the middle school and elementary levels. She will also do visits to classrooms to give presentations on healthy eating and plans to work more with students on educating them about their diets.
Board of Education members were pleased with the changes, as many were not impressed with their visits to school cafeterias earlier in the year. Caitrin Navarro said she and the students she spoke with feel the menus are boring. Cunningham said she thought the food looks like the same food she was served as a kid.
“In fact, it looked like the same old, dried-up fruit cup,” said Cunningham.
The proposal to possibly increase lunch prices will be reevaluated a few months after the new food services director is in place. The board also voted to transfer about $60,000 from the general fund to the food services budget so there would not be a deficit for the coming year.
