The Madison Board of Education voted to increase the lunch prices by 25 cents during their regular meeting in August. Students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade will pay $2.75 and grades 9-12 will pay $3 daily for lunch.
“This is the first time we have had to raise the lunch prices in nine years,” said Diane Coleman, food service director in the Madison Local School District.
Coleman said the district received a memorandum from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that all schools who participated in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) needed to do a “school lunch equity.” Using the USDA’s calculator, Coleman said, she had to input the district’s paid lunch equity for three years.
“I had help from the treasurer’s office and I completed this with the Ohio Board of Education, and it was determined that we had to raise our lunch prices,” she said.
Coleman also mentioned that the school year started well and the food service department hopes to serve over 500 thousand school meals to students this year.
“New federal changes in the lunch program this year include higher amounts of fruits, vegetables and grains,” she said. “Breakfast must include a cup of fruit or vegetable daily. Last year’s serving was a half of a cup daily.”
To meet this new requirement, Coleman said the district is serving a half of a cup of fruit and a 4 ounce fruit juice daily.
“We are serving more fresh fruits and vegetables too,” she said. “I am purchasing almost all of our produce locally. Our apples are coming from Bauman Orchards in Wayne county and they are delicious.”
With the changes to the National School Lunch Program, Coleman pointed out that some students may not feel that they are getting enough to eat.
“We have to follow very explicit rules because we’re audited,” she said. Coleman then supplied board members with a packet of information on the minimum number of fruits, vegetables, grain, milk, calories and sodium allowed to serve to children per week.
“In reading the new meal pattern, you’ll see exactly what we have to serve every day and what calories we have to stay under,” she told the board.
There was also a NSLP sample production record included in the packet which is a daily log of the food served, including portion sizes, who was responsible for cooking the food, instructions for leftovers and the like. The production record has to be filled out completely every single day, she said.
Coleman said the food service department could be audited by the Ohio Department of Education at any time.
“If we are not in compliance, they take money from us,” she said. “So, we are really mandated to follow the laws and the rules of the USDA and the Ohio Department of Education.”
Even though the standard of more fruits and vegetables in the school lunch diet hasn’t been wildly popular with the students, Coleman said she has seen the Madison students embrace fresh fruits and vegetables over time.
“At Madison in 2005, we no longer had a la carte options,” she said. “Students purchased a reimbursable lunch or brought meals from home. Nine years later watching high school students go through the line is always amazing because 90 percent of them choose both fruits and vegetables because they have eaten this way at school for a long time.”
The next regular Madison board of education meeting will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Madison Middle School auditorium.
Twitter: @angelnichole222
