Alexis Steines, public affairs associate at the School Nutrition Association (SNA), agrees that more funding is necessary for better school food.
“School nutrition programs are not being reimbursed enough money to sustain what they are doing,” she says. “The current reimbursement rate is $2.68 for a free meal and according to a study that SNA did last year, it would cost $2.92 to prepare a healthy school meal.”
Steines is optimistic that the new Child Nutrition Act will see an increase in the reimbursement rate along with a national standard for all foods that schools sell—including those in vending machines and the snack items in cafeterias, such as potato chips, french fries and pizza.
Schools often rely on the money they generate from selling snacks in vending machines and cafeterias to help cover the costs for their food service programs. If schools were to replace traditional vending machines filled with fatty snacks with refrigerated ones stocked with organic items from low-fat milk and yogurt to fresh fruit and vegetables, would students spend as much on them? Wendy Mikkelsen, founder of the Long Island-based My Healthy Thing snack distribution, says they will, if given the chance.
“Many schools on Long Island have hired food service companies to take care of the cafeteria. These companies often do the vending service as well,” Mikkelsen explains. “If schools separated the two, then they would leave the option open for the district to make a healthier vending choice.”
“The machines are at no cost to the location…and healthy vending is 12 to 15 percent more profitable to a location than traditional vending.”
Even so, getting schools to make the switch has been challenging. But not impossible. Since 2008, about 30 locations, including schools, colleges, businesses and hotels, have signed on.
At some LI schools, addressing childhood obesity through healthy nutrition and exercise is not an issue of cost. It is also not a new concept. The Roslyn Trinity Cooperative Day School has done so for more than 50 years. Just as pediatricians aim to educate parents and children early on about healthy lifestyles, Roslyn Trinity follows suit, making sure their preschoolers have daily physical activity on the school’s playground or in its indoor gym. They also encourage parents to send in nutritious snacks, “such as fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat foods and foods that do not contain trans fats,” according to Director Lindi Nubel. The school also provides yoga and movement programs for students. “You can limit the diet, but if children are sitting inside all day, that really will have a negative impact too,” Nubel adds.
Jeff Risener, who is in his 12th year teaching physical education at Walter S. Boardman Elementary in Oceanside, agrees.
“A large part of my role is to instill in the children good habits so they will continue to exercise as they get older,” says Risener, who models fitness for students and families by riding his bike to school, exercising with them and promoting good nutrition.
The school has a walking program that requires children to wear pedometers that record how many miles they walk in physical education class. And when kids work up appetites after workouts, perhaps they’ll reach for the “fruit or vegetable of the week,” which Risener labels on the gymnasium wall.
Oceanside’s food service reinforces the message. Jane Blackburn, the district’s food service director, notes that after a relay last spring, students were offered fruit smoothies, made with 100 percent juice, fresh fruit and low-fat yogurt. Throughout the year they are encouraged to taste test papaya, mangos, squash and other fruits and vegetables that they may have yet to sample. In the past two years, the district has stopped using whole milk, introduced whole grain breads, pastas and pizzas and cut back on fried foods, while increasing salad bar options.
Risener is optimistic about Boardman’s progress to address childhood obesity. “With all the emphasis in school, home and the media on wellness, healthy eating, and the importance of exercise, parents and students are more involved in doing just that,” he says.
Perhaps fueled by the federal push for public schools to craft wellness policies, some schools have gone so far as to hire independent food consultants to help them improve the quality and variety of the foods they serve. Port Washington contracted Julia Van Loon, who helped introduce apple cranberry puff pancakes, vegetarian chili, and several build-your-own items through “Sample Days,” which empower students to try foods new to them. After the Port Washington elementary schools replaced bagels, which have little nutritional value, with yogurt parfaits with fresh berries and homemade granola, “Some community members were a little concerned that the children would not eat lunch, but children did explore the other menu options,” says Van Loon, who continues that the changes have overall been welcomed by the district’s parents and children.
Often a school’s effort to limit high-caloric, low-nutrition foods is not initially as well received. Goldenbaum remembers that five years ago when her West Babylon district first tried to make healthier changes—such as only serving low-fat milk and whole-wheat breads and experimenting with pizza topped with low-fat cheese—“the kids wouldn’t buy lunch, they hated it, and the parents weren’t receptive either,” she says.
When Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School eliminated fried foods and potato chips and other fatty snacks, and introduced whole-wheat bagels and pizzas, “My son [Nicholas] said the food tasted terrible and decided to bring sandwiches— Buffalo chicken, American cheese and hot sauce—made from home every day,” says parent Shirley Rishkel. “He brown bagged it—literally.” So did his friends.
Now in high school, Nicholas is allowed to go out to lunch, so Rishkel has even less control over what he chooses to consume. This is another reason why experts feel it’s imperative to educate children about healthy eating when they are young. Stacey Kitay, a nutrition and health counselor whose Long Island and New York City clients range from babies to adults, typically sees people for six months. Kitay “slowly introduces one new food every few weeks to automatically ‘crowd out’ the bad ones, because there is only so much a person can eat in a day,” she explains.