School meals yucky, some say at hearing

Healthy fare leaves kids empty, trash full, they say

— Changes in federal guidelines that regulate school breakfasts and lunches are often leaving children hungry and undernourished, school administrators and parents testified Wednesday during a hearing on nutritional standards.

Standards changed for school breakfasts and lunches through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The act, designed to combat childhood obesity, limits caloric intake and requires the inclusion of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and low-fat and nonfat dairy products.

At some schools, administrators testified, students have protested the lunches by photographing the meals, placing the pictures on Facebook with derogatory comments and throwing the food away.

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., who hosted the hearing at the Nettleton School District in Jonesboro, said he would forward comments from those testifying to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees school food programs.

“We need to rework these standards,” Crawford said. “The policies are too broad and sweeping. They are not recognizing each school’s role in this.”

The USDA website says the federal act was developed because 32 percent of children between ages 6 and 19 are either overweight or obese.

An individual with a body mass index of 30 or higher is considered obese. Body mass index is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of his height in meters.

Arkansas has taken its own steps to combat high child-obesity rates. Arkansas Act 1220 of 2003, signed into law by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, removed vending machines from elementary schools, limited their contents in upper grades, set higher nutrition standards for cafeteria food, and required schools to measure and report students’ body mass indexes.

In the new federal standards, the caloric intake requirement for lunch ranges from 650 calories a day for elementary-aged children to 850 for senior high students.

“That’s not enough,” said Myra Graham, superintendent of the Trumann School District. “They’re not fueled up. They don’t have the stamina to walk to their afternoon math classes.”

Bryan Duffie, superinten-dent of the Westside School District in Jonesboro, said children often bring bottles of ketchup from home because school-lunch guidelines limit the number of condiment packages they can have.

They also throw away much of the food offered, he said.

Duffie read a letter one of his lunchroom employees recently wrote and asked to be forwarded to Crawford on Wednesday. “Our garbage cans are full. Our kids are not,” Duffie said, reading the letter. “Do something.”

Graham said Trumann students have photographed cafeteria meals and posted the pictures on Facebook, writing things such as, “Look what they’re making us eat” under the pictures.

“It’s hurting the morale of the cafeteria staff,” said Mitch Walton, the superintendent of the Sloan-Hendrix School District in Imboden. “They take pride in what they do.”

Angela Justman, the parent of two children attending schools in Mountain Home, said she thinks the act was made with good intent but that it needs to also educate young students about nutrition.

“Healthy choices in school meals are long overdue,” she said. “You can’t let elementary school children dictate what you serve.

“We need to educate them of the importance of nutrition,” she said. “We need an all-encompassing program, not put a Band-Aid on a problem that’s out of control.”

Several administrators said they were concerned because in some cases the school-provided breakfasts and lunches are the only meals students eat.

“We fall short of keeping our kids’ tummies full,” said Ricky Hill, a Cabot School Board member. “They end up eating at a convenience store after school.”

Others said increasing physical education requirements at school would help curb obesity in students.

Jerry Noble, the Greene County Tech School District superintendent, said his school requires only one semester of physical education for high school students. “More physical activity is needed,” he said.

Administrators also expressed concern about increased costs from the new requirements.

James Dunivan, superintendent of the Nettleton School District, said schools receive an additional 6-cents reimbursement per meal under the act’s guidelines. That equates to about $3,000 a month at Nettleton, he said.

However, the nutritional changes have resulted in an additional $12,000 a month in expenses for his school. Dunivan expects to spend $750,000 during this school year on food. Last year, he spent $634,000.

“How am I going to make that up?” Dunivan asked. “The only alternative is to raise prices to our kids.”

He said he also had to hire an additional cafeteria employee to fill out paperwork required by the standards.

Crawford said he intends to forward transcripts of the testimonies to USDA officials withrecommendations for changes. He said he also wants schools to have more input.

“Our schools are in a better position to evaluate our kids than Washington bureaucrats,” he said. “These schools know their kids. The consequences now are increased costs and tons of waste.

“They’re not looking at everything,” Crawford said. “They’re not taking into consideration the lack of physical activity, the geography of schools, the use of social media and gaming that keeps kids inactive. Those are not part of the equation now.

“The compliance costs are outrageous, and we’re seeing more schools struggle financially,” he said.

Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/18/2012

Upcoming Events