How some Bucks, Montco schools get kids to change eating habits

Editor’s Note
“What’s For Lunch?” is a three-part, multimedia report by Burlington County Times, The Intelligencer and the Bucks County Courier Times.
Running Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the series takes a hard look at what’s for lunch in your kids’ schools, finds out whether districts can both meet federal standards and still fill stomachs and shows just how far schools will go to get kids to eat better.
Visit Phillyburbs.com/Whatsforlunch for complete coverage.
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Erin Touchstone, a sixth-grader at Palisades Middle School, grabs some fruit as she goes through the lunch line. Art Gentile/Staff photographer
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Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 6:00 am | Updated: 6:27 am, Tue Feb 12, 2013.
By Marion Callahan, Chris English and Gwen Shrift Staff writers
Making her way through the cafeteria line, Erin Touchstone headed straight for the hoagie bar, where she ordered a sandwich with lunch meat, lettuce and extra pickles.
“Last year, they didn’t have this,” said Erin, a sixth-grader at Palisades Middle School in Kintnersville. “Now the lunch tastes a lot better and there are more options. We can have hoagies or salad any day we want.”
New lunch regulations require students to take a fruit or a vegetable with a federally reimbursed meal, but Erin needed no coaxing. She picked up an apple and made her way to a seat next to a friend who was devouring a salad.
Districts across the nation are overhauling traditional lunch menus to comply with new regulations that require schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, enforce calorie limits, scrap trans fats and regulate sodium content. The program is working, USDA spokesman Hans Billinger said, and thousands of schools “are already at or near the new standards.”
“Schools are in a transition year,” he said in a statement. “Naturally, some places are adjusting to the new standards more easily than others, but it can be done. Patience and support are needed as we continue to work through the transition phase.”
The new program did, however, require a little tweaking — and some local school officials are still not satisfied.
“I’d like to see more integration into the curriculum with regard to healthy eating,” said Neshaminy school board member and parent Mark Shubin. “It needs to happen earlier and it needs to happen more intensely.
“We need to teach kids about farming and quality food and the benefit to eating less packaged goods. We have to teach good eating habits and that needs to happen in the home as well as in schools,” added Shubin. “We have to make the choices healthier, but also more interesting to the students, so they will participate.”
In December, the USDA bent its rules in response to complaints, eliminating the weekly maximum limits for grains and proteins for the remainder of this school year. Since September, cafeterias had been limited to serving a high school student 10 to 12 ounces each of grains and meats per week. All other guidelines from the initial school meal standards will remain in place, including calorie limits.
“School nutrition professionals have faced significant menu planning, operating, financial challenges and more, as a result of the new meal pattern requirements,” according to a statement from School Nutrition Association President Sandra Ford.
The USDA change — though temporary — gives school meal planners more wiggle room, said Karen Kinzle, director of food services for the Hatboro-Horsham School District.
“The range was just too narrow, and it turned into an algebraic equation to make the grains and meat/meat alternates fit,” she said. “We found we had to eliminate some popular menu combinations because they did not fit mathematically.”
Ford said the USDA’s new guidance recognizes those challenges and loosened the requirements to help schools adjust, though the USDA hasn’t announced whether the rule will be relaxed for the 2013-14 school year.
For this year, it means schools can serve as much meat and grains as they want, as long as they don’t exceed per-meal limits on total calories. In Central Bucks, it means a peanut butter and jelly sandwich could return to the menu five days a week.
“This flexibility is being provided to allow more time for the development of products that fit within the new standards while granting schools additional weekly menu planning options to help ensure that children receive a wholesome, nutritious meal every day of the week,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote in a letter to members of Congress.
Central Bucks food services director Craig Lin said the rule changes may allow some meats that could be sold only à la carte to now be reimbursable as part of the school lunch program. But, he added, there will be little change to the schools’ menus because calorie limits and other requirements remain intact.
Gerry Giarratana, the food services director for the Palisades School District, echoed that concern. “The changes gave us more flexibility but didn’t take all constraints off,” he said.
He and other local school officials are still examining the impact of the changes. And though school lunch participation is down in some districts, food services officials say it’s too early to blame the decrease on the revamped menus.
The Quakertown Community School Distict’s business administrator, Robert Riegel, said the district doesn’t know whether the dip in participation occurred because of the changes to the lunch program or the continuing economic troubles of district families.
Food services director Joan O’Keefe said participation appears to be rising in the Quakertown district, so it may have just taken students some time to get used to the changes.
What’s working
Across the region, a number of school districts were prepared for many of the new requirements, as many have gradually added more fruits and vegetables and whole grains to lunch as part of their own wellness initiatives.
“Overall, the implementation is going smoothly,” said Daniel C. Rodgers, business administrator for the Pennsbury School District.
