Sacramento area schools try to serve healthier food

School gardens, salad bars

Kids are lining up for sausage pizzas and corn dogs at Sacramento elementary schools, and that's just for breakfast

Strict school nutrition guidelines pending in the U.S. Senate may push those unhealthy breakfasts and other salty, processed foods off school lunch menus

The issue of school meals has gone prime time in recent months. First lady Michelle Obama has been making appearances across the country and on TV to bring attention to childhood obesity, which she links to an underfunded school nutrition system and diminishing physical education programs

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has irked many cafeteria workers with his reality show that highlights unhealthy food served in American schools

Oliver wants to change the standards in many elementary school cafeterias, where processed entrees arrive frozen, precooked and waiting for a warming oven

"It concerns me that we are serving so much processed foods," said Julie Raymond, wife of Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond and mother of two Sacramento City Unified students. "You lose the nutritional value and the flavor."

Sacramento City Unified launched a Healthy Foods Task Force last week to address the nutritional standards and nutritional education offered at the district

Julie Raymond said she joined the task force after her kids told her they were served corn dogs for breakfast

"That isn't the best breakfast," Raymond said

Many school cafeteria workers say they would like to offer more nutritious entrees cooked from scratch but are limited by a lack of funding, staff and equipment

School nutrition employees say they are headed in the right direction by adding salad bars at many schools and trying to buy fruits and vegetables from local farmers

The new federal bill, called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, would give schools grants to help buy locally grown produce

"People need to know where their food is coming from for safety reasons," said Dorothy Peterson, a retired teacher who leads the nationally recognized Farm to School program at Davis Joint Unified School District. "It takes too long to track back where the problems arise. And it tastes better."

School districts serve the same food at all of their elementary schools. So students at Crocker Riverside Elementary in Land Park are offered the same food as those at Ethel Baker in south Sacramento, although some schools choose not to have salad bars

The difference is that nearly all students at poor schools like Ethel Baker qualify for free and reduced lunches and rely on the school meals

"There are large numbers of children who this is the only meals they have of the day," said Dayle Hayes, an author and nutrition coach who is a member of the School Nutrition Association. "That's why this is an incredibly important thing to invest in."

Rich school, poor school

There is a noticeable difference between districts that are being innovative with the resources they have and those that continue to serve the same processed, frozen meals, Hayes said. Hayes highlights "School Meals That Rock" in a blog she began after Oliver's reality series called "Food Revolution" shed a negative light on school nutrition programs

"I guess I have to thank Jamie Oliver, because we are now having a conversation about this," she said

"For a long time, we haven't paid attention to school lunches and haven't funded it properly."

Davis Joint Unified has one of the most acclaimed nutrition programs in the country. The district serves fruits and vegetables from local farms and has many items cooked from scratch, like teriyaki chicken and Moroccan pork for $3.25

But to do this requires $80,000 in fundraising, a previously passed parcel tax and a limited number of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. Districts can't raise the cost of food for students on free and reduced-price lunches, so anything above the state reimbursement rate is covered by the district

That would be costly for Sacramento City Unified, where 67 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches

Sacramento City Unified gets $2.92 per student in federal and state funding to serve lunch to needy students. Diana Flores, district nutrition supervisor, said that after she pays for worker salaries and benefits, along with supplies, energy costs and other incidentals, she is left with 97 cents to cover milk, entree and sides

For entrees, she tries to keep breakfasts to 30 cents and lunches to 50 cents. Flores said she has to be mindful of serving nutritionally sound food that kids will eat

The district's Healthy Foods Task Force hopes to address nutrition education as a means of getting kids to eat more healthfully

"Kids in an urban district like ours think french fries grow," said Patrick Kennedy, a district trustee who is a chairman on the district task force. "A lot of the time, mom and dad are working long hours and kids are throwing things in the microwave. And (their perception is) that's where food comes from."

School gardens, salad bars

Many local districts now have school gardens, which teachers use to teach about healthy eating habits and to introduce kids to new food. Cafeteria workers at Kennedy High School say when they offer kiwi fruit they have to explain to some students what it is and how to eat it

"A lot of kids have never seen an artichoke," said Jains Wade, principal at North Avenue Elementary in Del Paso Heights, which is in Twin Rivers Unified School District. "I think there is a real correlation for kids to be more likely to try new fruits and vegetables if they have a hand in growing it."

North Avenue Elementary has a limited salad bar, with iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, orange slices and more

Many students skip the salad bar after being served their chicken nuggets or hot dog, which were entrees last Wednesday and Thursday

"They give us junk food for lunch," said Ajaya Fullmore, a fourth-grader at North Avenue. "The pizza has grease piled on it. I would rather have baked chicken instead of a hot dog. I mean something that tastes and looks like chicken."

At Madison Elementary School in North Highlands, about half the students skipped chicken nuggets for the extended salad bar, which had lettuce, olives, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, grapes and other options. Need to know more about healthy eating for kids ?

"We still have chips," pointed out principal Jana Fields, who admitted she wouldn't mind seeing those disappear