Good news on the school lunch program

Here's the update we sent out to the school parents this week:
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The district has chosen our school for a pilot program in the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC). We are applying at the bronze level. District-wide, we are already meeting several requirements at this level, including nutrition education, PE classes, and our wellness policy. The lunch menus for March, April, and May will be changed to make them align with the HUSSC guidelines.

If the pilot is successful (meaning that the number of lunches sold is equal or higher than in previous months), this program will be rolled out to the other elementary schools in the district.

The menu changes include:

• White milk choices will change from skim or 2%, to skim or 1%. Chocolate milk will remain at 1%.
• Whole grains must be served three times a week. Examples include brown rice or whole wheat hamburger buns.
• Dark green or orange vegetables will be added every week. For example, romaine salad or sweet potatoes.
• Beans will be served at least once a week.
• Fresh fruit will be offered at least once a week.

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So. Progress is good. I'm happy that we are making these changes without an impact on the budget. However, I have to say, there are a few menu items that perhaps need tweaking. My favorite day is next week. It is "Cheese pizza, romaine garden salad with dressing, mixed fruit, brown rice." Oh, those little kids will just be gobbling up their brown rice that day! Obviously a whole wheat pizza crust would be a better fit, but either it's too expensive or not available from our supplier right now.

There's also a side dish called "Toasted Oatsies." Yeah, essentially Cheerios. A bit odd. My daughter spy tells me that they are fairly popular, though, so that's cool.