“Metz (the district’s food provider) had very few changes to make since they have been incorporating a variety of fruit and vegetable selections over the years,” he said. The only difference we saw this year was for them to enforce the fruit and vegetable option and structure portion sizes to meet the new guidelines.”
Asked if kids are eating the fruits and veggies or tossing them, Rodgers said: “The majority of students are eating the fruits and vegetables being served.”
Area schools also credit a slew of creative approaches in the cafeteria that are making new menus more inviting for students. Because of their creativity and the gradual addition of fruits and veggies, most area districts said they didn’t experience the “extreme” challenges to their programs predicted in some national surveys.
Though food service directors have a lot on their plates to come up with meals that meet the standards but are still appetizing to students, two other strategies also appear to be working: Giving students more choices; and having students play a role in what goes on the menu.
Lunches at Palisades schools are available on an “offer” rather than a “serve” basis, which means the students select what they want. By adopting this philosophy, schools don’t serve identical meals to each student, which reduces waste when students aren’t forced to take foods they won’t eat.
Classroom lessons on healthy eating, taste-testing opportunities, and even a “salad” mascot are being used to nudge students to make better choices.
“Student word of mouth is a powerful motivator in what students choose to eat,” said Palisades Superintendent Bridget O’Connell.
And students, she said, take more ownership when they became part of the change.
For example, students at one district elementary school grow their own vegetables on site, she said. After they’re harvested, the vegetables are offered for free in the cafeteria.
“Those vegetables are always gone,” O’Connell said. “There is nothing ever left from what the students have grown themselves.”
Added to the mix of motivators are school administrators who try to capture youngsters’ imaginations in their own unique ways.
Saladman, aka Springfield Elementary Principal Scott Davis, is a regular feature in the Palisades District.
Wrightstown Elementary Principal Susan Gormley was similarly motivated to dress up as “Sprout.” The Council Rock School District administrator adapted an all-purpose Peter Pan costume to go along with a Jolly Green Giant outfit worn by an employee of food contractor Chartwells.
She recalled thinking, “Maybe it would be cool for the kids to see little Sprout. I wanted the kids to get excited — ‘Hey, it’s Veggie Day here!’ ”
Two banquet tables were laden with “all kinds of vegetables, odd things too, like eggplant, and I want to say parsnips, or jicama. You would have thought it was candy, the way they (students) were looking at those vegetables,” said Gormley. “They sure did look interested in trying different things.”
Besides such special events, Council Rock has its own policy mandating nutritious snacks for the three district-sanctioned parties a year, on Halloween, the winter holidays (Christmas and Hanukkah) and Valentine’s Day. On those days, students can expect fruit kabobs or pretzels.
“It’s not all cake and candy,” said Gormley.
Chartwells also offers healthy classroom birthday packages that parents can purchase, she added. They replace cake and cookies with yogurt and fruit or milk and fruit.
“(For daily snacks), there are teachers who insist it must be a healthy snack,” Gormley said. “We talk about how it’s important to eat well, to have a snack that keeps your body fueled for learning.”
Changing behaviors
Such approaches mirror a nationwide trend in which schools are focusing on behavioral changes, rather than strictly menu changes, to meet the new national standards.
If federal lunch mandates are here to stay, schools need to continue to take measures to sway students’ eating behavior, said David Just, co-director of the Cornell University Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs.
“These can be things as simple as moving fruit to a highly visible location near the cash register, or giving the fruits, vegetables and healthier entrees catchy and inviting names — (such as) X-ray vision carrots, power peas, big bad bean burrito,” he suggested. “We cannot just focus on the tray; we have to motivate the children to eat it, much like the marketing industry motivates them to try sugary sodas or fast food.”
Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the Maryland-based School Nutrition Association, said an association survey revealed dozens of successful strategies that schools are using to get kids to eat healthier.
When asked to describe innovative methods they use to encourage students to try new menu items, surveyed districts reported trying everything from social media to prayer. Some schools pass out fliers at PTO meetings, others schedule field trips to farms, post messages on digital signs, convert the cafeteria layout so it appears more like a food court and pre-package sliced “grab and go” veggies and fruits. Other districts base their meals on the diversity of their student body.
New menus around the Delaware Valley and across the country don’t eliminate favorite food choices among kids — like pizza and French fries — but they do provide alternatives. For example, instead of cheese pizza made with white flour, students get whole-wheat cheese pizza. Rather than Tater Tots, they get baked sweet potato fries.
More than 80 percent of districts surveyed by the national trade group are offering whole-grain pastas, rice and cereals, and 78 percent report serving whole-grain tortillas, pitas or flatbreads. About 87 percent offer students a chance to sample foods before they’re added to the menu.
