Students in the Bethlehem Central School District will be seeing some culinary changes in the new school year under new federal food service regulations implemented in July.
In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. While the new law increases the number of children eligible to participate in free school lunch programs and now requires school districts to be audited to improve compliance every three years, it also sets new nutritional standards for all foods sold in school.
“The goal is to provide healthier and more varied food options,” said Paul Franchini, the food service coordinator for BCSD.
The new regulations are based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and are “expected to enhance the diet and health of school children and help mitigate the childhood obesity threat,” according to the USDA. The rules require schools to increase the servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free milks. The amounts of sodium, trans fat and saturated fat allowed in foods have been reduced.
The deal with new meals
So what that does that mean for hungry kids? According to Franchini, BC’s serving sizes for fruits and vegetables have doubled at the high school, while the required size for proteins and entrees have decreased. Under the new regulations, fruits and vegetables can have no added sugars or syrups and must be either fresh or frozen, with limited use of canned produce allowed.
A limit has also been placed on the number or times starchy or deep-fried vegetable can be served each week, the most notable example being French fries. In addition, meals will now meet the caloric ranges of the age and grade of students.
“They basically went to regulations that are a little bit extreme, but at the same time are needed,” said Franchini.
The size of pizza slices has been cut nearly in half and the number of chicken nugget a student gets with each meal will be reduced from six to three. Bethlehem Central had already begun to implement some of the changes several years ago by switching to whole grains and doing away with canned produce, but now those practices are mandatory. The changes will be easier for some districts than others.
“For the schools who were already being progressive about things and doing the right things using local farmers, that’s what the program is easing into, but this is basically … almost too stringent for the schools that can’t afford it,” said Franchini.
The bottom line
What remains to be seen is whether fewer students will purchase lunch in school under the new guidelines. For the most part, the new regulations are intended to help those in elementary school form better eating habits.
Those habits can have a fiscal impact on school districts. Food service programs in schools have to be self-maintaining and often receive little government funding.
BCSD receives 27 cents for every meal served per student from the federal government and 0.0023 cents from the state for every non-reduced meal, according to BC Chief Business and Financial Officer Judith Kehoe. Breakfast costs $2 for all students and lunch costs $3 for elementary students and $3.25 for those in the middle and high schools. District officials said only 3 to 4 percent of BC students qualify for free or reduced lunches.
Kehoe said the there was surplus of about $7,000 for the 2010-2011 school year after meal prices were increased. This money was rolled over to the next year, but is now gone after the department operated at a loss last school year.
“In the past, if food services did not have sufficient resources we would help cover those costs with a transfer from the general fund, but the general fund has its own share of constraints so we have been trying not to do those transfers,” said Kehoe.
Breakfast ended to cut costs
To reduce costs, the district recently announced it would be ending the breakfast program for elementary students.
Franchini said the state Education Department suggested several years ago that the district do away with the program for its youngest students because attendance was low. In an effort to keep the program, the district attempted to increase student participation, but because of the new regulations opted to end the program to save money.
Kehoe said the district would save about $30,000 a year by not purchasing breakfast items and cutting back hours for some staff. Franchini said an average of three students per school per day eat breakfast at school, and he believed the later start time of 9 a.m. for elementary schools was a contributing factor.
“By that time most parents have already fed their children,” he said. “They’re not going to wait that long and let them starve.”
Breakfast programs will continue as normal at the middle and high schools.
To further balance the budget instead of raising prices, food services will close the last lunch line 15 minutes early, reduce all staff by 30 minutes a day and increase sales at the high school coffee shop and a la carte lines.
Franchini said a new plan also calls for turning the snack bar at the high school into the Eagle Deli. This line would act similar to a sandwich shop, where students would get to create their own subs for the same price as a school lunch. The department may also apply some resources later in the day for the “after school crowd.”
The changes to the district’s food services will be discussed at the school board meeting held on Wednesday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m. at the High School Library Media Center.
