This Wednesday evening, January 26, will be a busy one at the District Office. The Business Services committee will meet at 5pm in the district board room. Business Services Director Jerrud Rossing will provide updates on, among other things, our 2011-2012 budget reduction process and the Maywood and Winnequah consolidation. Rossing will also present his results from a food service survey he conducted with our middle school and MGHS students regarding their satisfaction with the food service program that the district is currently contracting with Chartwells. I suppose I should wait to pass judgement until hearing the presentation tomorrow evening, but after paging through the survey results, it sure doesn't sound like our students are enjoying the switch to Chartwells. When asked if the food looks appetizing, 64.1% of highschoolers surveyed responded it needed improvement. 57.3% indicated that the variety of food choices needed improvement, and an unbelievable 70.7% of students said that overall the food needs improvement, period. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Chartwells.
I've been thinking a lot about how good nutrition can have an amazing effect on student achievement. Does anyone remember the wonderful success story in Appleton many years ago when their Alt. School switched their food service to a partnership with Natural Ovens Bakery? Refresh your memory here and here. Still pretty exciting stuff over a decade later. I would love to be able to afford to have this same type of program here in the district.
The Board of Education will also meet Wednesday evening in closed session to discuss the current state of contract negotiations with the MGEA.
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We had family lunch at Maywood last week and, oh my. It was truly, truly awful. At least they offered fresh fruit, and brown rice was on the menu but I saw a lot of food being tossed into the trash. It made me kind of sad to think about a) the waste and b) this is what our elementary school kids get for lunch.
ReplyDeleteIt really affirmed for me that the right thing for our family has been throwing together a packed lunch at the crack of dawn every morning.
And why do they serve chocolate milk with high fructose corn syrup??
ReplyDelete(OK, rant over...)
I am wondering if they are also repeating many of the choices. I felt like September had more variety than January.
ReplyDeleteI counted on the Winnequah menu: (19 days in January)
-"pizza" 4 times (I count both Tony's pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza dippers as pizza)
-hot dogs/corndogs 3x
-chicken nuggets 2x
So, 50% of their meals fall into 3 forms. I would think a bit more variety would be available.
I understand the above post that packing the lunch is a better option but not for some. I see kids that have a p&j sandwich on white, chips, some sort of cake, and maybe the apple lands in the trash (if there is any fruit at all). I am not sure that is any better than taking hot. I think that the cold lunch done well is hard work and many don't have the time, energy or money to do so.
So, Jessica, what are the alternatives to Chartwells? Are they better? I am worried that 2nd choice would end up like Madison. A prepackaged tray covered in plastic with truly awful food. In some regards, we have it so good compared to theirs.
How about why did we switch in the first place???
ReplyDeleteMost of the promises have not been delivered.
The important issue to remember is the kids on free and reduced lunch. These families really need this help and if they pack their own lunches, they don't get the benefit and it's a burden on the family finances. That's why we need to care about this issue. Not all families have a choice.
ReplyDelete