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School lunch offers diversity, restaurant atmosphereEditorís Note: The following is a special report on the school lunch programs at North Branch and Rush City high schools. The week of Oct. 13 - 17 is National School Lunch Week. The interviews were conducted in the schoolsí cafeterias on Oct. 1. By Barbara Brown North Branch High School lunch time is a crowded, noisy affair, but it runs with all the efficiency of an Army mess hall at chow. By the end of September, more than 5,000 hot school lunches were served in North Branch High School alone. That includes the 1,000 served daily at the high school, 600 daily meals at the primary school, 700 each at the middle, Main Street and Intermediate schools. Students are allowed a greater freedom of choice at most schools across the country. A variety of foods are offered, at North Branch and other schools in the state, including pizza, homemade sandwiches, french fries, hamburgers, chips, snacks, salad bar, fresh soups and desserts. Lunch lines no longer look like they are in school cafeterias. Now they are more reminiscent of shopping center food courts. At one table during the third of four lunch periods at North Branch High School, a group of guys discussed their lunch options. ìI got this lunch because I had an extra five bucks today,î Nathan Holmes said of his meal, which could have been a simple meal bought from any number of fast food joints in the area. Nathan said he really doesnít worry about what he eats until late fall when wrestling season rolls around. Then he sticks to a strict diet of mostly salads and water. ìThe lines are so long,î said Aaron Johnson. ìI wait until they go down so I donít have to stand in line so long.î Of the group of guys at the table, Johnson is the only one who admitted his parents ask him about what he eats for lunch at school. Nathaniel Peterson said that while the school lunches are pretty good, they could be served a little hotter. Peterson admits that while he would rather be able to eat whatever he wants at lunch time in school, he opts for the balanced school lunch. Not so much because he knows that the variety of offerings may be better for his body, though. He just knows that it keeps him awake better. ìWe feel better immediately when we eat junk food, but we feel tired later,î Peterson said. ìThe school lunch keeps you awake when you have a boring class.î At another table during the same lunch period, several other students had very different meals in front of them. Jamie Beaver, who ate a burrito and juice drink, said the group tends to eat the same things for lunch every day. Tomas Schultz, a sophomore, said he is practicing the low-carbohydrate diet so he just ate the toppings off two pieces of pizza ñ including sausage and pepperoni ñ and drank a Pepsi brought from home. Linsey Halverson, a sophomore and probably one of the smallest people in the lunchroom at the time, ate two pieces of pizza, a small bag of chips and a hamburger for her lunch. While her lunch was probably the largest in quantity at the table, she said her lunch selections are motivated by how good she feels after eating. ìThey taste good and they get us full and get us through the day.î The group as a whole agreed they would like to see more variety in the fresh fruit options, more whole grain breads and vegetable options. Assistant principal Neil Fletcher said he is happy with the food choices most students make during their lunch periods. ìYouíll see kids go through and theyíll get the salad bar,î he said. ìOther kids will go through and they get all fat. Don Kivimaki, director of food services for the districtís contract Signature Dining, said the companyís computerized cashier system is specific enough that it knows what is in each food product and can track student eating habits. ìIf there is a student who is allergic to something and they come to the register to buy food that has that in it, the cashier can tell them and save the student from allergic reactions,î Kivimaki said. Parents can determine how much their student spends for each lunch period, Kivimaki said. For example, the individualized system allows parents to load a certain amount of money into their students account. Then the parent can set parameters like allowing them to buy school lunch only or only allowing a few dollars per day to come off the account. Fletcher said the administration of the the district is pleased with its contract situation with Signature Dining because it not only has a great selection and quality of food, but it also removes an administration function from the district to the business managers. Kivimaki said his employees may work harder than at some in-house operations because they run the lunch room like a restaurant and treat the students like customers. He said the employees are rated and paid by Signature Dining and are interested in providing quality service so they keep their jobs. Another benefit, Fletcher said, is the option of holding athletic, theatrical or other extra-curricular dinners at the school. The option saves the parents money from going to a large, expensive banquet hall somewhere outside North Branch and Signature Dining can provide just about any meal wanted. The school lunch is always a balanced diet set by federal standards and includes a fruit, vegetable, dairy, starch and protein. Students also can buy pizza instead of the school lunch, Kivimaki said. Signature Dining contracts with the local Pizza Hut to provide slices to the school. Last year, the company contracted with Dominoís Pizza in North Branch. Whichever company may have the contract is required to adhere to nutrition standards, Kivimaki said. Each slice of pizza must have a protein, starch, and vegetable product. He said it gives the students an alternative balanced lunch while still supporting local businesses. Fletcher said the district and administration of North Branch High School do not have any problems with offering a chain store product in the lunch room. ìIt there is a brand you know, thereís respect for that brand,î Fletcher said. ìThere is the weight on them to provide a quality product every day because their national name is on it.î Signature Dining likes to see brands in the lunch line for financial reasons also. When Taco Bellís parent company, Pepsi, decided the restaurant should not be in the school lunch business and pulled out of all schools in the country, sales of taco products went down, Kivimaki said. He said that although Signature Dining created similar products under the Salsa City name, sales dropped and have not recovered to the point where Taco Bellís were. Some schools in Minnesota and in the United States allow national brands to purchase equipment, supplies and even build athletic areas for them as long as the brand name is plastered on it. Fletcher said North Branch hopefully will never get to that point. He said education is a public business run by public dollars and not a place for private companies to flaunt themselves. The school does have a Pepsi machine in the teachersí lounge, sells Welchís products in the lunch line and has Gatorade machines in both the boys and girls locker rooms. ìWhen a school sells its soul to a business outside the school, we lose our purpose here,î Fletcher said. ©ECM Post Review |