Schools try for healthy ground amid food options

Mandy Zinn is a 1994 graduate of Newton High School who has come back to her alma mater, taking over as the director of food service of USD 373 on Monday.

Though she comes with experience —she left the position of food service director at Presbyterian Manor — she has a lot to learn.

“It’s very different from a retirement facility,” Zinn said. “There you have all different diets to consider, and getting them to eat and not lose weight is a concern.”

In the school system, there are other concerns, such as the buzz coming from childhood obesity the last few years. There also are different regulations for food service in schools than there are in retirement communities.

And there are food issues at school that include federal reimbursements, free and reduced-cost lunch programs, vending machines in the hallways and a summer lunch program.

In addition to the school lunch many would remember, the high school offers an ala carte line. That line is full of choices — from baked potato chips to pizza.

“We do more than I thought we’d do for choices,” Zinn said.

What Zinn said she isn’t terribly excited about is open lunch — a policy that allows upper-level students to leave campus.

That usually means a trip to a fast-food shop.

“Parents should encourage their kids to eat school lunch,” Zinn said. “Encourage their kids to take 20 minutes and eat with the friends, instead of rushing out and ultimately eating in their car on the way back to school.”

Everything, it seems, is almost a double-edged sword for those making food decisions in schools. According to the Institute of Medicine, as many as 57 percent of the nation’s schools receive sales incentives from food companies.

For example, stocking vending machines with healthy snacks and eliminating non-diet and caffeinated soft drinks leads to the fear clubs won’t get their needed funding.

Funding that comes a quarter at a time from school vending machines.

“We went to 100 percent healthy vending here last year,” NHS school nurse Karen Lehman said. “That means everything is less than 200 calories per serving, with less than 35 percent from fat and less than 35 percent sugar. Those guidelines come from the state.”

At the time the move was made, expectations were made. Still in the vending machines were beef jerky and 100 percent fruit snacks.

A milk machine was added, and the soft drink machines were stocked only with diet and decaffeinated choices.

But that changed this year. Pop is back on sale, after school and on the weekends only. During the school day those machines are not on.

The decision to remove, and then again allow after school, those products was the result of work by the School Wellness Committee.

It’s a committee that is anxious to work with Zinn to help make school breakfast and lunches even better when thinking about healthy choices.

“I can’t meet with them at their next meeting because I have some training I have to go to,” Zinn said. “But I am looking forward to working with them.”

What that means for the future is unclear — but what is clear are state and federal guidelines for federally reimbursed lunch programs.

Those guidelines include requirements that the school meal program included a vitamin A source two to three times each week and vitamin C daily. It stipulates there must be iron and calcium within the weekly diet.

“Calcium is harder to get down the kids,” Zinn said. “We encourage the kids to drink milk when they can. We also have yogurt and cheeses on the a la carte lines.”

Zinn said the baking department has added a white whole wheat flour to help make sure the fresh breads served in the cafeteria help with required fiber guidelines.

“And we have fresh fruit available every day,” Zinn said. “We do celery, carrots and salads as an option.”

The federal lunch line, which is the standard hot meal prepared for each school in Newton, is required to meet those guidelines — and is available to every student and faculty member.

It also is subsidized by the federal free and reduced lunch plan.

Those lunches are required to consist of less than 16 grams of fat.

“And that’s on the high side of what I’d like us to do,” Zinn said. “I’d like us to be at 10 to 12. If we have a high-fat dessert, we’ll try and do that only once or twice a week.”

Zinn said switching the school fryers to 0 transfat oil is something the school will investigate to help reduce the fat content of meals.

But the a la carte line, which is one of the first things students see at NHS, is not available to students on the free and reduced lunch program —unless they are paying cash.

It’s what would be classed as “competitive foods” by the Institute of Medicine. Competitive foods are food and beverages sold that are not part of federal school meal programs.

According to a 2005 fact sheet from the Institute of Medicine, a la carte lines are “typically high in fat or sugar and low in nutrients” and exist to aid food programs to generate revenue.

But Zinn said at the high school there is good news there — namely because of the current trends and what kids think is cool.

“I’ve been watching the past few days, and kids are buying the cool new fruit juices, G2 and Izzy, which is a fruit product,” Zinn said. “Those are healthy and kids are buying those things every day. With some of those trends we are seeing, kids are making some healthy choices.”

The a la carte line also is where students can get pizza, purchased from chain eateries, once a week.

Lehman said she isn’t all that excited about having pizza and take-out food at the high school, but also recognized there is a financial factor involved — the school lunch and breakfast program must sustain itself.

The school is offering healthy choices, and labeling foods with health information, to students.

But according to Lehman and Zinn, getting students to make those choices likely starts at home.

“I know we have busy lives,” Zinn said. “I’m one of those moms too. It’s easy to stop at a fast-food place on the way to or way home from a soccer game. But once a week, my daughter tells me what she wants me to shop for.”

She and her daughter make out the grocery list, and eating a meal at home is a focus.

Zinn said if the habits are made at home, kids will take those habits with them to school — and Lehman echoed that.

“I feed my kids fresh vegetables and fruits at home,” Lehman said. “They are used to those things, and then it’s natural for them to choose them other places.”

Zinn has one other idea she thinks could help schools in the long battle with helping kids make healthy choices is to encourage them to stay at school for lunch.

“If we had a cooler decor, students may want to hang out in the cafeteria more,” Zinn said. “That will take years. But one thing I’d like to see is some of the cafeterias to become more appealing for a dining atmosphere. I know money is involved, but it is one way I believe we could get kids to eat at school.”