PSD Nutritional Changes Face Opposition-Chance

The Poudre School District Board of Education spent the first half of the February 28 meeting with discussion heavily surrounding proposed nutrition implementations in public schools.  Local controversy has been growing in town as Poudre schools are making an attempt to heavily alter school meals and offer healthier choices.

            Poudre School District’s kitchen staffs offered a diversity of perspectives on the issue. 

“We are losing kids,” said Monica Morison, cafeteria worker for PSD “They are not bringing lunch from home, and they are not packing nutritious lunch.  They are not able to refrigerate the food they do bring from home.”  Although Morison said she sees a problem with nutrition at the schools, she said she does not feel that it’s the responsibility of the cafeteria to make sure students are making healthy choices.  Additional responsibility would be placed on cafeteria workers to help insure this, as well as cooking foods, rather than heating prepackaged meals.  “This is my job as a mom, not as a lunch lady.  Students need to be educated at home by showing them a menu and teaching them nutrition.”

Deirdre Sullivan, member of the School Nutrition Action Council (SNAC), a parent group focused on school nutrition education, took an opposing stand stating “I would want to dispel misinformation about reform.  We are not out to eliminate kitchen staff.  We are trying to turn lunch ladies into lunch teachers.”  Sullivan also expressed her dislike for the title “lunch lady.”  These new lunch teachers, Sullivan described, would help to “stop serving meals that have nutrition facts that take up half a page.”

Patti Vale, a school nutrition substitute, defended the current system in place.  She argued that although she does not think the current system is perfect, she cannot afford to feed her own kids as well and as healthy as the school does at lunch.  “We had to replenish the salad bar today because the fruits and vegetables go so quickly,” said Vale. Vale proceeded to explained that she conducted her own survey amongst several students today on what they had for snacks and dinner after school.  She read off a very long list of cakes, pies, muffins, cookies and fast food that students told her they eat after school, saying  “they have more of a choice at school than at home.”

Virginia Clark is the obesity prevention supervisor for Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity, a self proclaimed “task force.”  Clark appeared in front of the school board to advocate her position being in favor of the changes in nutrition for PSD.  “Obesity is a complex issue, and we don’t expect PSD to solve it alone,” said Clark, whose goal is to go beyond the minimal USDA requirement for health and nutrition. 

In a survey presented by Clark on parents of PDS students conducted by PDS, she found the top two concerns are to decrease processed foods and increase veggies.  One method doing this would be to use “scratch” meals.  This would be a step in the proposed direction, and also a way to keep costs down. 

Clark suggested that one way to combat the use of processed foods would be to make the food in school by the staff, also presenting the opportunity to use organic, local foods.

Clark would ultimately like to see food not given as a reward saying “isn’t there a kind of physical game that could take the place of a pizza party?” A decrease in the role of junk food in the schools is another goal being sought after.  Finally, nutrition education in the cafeteria is a role that the current kitchen staff would eventually take on.

            Advocates for these changes are making the argument that higher quality nutrition will ultimately lead to increased academic performance.  Clark stressed that she has no intention of taking decision making away from parents but said “schools are the role models for what is ok for kids to eat.  It’s the parents’ responsibility to give choices, and the kids’ responsibility to make that choice.  It’s not a matter of taking away choice, but looking at what choices we give,” said Clark. 

Work Cited

Poudre School District Board of Education meeting.  February 28