A change in a school’s eating schedule made a big difference in kids’ eating habits at New Hope-Solebury Upper Elementary School. About three years ago, Principal Amy Mangano decided to hold recess for students before lunch, rather than after lunch.
“Before, kids would rush to eat and throw food out — just to get outside,” said Mangano, who added an additional mid-morning snack time. “Now, we see an increase in consumption and an overall calmer environment in the cafeteria.”
Council Rock’s Newtown Elementary allows students to order in advance, which helps guide the cafeteria in preparing food and helps cut waste. Popular items are chicken fingers, “breakfast for lunch” (eggs, turkey bacon or ham) and macaroni and cheese.
“There’s not a tremendous amount of waste,” said Joseph Twardowski, Chartwells director of dining services for the Council Rock School District. “If you have seen some of the (TV news) shows report on this, they were showing districts with trash cans overflowing with fruits and vegetables. That was probably because they were forcing them on the tray, which you are not allowed to do.
“You have children who will never take fruit or vegetable, no matter how much you ask them. They won’t take it at home, and they won’t take it here,” he said.
Juli C. Tracy, the full-time nutritionist for the Pennsbury School District, said the district is working with vendors to get more whole-grain choices in breads and tortillas. More beans in the mandates also required menu adjustments.
“Every week, we now have baked beans, or hummus, or refried beans. We’ve done a marinated black bean salad,” she said.
As an alternative to meat, Pennsbury offers dishes like black bean burgers and tofu stir-fry. Tofu and yogurt are approved substitutes for meat, Tracy said.
“That’s indicative that nutrition is such a new science. This is really the first change to the school program in 15 years,” she said.
Despite efforts to change students’ eating habits, schools are limited in what they can do, Just said — and it’s tough enough for parents to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables at home.
“Schools can create an environment where healthy choices are more convenient, more attractive and become the social norm,” Just said. “This won’t happen, however, without some initiative either on the part of the school district or the parents.”
Ahead of the curve
Tim Pirolli, supervisor of food services for the Pemberton Township School District in Burlington County, said his district has been ahead of the curve in anticipating the federal changes for some time. He said the only change from last year’s menu is using less bread.
“It has always been the district’s unwritten policy to have a lot of choices and offer a lot of fruits and vegetables,” said Pirollo, whose district also serves the borough. “For us, this was a good change. Now that they count calories, it’s just a little extra paperwork.”
Pirolli regularly seeks the input of kids on menu choices.
“We are constantly talking to the kids,” Pirolli said. “If they don’t take everything they are allowed to take, then they will be hungry. The only thing I’ve seen is that they’re sometimes not making good choices.”
And that could be based on bad habits that they learned growing up, he said.
“If kids haven’t been encouraged throughout their school life, it could be new for them,” Pirolli said. “By the time they get to high school, they might only be taking what they want to eat instead of fruits and vegetables.”
The Council Rock School District also began shifting to healthier foods in lunchrooms long before the rules changed, according to Superintendent Mark Klein.
“Several years ago … we required a minimum of two fresh fruits being available daily, breads being whole wheat or whole grain, one meatless choice available daily, 1-percent or skim milk only, fresh salads and a minimum of two vegetables offered every day,” Klein said via email.
For three years, the district’s elementary and middle school menus have listed calories, total fat and carbohydrates for each selection, which Klein said serves as a valuable nutritional tool, especially for students on special diets.
When Karen Wychock arrived as principal of Plumstead’s Tohickon Middle School four years ago, she put together a wellness council comprised of staff members and a parent.
“We’re not the food police,” Wychock said. “What we’re trying to encourage is a healthy lifestyle. We’re trying to promote healthy decisions.”
Using grants, the school bought pedometers for students and staff members to encourage more walking and installed an elliptical machine in the fitness room.
Last year, after realizing only one or two students were going to the cafeteria to buy breakfast, Tohickon and Aramark placed a breakfast cart in the school lobby where students and staff enter. The cart now serves between 40 and 60 breakfasts a day, Wychock said.
“Some (students) were eating (breakfast) at home,” Wychock said. “But we knew that other kids were not. They ended up in the nurse’s office after first period with a headache, or they were hungry.”
The changes haven’t gone unnoticed.
In October, Tohickon received a bronze award from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an advocacy group for health initiatives in schools. Tohickon was one of 250 schools nationwide to be recognized; Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Bristol Township also won a bronze award.
This year, Wychock said, Tohickon is taking aim at what kids are drinking with its “Rethink Your Drink” campaign. It emptied its vending machines of high-sugar juices and energy drinks and now offers only milk, juice or water to students. Members of the school’s student wellness committee recently shot a commercial about the benefits of choosing healthy drinks, and the school also held a “Got Milk?” day.
