Fruit and vegetable tasting program at the grade school

Wow, what a day! As part of the school lunch improvement plan, the PTA Wellness Committee decided to offer samples of fruits and veggies to the kids once a month for the rest of the school year. We didn't want to scare off anyone with anything too exotic for the first go-around, so today we served up cucumber and cantaloupe. Next month we are doing jicama and grapes. In May we'll do watermelon and zucchini.

You would not believe how much work it was getting this approved and running! You need sign-off from the principal, food vendor, county health inspector, and who knows who else. And everyone was really great and agreeable, but it's still a lot of coordination.

So, three of us cut up all the cucumber and cantaloupe that was donated by a local grocer. We had the use of the kitchen from 9-10 am, before the Lunch Ladies start getting the delivered lunch trays ready. (Ready = Take pre-made lunches from the middle school out of the heater boxes. Put on table.) Turns out our grade school has a compost bin, which I can't believe I didn't know. We put all the peels in there. Saved some of the seeds to clean up and give to the garden club (grades 3 and 4), which has no money left for seed purchasing. Went for a walk and checked out the new school speed limit sign, which I helped agitate for. Toured the still empty (zone 5!) community garden. Gave a little unsolicited advice on how to organize one of the sizable plots.

Returned to the school to prepare for the onslaught. There are three lunch periods, and they run for almost an hour and a half total. We served the samples on toothpicks. We have 400 students. Which means that we served about 2000 kids, because some of them just kept getting back in line. And back in line. And back in line. Turns out kids really like cucumbers and cantaloupe! Even kids who had never tried them before, hurrah!

The superintendent dropped by. He had some cucumber. Not a melon fan, apparently.

The leftover produce went to the fire station. In the future we hope to drop it off at the food pantry or homeless shelter, but that didn't come up as an idea until today, so we'll have to call them and arrange drop-off.

Every family received an informational flyer about how to enjoy cucumbers and cantaloupe at home, with a coupon from our grocer-sponsor stapled to it. Guess who did the copying and stapling? Yep, two of us Wednesday night.

I'm exhausted. But exhilarated, too.

The questions on the chart, from left to right, are: Have you ever tried cucumbers before? How does it taste? Should we include it in school lunches? And then the same questions for canteloupe.

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.

Progress on improving the school lunch program

So, a few weeks ago I presented the school board with the petitions that I and my many helpers canvassed around, collecting 428 signatures. Our district has about 3200 students in 7 schools, so I feel like that was a respectable amount.

Despite having my partner-in-change (Laura) with me and our friend and ally (Dana the village trustee) and one other mom who came to support the cause, I was nervous. Hate the public speaking. There were lots of other people there, though! If you've never been to a board of education meeting, I have to say there's a lot you can learn there. It was "The State of the District" presentation night, so there were teachers, the middle school principal (who I didn't know and didn't recognize, which is just as well, which you will see if you read my speech, below), some AAUW people asking for a grant, the local newspaper reporter who was there to do an article on LAURA AND ME, WOOOO, WE ARE FAMOUS, MAN - front page article! Lots of people.

So as always when I'm nervous, I had to read straight off the page. Sigh. Oh well, I am proud of the positive tone, which did not go unnoticed by the superintendent, who remarked on it and on the fact that this was the first grassroots initiative brought to him in his seven years at the district.

This evening I meet with the Asst. Superintendent for Finance and Operations to discuss who will be on the committee. I can't believe this is really moving forward!

Here's my speech:

[introductions]

We believe the district's wellness policy has done a great job of eliminating junk food as a teacher reward, in fundraising, and at school functions. In the latest [district newsletter] it states that the district is prioritizing wellness. It seems like the next logical step is to address the inadequacies of the lunch program.

As you are perhaps have heard, we put together a petition to show you that our community is interested in improving the quality of the lunches served at our schools. PRESENT PETITIONS and DECLARE NUMBER (428 signatures). [Read text of petition]

During discussions that were sparked by this effort, we have learned that we have a community filled with people who want to volunteer their time to improve various aspects of the school nutrition program.

• We have an executive chef who wants to partner with the schools (chefs move to school program that Michelle Obama started).
• We also have parents at several schools who would love to start a school vegetable garden, which would enable students to try truly fresh and local foods.

Have a committee to oversee applying for grants and other programs that would benefit the nutritional and physical well-being of the students. We propose that the committee should consist of

• the middle school principal
• one of the elementary school principals
• parents from each school
• the Food Service Director
• and a Board of Education representative

The first set of goals includes:

• Increase the amount of whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables
• Decrease the amount of HFCS and hydrogenated oils
• Give input when the new lunch contract is under discussion
• Enforce the Wellness Policy during lunch at the middle school

We are also interested in expanding the role of the school district in promoting fitness, including walk and bike to school initiatives and a district-level wellness fair to showcase ideas for healthier families.

We know that solving this problem will entail creativity and flexibility to meet the nutritional guidelines and not overshoot the budget, but we are confident that large improvements can be made without straining the district's finances.

Thank you.

World domination and subversive activity

Sometimes there is a quote that you hear too often, yet it resonates so deeply that it never really gets old.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

As I mentioned, I'm heading up the PTA Wellness Committee this year. I had two big goals (Start a walking to school program and do something to improve the lunch program), and one not-so-secret goal (start a school vegetable garden).

Our district has a wellness policy that has met with a lot of parental resistance. In part: No chips, cookies, candy, soda for daily snack items or class parties. No food of any kind for teacher rewards. No candy or bake sale fundraisers. (Although we still have a "cake walk" once a year. Go figure how that gets approved.) I have no issues with any of that.

And yet, despite the wellness policy, the lunch program, as in many schools, is repulsive. No fresh fruit or vegetables. At all. I read in USA Today recently (I know. It was an accident.) that only schools and pet food use that grade of meat. Gross. There is a breakfast item called the SuperDonut that gets a lot of negative parental comments. "It's fortified," says the food vendor. Umm. Yeah.

So, I met one of our village trustees, Dana, who just happened to stop me to chat after a school board meeting. I attended that meeting to ask whether there were plans for any lunch program revamping. While talking with her, I realized that nothing would ever happen unless all the schools start working together. I mentioned this to our school's PTA president as well. Next thing I know I'm heading up a meeting next Thursday night, and we are inviting all the parents from all seven schools in the district to attend. I hope the news is spreading well. It seems to be. All hail the God of Email.

On top of that, Dana told me of an eco-grant program the village has. I plan to apply for a grant to start our school vegetable garden, but I probably should get the principal on board first. Also, she and I are both interested in getting foreign language instruction in the grade schools. I think I'll need to hang out with her more!

All this world domination and subversive activity is taking away from my exercising/reading/blogging/lounging time, which frankly wasn't such a large line item to begin with.