One son in MS and another in HS, I pack lunch for them every single day. Since ES they have hated the school lunch. I agree that is gross.

Anonymous wrote:I am new to MCPS and am disgusted by the lunches. And I am upset too that the response is to bow out and pack lunch- yes I understand it provides a better lunch to your DC, but what about moving, pushing for change? Thanks PP for posting address - I will be writing. I would love to see some change. For those interested, check out www.cookforamerica it is a program to create cooked from scratch meals in CO public schools: ends up cheaper and better food. As another PP stated a huge problem is that mcps no longer have kitchens that are equipped to cook only reheat. Maybe we can get some momentum going!

I have limited energy and resources to put into battling school-related issues, so I save my resources for the battles that really matter to me. This one is easy to write off because I can and do pack lunches for my kids. Other battles - not so easy.

Early on, I took on many more issues but discovered quickly that it's not worth my time unless it *really* matters and I cannot do anything about it on my own.

There is a yahoo group for interested parents on this very issue:

MCPS_Better_Food@yahoogroups.com

If you want to know how a school district can pull of healthier choices on a limited budget, take a look at the visionary work of Tony Geraci in Baltimore:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/05/AR2009050500876.html

And here's something about Baltimore and Oakland CA:

http://www.good.is/post/what-s-right-with-school-lunch-oakland-and-baltimore/

Both districts face financial and logistical challenges. In Oakland, parents and local food experts worked together to make changes. In Baltimore, Geraci made these changes in spite of conditions.

So it can be done but it needs vision and energy.

Since I was a child school lunch has been something that was not very healthy or good tasting. How can it be when the cost and the scale of food preparation doesn't leave the school system many options. Have you tried to prepare a healthy meal with no kitchen for a lot of people on a limited budget and can only serve foods made in advance? Its not easy is it? So I don't have bone to pick with the schools. They are doing the best they can. About the only ways to chance things is if we are willing topay more money for lunches, get parents involved to help out with preparation and we come up with what it is we really NEED the kids to eat. There will be very little agreement among parents in how this will be best served.

As a child my parents packed our lunch unless there was something on the menu we wanted to eat. My son has a lot of food intolerances and the amount of dairy or soy in the menu selections means there is very little he can eat. Added to that he has been yelled at by the lunch staff that he HAS to select milk instead of juice when he has explicitly told them he can't drink milk, or soy alternative. So we pack his lunch and I'm ok with this - we have an option that works best for our family. I can provide him with what I want him to have and I don't have to worry about whether the food he is eating will impact his intolerance. Cost wise it makes more sense for me to provide my child with his own packed lunch as well.

Anonymous wrote:

This is actually a fairly simple issue to address -- everyone knows what healthy food is. But parents need to push hard for it, vote based on this issue, and be willing to vote in something like a small sales tax increase devoted to healthy school food.

The poor quality of school food is 100% due to lack of financing and parental apathy.

This is our first year in MCPS and I have no idea how you would push hard for something. Everything that I have heard about the system is that it is designed to make this virtually impossible. For voting, I have not seen someone on the ballot who is ever doing anything more than lip service for nutritional food.

We would be happy to join any movement or vote in way that make a chance but I just don't see this happening in MOCO. We pack our lunch and send shelf stable milk.

I agree that MCPS is designed to make parental input virtually impossible. It seems extraordinarily difficult for parents to push for any meaningful change (whether academic, social, food). Maybe the school lunch issue is should be something the MOCO PTAs should tackle. Our PTA is so preoccupied with things like school parties, beautification projects, feel-good staff events, etc. It seems that the PTA should be the loudest voice advocating for healthy food for our kids.

I am new to MCPS and am disgusted by the lunches. And I am upset too that the response is to bow out and pack lunch- yes I understand it provides a better lunch to your DC, but what about moving, pushing for change? Thanks PP for posting address - I will be writing. I would love to see some change. For those interested, check out www.cookforamerica it is a program to create cooked from scratch meals in CO public schools: ends up cheaper and better food. As another PP stated a huge problem is that mcps no longer have kitchens that are equipped to cook only reheat. Maybe we can get some momentum going!

Anonymous wrote:The way I understand it that the schools rely on the profit from the paying kids to make up the difference between the federal subsidy for FARMS and the actaul cost of the lunch. If baked chicken and green beans means that they will have a lower number of paying kids than pepperoni pizza..than they have to serve pizza to keep the profit levels up. That is why we see pizza/nuggets so much..to attract buyers.

This is absolutely true. It's the parents of the paying kids who allow them to spend money on this junk.

Just look at the lunch menu they send home every month. Chicken nuggets and pizza multiple times each week. Add hot dogs, burgers and corn dogs to the list. Flavored milk full of sugar. You don't even need a picture. Just think of your child eating that every day. If your school has a breakfast program, think donuts, sugared cereal, Pop Tarts, etc plus more flavored milk. Our schools can thank themselves for making the poor kids fat.

Idea. Someone who is in the cafeteria everyday -- parent volunteer or staff -- Start a blog and post a picture of the school lunch every day. Supplement with reports of MCPS senior staff luncheons. Flog to media.

The way I understand it that the schools rely on the profit from the paying kids to make up the difference between the federal subsidy for FARMS and the actaul cost of the lunch. If baked chicken and green beans means that they will have a lower number of paying kids than pepperoni pizza..than they have to serve pizza to keep the profit levels up. That is why we see pizza/nuggets so much..to attract buyers.

I'm an MCPS teacher and yes, the lunches are gross. There HAVE been some efforts to be more nutritious (chicken is baked, not fried; whole wheat bread is used for most bread items). My kids aren't in school yet, but believe me, they will never be buying lunch! It's a disgrace, given the number of students in our county who rely on free or reduced lunch for their main (sometimes only) meal of the day, whose parents do not have the luxury of packing lunches for them.

This is actually a fairly simple issue to address -- everyone knows what healthy food is. But parents need to push hard for it, vote based on this issue, and be willing to vote in something like a small sales tax increase devoted to healthy school food.

The poor quality of school food is 100% due to lack of financing and parental apathy.

This is our first year in MCPS and I have no idea how you would push hard for something. Everything that I have heard about the system is that it is designed to make this virtually impossible. For voting, I have not seen someone on the ballot who is ever doing anything more than lip service for nutritional food.

We would be happy to join any movement or vote in way that make a chance but I just don't see this happening in MOCO. We pack our lunch and send shelf stable milk.

And not only fork it up, they have to ASK for nutritious food.

School foodservice basically gives kids what they want. If parents feed their kids chicken nuggets and burgers, that will be the norm and kids won't accept anything else.

Anonymous wrote:Bring in Jamie Oliver. We here in one of the most affluent counties in the country need his services. (That is a very, very sad statement.)

Like a PP said, it's not because we have people in this county who don't know about nutritious food. The school system is enormous and it will take money to overhaul food services. Taxpayers have to be willing to fork it up.