Tohickon is also starting an organic vegetable and herb garden that will be overseen by eighth-grader Brian Mass, who started his own garden over the summer to raise money for Relay for Life.
Brian said he’s happy to see more fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria. But he also understands why his classmates might not always make the right food choices.
“No one ever tells them, ‘this is bad for you, don’t eat it,’ “ he said. “They don’t know the consequences for their health.”
Students have to be encouraged to make better choices, Wychock said.
“Kids will try it,” she said of unfamiliar food choices. “But it has to be a game. You do it through P.R., a video, a commercial, to entice them. Thirteen-year-olds aren’t much different than toddlers when they make food choices.”
Frustrating, but necessary
Susan Meier, head cook at Cecelia Snyder Middle School in Bensalem, said nutrition in schools has “changed dramatically.”
The changes, though, aren’t hassle-free.
“It’s frustrating, at times, with all the different rules and regulations,” Meier said.”You sort of think you have it down pat and next year, it’s changed again. And, it’s frustrating, at times, to tell children what they can and can’t have.”
Take the big push for sweet potatoes. Despite the new options, Meier said children still want mashed potatoes and French fries.
“The kids do miss their macaroni and cheese and steady mashed potatoes, but at least they’re getting healthy food here, if they’re not getting it at home,” she said.
Snyder seventh-grader Taylor Fortna said she’s still able to find her favorites, including chicken fajitas, chicken quesadillas, chicken patties and nuggets and mashed potatoes.
“I like most of the food here,” she said. “I really like fruits and vegetables, so I’m happy they have carrots, broccoli, mangoes and strawberries.”
Seventh-grader Nathaniel Vangine said he’s impressed by the new selections.
“I guess I’d say I probably eat better here than at home. The food here at school has gotten healthier, and I like that. I want to stay healthy,” he said.
Snyder Principal Thomas Evert is satisfied students are getting healthy, good food at his school.
“A lot of them might not be getting nutritional meals at home, so school is the one place where parents can expect kids to get a well-balanced meal,” he said. “I think it helps them overall. I think our breakfast and lunch programs have contributed to the academic success at school. We’re never going to make everyone happy, but I’m satisfied the majority of students are happy with the meals.”
In the Bristol School District, cafeteria manager Marie Favoroso credits cook Jennifer White, a culinary school graduate, with enhancing the borough’s school meal program with her decorative ideas and penchant for trying new things.
“Everyone likes to see how Jen decorates the pastries and cakes,” said Favoroso. “She also does a nice pork roast and things like barbecued pork sandwiches. As a whole, we’re trying to do more scratch cooking, which is healthier.”
Bristol senior Deirdre French said she eats lunch at school because it’s easier than packing, but she has doubts about the nutritional value of a lot of the food and thinks much of it still has too many calories.
“They do what they can,” she said. “It’s tough to feed a lot of people and still make it taste good, so I guess I can’t be too idealistic.”
O’Keefe, with the Quakertown School District, said changing menus to include more foods that kids will eat is difficult. The district works on a six-week menu cycle to ensure each meal meets the federal mandate. Change lunch on one day, and that could mean calorie and food limits for the rest of the week no longer meet the standards, she said.
“We’re dealing with it and trying to make it work,” said Quakertown business administrator Robert Riegel.
Some area food services directors say it’s too early to determine whether the federal initiatives are working; others see positive changes.
“We do know it’s effective,” said Giarrantana, of Palisades. “We see teens reading labels and kids eating salad.”
Just as important, he said, are the foods that are now off the menus.
“Just two years ago, we saw a lot of schools selling cupcakes,” he said. “But since this initiative has been out there, I truly feel it’s taken away the option of eating bad foods.”
Twardowski, Chartwells director of dining services for Council Rock, said he’s not a big fan of “government regulating everything that you do,” but he does support the new federal guidelines.
“Schools may never (have) put these things on the menu if the government hadn’t mandated it,” he said. “They (students) may never have seen these things if the school hadn’t put them on the menu.”
Staff writers Crissa Shoemaker DeBree, Joan Hellyer, Christian Menno and Mark Zimmaro contributed to this report.
Marion Callahan: 215-345-3060; mcallahan@phillyburbs.com, Twitter: @marioncallahan
Crissa Shoemaker DeBree: 215-345-3186; email, cshoemaker@phillyburbs.com; Twitter.com/bucksmontbiz
Joan Hellyer: 215-949-4048; email: jhellyer@phillyburbs.com; Twitter: @BCCTintheknow
Christian Menno: 215-269-5081; email: cmenno@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: Twitter.com/cmenno_courier. To subscribe, go to phillyburbs.com/orderBCCT
Gwen Shrift:215-949-4204; email: gshrift@phillyburbs.com
Mark Zimmaro: 609-871-8059; email: mzimmaro@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @mzimmaro