Just more than half of students in Montgomery County Public Schools are satisfied with their school lunches, according to a report the county’s Office of Legislative Oversight released Tuesday. At the same time, 72 percent of parents were satisfied with their children’s school lunches, far from the county’s goal of 85 percent of both parent and kid satisfation, according to the data from the 2009-2010 school year, the most recent available.
“As an organization committed to continuous improvement, we will learn from these findings in an effort to become even better,” said school system spokesman Christopher Cram, who would not answer or allow his staff to answer further questions.
The report also found that MCPS will need to make some changes to comply with new regulations proposed to meet the standards of Congress’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed last year. For example, schools will be permitted to serve starchy vegetables, like potatoes, only once a week, while they are currently served in elementary schools three times a week.
Even in areas where schools meet requirements, there is room for improvement, said Katie Strong, a dietician at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
For example, she found it “disturbing” that, according to the report, secondary schools “offer hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pizza, and/or a spicy chicken sandwich on a daily basis.” And the vegetarian option in elementary schools — either grilled cheese or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich — is “just sort of a stand-in,” she said.
Those types of practices show that MCPS is “generally not teaching children healthful eating habits,” Strong said.
She also suggested adding more salad bars — the District of Columbia added salad bars as part of the reimbursable meal program in 12 schools this past year — and allowing schools to use produce grown in school gardens in the cafeteria –which Alexandria does.
If MCPS wants to improve food quality, “now’s the time to do it,” said Janis Sartucci, a member of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County.
