May 17, 2007

Dear Hudsonville Parents, 

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in the elementary lunch survey we conducted in May 2006.  It is very beneficial for our department to get an idea of what the children and parents are thinking about the lunch program.  Knowing that children and parents can have differing views on what they would like for lunch, we did conduct two surveys – one that was filled out by the children and one filled out by the parents.  It was very interesting to see the similarities as well as the differences.  In reading the parent surveys, there seemed to be a few concerns that were shared by many of the participants.  I would like to take a few moments of your time to address just a few of those concerns and to invite you to visit the food service web page for more survey questions.  You can access the food service web page by going to your building’s web page and clicking on Lunch Menus.  Please feel free to contact me at 667-3352 or Stacey Wykoski if you have any questions about this survey.  Once again, we thank you for your participation.

 Stacey L. Wykoski – Food Service Director

 Portion Sizes – Enough food for Kindergarten versus 5^th graders

 The portion sizes we offer are based on the USDA National School Lunch Program guidelines.  These guidelines state that the school lunch needs to meet 1/3 of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for children.  One third of the RDA for protein is 2 ounces.  All of our W and B entree items meet the 2 ounce requirement.  Taking a milk and both sides with the main entree would complete the meal requirements.  I do understand that 2 ounces of protein may not be enough for some 5^th graders but instead of increasing the size of the protein item, we encourage the children to fill up on the healthier fruits and vegetables that we offer on the food bar.  On a daily basis, we offer lettuce, baby carrots, a canned fruit and a fresh fruit item on the food bar.  These items will provide the nutrients and the energy without the fat that children need.  We strongly urge you to encourage your child to eat all of the items listed on our menu each day.  This will ensure that they are getting 1/3 of the RDA for children kindergarten through fifth grade. 

Not enough time to eat

This is one of comments I tend to receive the most.  In all of the Hudsonville elementary buildings, at least 15 minutes is designated for lunch time with more being available as necessary and within reason.  Basically if a child needs more time to eat their lunch, they do not have to leave when everyone else does.  A study in April 2001 by the National Food Service Management Institute found that children on average eat their lunch in 10 minutes.  You can view this study at www.nfsmi.org/Information/eating_at_school.pdf.  It is an easy and interesting reading.

 

In my own observations and experience as a parent, I have come across two main reasons why children typically do not eat all of their lunch.  The first normally involves wanting to be the first one on the playground to “save” a piece of playground equipment or basketball hoop.  This reason came up frequently during discussions about lunch with my own son during his elementary years.  The second is the social aspect of lunch.  Since this is a time when children can talk with their friends, they have a tendency to talk more and eat less.  I certainly do not favor telling children they can not talk during lunch but we do have to recognize it is a factor.

Yogurt and String Cheese as an entree and why hot dogs and pizza so often

 For the yogurt and string cheese question, the concern here seemed to center around these items being viewed as snack foods rather than main entrees.  As I stated in addressing the first concern, we are required to offer 2 ounces of protein for lunch each day.  Yogurt with string cheese provides a lowfat, high calcium entrée that meets our requirements.  If your child eats this entrée along with the two sides and a milk, they are getting a meal that meets the 1/3 RDA guideline and is low in fat.  The hot dogs we use are turkey dogs and our pizzas have both low fat cheese and whole grain crusts to reduce the fat content.  Taking the side dishes listed on the menu is key to balancing our entrees.  Both the American Heart Association and the USDA recommend that you look at the nutritional content of your meals over a week rather than individual items or meals.  With the exception of four meals that offer cheese (ham chef, taco in bag, soft shell tacos and chips/cheese) all of the meals with sides listed on our menu are less than 30% of calories from fat and most are less than 10% of saturated fat. 

I did not know that a nutritional analysis of the menu was available

 For the past two years our department has provided a complete nutritional analysis of our menu for each day and the month on the food service webpage.  This analysis gives a breakdown of calories, carbohydrates, fat grams and saturated fat.  We use a software program called Nutrikids, which has been approved by the USDA.  This program allows us to see problem items and make adjustments as necessary.  We have very specific federal nutrition guidelines we must follow and we are inspected on those.  Occasionally you will see an individual menu that is over the 30% of calories from fat.  Typically this is a menu that involves serving cheese with the main item.  If you are closely watching your child’s fat intake, we recommend that they not take the cheese when it is offered (example: shredded cheese with the ham chef or soft shell tacos).  The webpage can be found by going to your building’s website and clicking on Lunch Menus.

My child does not drink the milk, why can’t the price be less if they do not take it?

We are required by the USDA to price all meals as a unit.  This means that we must have one price for the lunch no matter how many of the items a child takes.  That is a federal regulation.  We are also required to offer both a lowfat chocolate and lowfat white milk to our children.  We currently offer only 1% at the elementary level.  Because there are still some children in our community who drink whole milk, we feel that the 1% is a reasonable percent.

 

Why do you let the children take what they want rather than making them take items?

 Our program participates in the Offer vs. Serve option of the National School Lunch Program.  This option gives children the opportunity to make decisions based on what they really are going to eat.  Plate waste was a driving factor in providing this option to schools.  Children will likely eat the items they put on the tray themselves rather than what is chosen for them.

 

How can you run out of an entrée? Don’t you make extra? 

Our system functions on knowing how many items we need to prepare of a specific entrée each day.  We do have a “pad” for those children who happen to drop their lunch on the way to their seats but this pad is not intended to cover children who did not order lunch that day.  We are able to keep our lunch prices as they are because we try to keep a tight handle on our entrée waste.  If a child did not order lunch and needs one, they are allowed to take what they want from the food bar and then receive a cheese sandwich.  If we are made aware that a child is in need of food, we will feed them something but not necessarily the entrée.  We have an obligation to provide entrees to the children who ordered lunch that morning first, then we will take care of the children who did not order but need lunch.