During the school year, Warsaw Community Schools Food and Nutrition Services serves more than 1 million meals, Director of Food and Nutrition Services Marci Franks said during the school board meeting Monday night. “The meals are student-approved as well as being nutritionally adequate,” Franks said. Food service is required to be non-profit. It operates mostly on federal dollars, and the majority of its money comes from reimbursements from the government. During the 2008-09 school year, 53 percent of WCS Food and Nutrition Services’ revenue was from reimbursements, compared to 55 percent in 2011-12, according to Franks’ information. Ala-carte sales in 2011-12 accounted for 12 percent of revenue, with 24 percent being from student meals and 9 percent from other sources. The majority of food service’s expenses is food, Franks said. In 2008-09, food made up 43 percent of expenses, compared to 47 percent in 2011-12. Labor was 35 percent in 2011-12, down from 37 percent in 2008-09. Equipment accounted for 7 percent of expenses in 2008-09, and 5 percent in 2011-12. Other expenses, like paper goods, accounted for 13 percent in 2008-09 and 2011-12. Meals must meet USDA guidelines. “School meals are healthy meals,” Franks stated. Previously, schools only had to meet the minimum of USDA nutritional guidelines. Now, schools are given a maximum they can serve and new minimums, but with more leeway. Weekly maximums now for students in grades kindergarten to fifth include 3,250 calories, 10 ounces of protein, 9 ounces of grains, 2.5 cups of fruit and 3.75 cups of vegetables. Students in sixth through eighth grade may get a maximum of 3,500 calories, 10 ounces of protein, 10 ounces of grain, 2.5 cups of fruit and 3.75 cups of vegetables a week, Franks said. Ninth- through 12th-graders may eat 4,250 calories, 12 ounces of protein, 12 ounces of grains, 5 cups of fruit and 5 cups of vegetables a week. In a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon, Franks said students in kindergarten to eighth grade get 1/2 cup of fruit and 3/4 cup of vegetables each day. High school students get a full cup of each every day. Franks said food waste is their number one concern at schools. To try to reduce waste, she said they did student surveys over the past two years, had meetings, visited schools and held PTO meetings on how they could do things differently. Her department’s other concerns were lunch lines and food choices. At Warsaw Community High School, there are now eight lunch lines for students. Student-requested vegetarian meals are now offered. Students have access to fresh fruits and vegetables daily, which are prepared on-site. Random students chosen in the WCHS cafeteria Tuesday had varying opinions on school lunches. “I go to the snack shack every day. I’m not a fan of the food here,” said junior Brad Scherer. Sometimes he’ll eat a meal from the main food line if it’s something like sloppy joes, but overall said the food is “not high quality.” “I think we have a nice variety of choices,” senior Riley McCormack said. “We can go to the snack bar if we want or go through the lunch lines.” McCormack mostly eats the main lunch provided. “Overall,” said senior Jordan Alber, “I like the salad bar, but the main line I don’t like at all because there’s not much (choice).” Alber eats from the salad bar every day, he said, and it’s healthier. One way to improve the main line, he said, was to offer more choices. He suggested they take a student survey about choices and what students like. Freshman Ophelia Luu packed her own lunch Tuesday. “I eat school lunches when I like it, and pack when I don’t,” Luu said. Each day an announcement is made about the next day’s menu, and that helps her determine whether to eat at school or pack a lunch. Sometimes, like Tuesday, she will just guess. Luu said she really doesn’t like cold foods, and prefers more hot food choices or items like turkey noodles. The cafeteria does have a microwave so she can warm up leftovers she brings from home. Each of the two middle schools now have salad bars. Participation in those is at 25 percent, Franks said. Participation at WCHS’s salad bar is at 20 percent. Meal counts also are up at the high school by 33 percent, and the line speeds have increased by 15 percent. Grab-n-go is another option available at the high school, Franks told the board. At the elementary schools, students wanted more choices so the All-Star Meals was implemented. Kids can choose their food items, but they have to have at least one fruit or vegetable item on their tray, Franks said. Categories include protein, fruits, veggies, grains and milk. Kids serve themselves, so the lunch lines were lowered by 3 inches. “They love making the choices,” Franks said. She said they’ve seen up to 50 percent less waste and more satisfied customers with all the changes they’ve made. In addition to lunch, Franks said, they also have a free breakfast program at Claypool every day, Edgewood Middle School on “Toolkit Tuesdays,” Jefferson in one classroom, Lakeview Middle School every day, Lincoln every day and WCHS on Professional Learning Communities Thursdays. The high school students requested a coffee bar, and that was implemented on Thursdays, which also exposes the students to the breakfast program. After-school snacks are provided at Claypool, Harrison, Jefferson, Leesburg, Lincoln and Lakeview Middle School. She said the after-school program has grown considerably. More information about Food and Nutrition Services is available online at http://wcsfoodandnutrition.org/
