As you may remember, the Board unanimously approved contracting with the Chartwells School Dining Services for district food service operation and management in June of this year. The contract will be a year long, giving the district ample opportunity to evaluate it's merits.
Thoughts on the topic from Board President Susan Fox's Board update on Board business at the time:
Committee members believe that this arrangement will provide financial stability and even profitability, capture the benefits of pricing through a large company, build upon and provide education for students with regard to nutrition and healthy eating habits, address changes in eating preferences for students while providing more fresh fruits and vegetables, increase participation, and provide on-going staff professional development training for all food service employees, among other benefits.While we'll have to wait to see the financial impact of contracting with Chartwells over time, it's not too soon to find out how the kids like their meals. I have heard several comments that the meals are too small and cost too much. MGHS students miss the taco and pasta bars. My second-grader, a normally die-hard hot lunch eater, has taken a sack lunch to school since the second week. I would love to hear more comments about the state of the lunch tray. Parents?
You can find more information on Chartwells at http://www.eatlearnlive.com/.
Where do you find your photos? They are great.
ReplyDeleteMy son is not thrilled with the menu. He was a 50/50 split toward the end of last year, and has taken hot lunch only once so far. For him the items don't *sound* appealing, but he hasn't actually tried them to know for sure.
We will start positive...I think my kids have liked the variety in the 2nd choice--meaning they have liked more than p&j or ham sandwich as a second choice (although that repeats on a 5 day week cycle)
ReplyDeleteMy kids are OK with it. They continue to take it daily but as the year wears on...I am thinking I will be doing more brown bags. My son in his years of school has only taken hot lunch 1 time...and he said last years is better. I really think Chartwells needs to realize their target market... I am not saying hot dogs and pizza daily but to have pork riblet sandwiches for kindergartners or having turkey and gravy 2x in a month (one of the few repeats in September..and they repeat that meal of all the meals--my kids hate it). My daughter said there was only 1 child in her class that took meatball sub today. (lower grade school) One time, my daughter said she was allowed to have go-gurt as her fruit choice which we did not understand. Maybe she was wrong but that is not fruit.
I am wishing for the old stuff back. Not impressed with Chartwells so far. I think we could do worse but I think we could do better, too.
I need to post a correction. My son has only done cold lunch once...not what I put before which is "he has only done hot lunch once".
ReplyDeleteParent of a high schooler- he hates the lunch. Smaller quantity, equal or higher prices to the smaller quantity,and less quality in many choices. He is trying to negotiate other lunch terms with his parents! We want the old lunch program back. I will pay more per meal to keep him wanting to eat at school!
ReplyDeleteIf your kids are going to be bringing instead of buying, check out my lunch website - it has lots of ideas for packing a good and healthy lunch :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lunchtaker.com
Bring back the taco bar!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI hear that the students miss having Pizza Hut pizza. I'm not wild about promoting name-brand consumerism in relation to our district's lunch menu, but if the alternative is that kids are leaving school at the lunch hour to get something better to eat, I would rather have them in the building eating school lunch.
ReplyDeletePizza-on the other hand I think having pizza as an option everyday for middle school is dumb.
ReplyDeleteKeeping the kids at school for the lunch time seems like an important priority. Kids are supervised, have appropriate social interactions, and are involved in a positive non-academic school activity. I am disappointed in the change though I understand the fiscal responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThe focus of this should be on the kids who get free and reduced lunch. These kids are stuck with the food - their families need to save the money they would spend on a brown bag or takeout lunch. Everyone else can cope, but let our concern be for this cohort of kids who are all too often forgotten in this district - especially when it comes to dealing with the athletic booster clubs who skirt the boundaries of extortion with parents with no supervision or intervention from our AD.
ReplyDelete