Baltimore County schools broaden menus, add a side of nutrition advice

The students who were eating the school lunch at Padonia International Elementary School Oct. 10 were happy — mozzarella dippers were on the menu, a favorite for many first graders, who were dining in the school's cafeteria.

The breadsticks stuffed with mozzarella have 300 calories per serving, 12 grams of fat, 32 grams of carbohydrates and 16 grams of protein. Six-year-old Colin Nagy said he likes them best because they are cheesy.

Mozzarella dippers are a long-standing school lunch option in Maryland schools. But in the four years she's worked in Padonia's cafeteria, Person-in-Charge Tammy Miller-Delosier, says she has seen more options added to the menu.

For example, new this year is a hummus box option, which includes a quarter-cup Grecian Delight Hummus, one cheese stick, carrots, apples and wheat crackers. The school also offers a Co-Jack box, with cheese cubes, sunflower kernels, wheat crackers, fruit and a choice of up to two vegetables.

Those choices have caused more vegetarian students to purchase school lunch, she said.

For the students, lunch is a time to socialize. But for Baltimore County School System officials, the goal of the school lunch isn't just to feed the students, but to also give them an education in healthy eating.

During the 2015-16 school year, an average of 48,766 lunches were served each day in the 111,000-student county school system, an increase from the 47,608 meals served a year earlier, the system reports.

Nationally, the trend goes the other way, according to a report from the School Nutrition Association conducted in June and July 2016. The group, which surveyed 960 school districts, reports that the average daily lunch participation rates for a typical district has declined to 61 percent, from 68 percent in 2011 and 64 percent in 2014.

Across the country, school officials have increased efforts to promote healthy eating, according to the association.

Nationally, 66.5 percent of participating school districts offer salad or produce bars, an increase from 62.9 percent in 2014, while 57 percent of districts offer locally sourced fruits and vegetables, the group reported.

More than half the school districts surveyed offer pre-packaged salads and vegetarian meals, while nearly 50 percent have implemented farm-to-school initiatives, an increase from 37.5 percent in 2014. More salad options are coming to Padonia, Miller-Delosier said.

Taste tests and eye appeal

Baltimore County's menus are planned by a team led by Karen Levenstein, a dietitian who has been the director of the school district's Office of Food and Nutrition Services for 15 years. The system uses federal nutrition standards set in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

The regulations include set amounts for milk, meat, fruit, grains and vegetables, broken down into dark green, red and orange, legumes and starchy subgroups. It also includes limits for saturated fat and sodium and a calorie range. For kindergartners through fifth-graders, the calorie range for lunch is 550 to 650 calories, while in sixth through eighth grades the number is 600 to 700, and in grades nine through 12 it is 750 to 850.

The menus are planned in four-week cycles, Levenstein said, with changes based on holidays and the school calendar.

On Oct. 10, first-grader Faith Rider was eating one of the vegetarian options that Padonia offers daily — a yogurt cup with granola.

"I like the way the peach yogurt tastes," Faith said.

Nearly three of four school districts surveyed in the SNA report employing student taste tests or sampling, which is done in Baltimore County. Eye appeal is also considered when making menu combinations, Levenstein said.

"I don't want corn and a chicken patty and pineapple," she said. "The color of that would not be appealing to the youngster. Chicken patty, green beans and peaches, that balances out."

Menus, complete with nutritional facts, are made available in advance through the school system's website.

For students, lunch costs $2.90 at elementary schools and $3 at secondary schools. Reduced price meals are 40 cents. Lunch for staff costs $3.25.

For the 2015-16 school year, 46.8 percent of students in Baltimore County were enrolled for free or reduced price meals. Eligibility is determined by household income.

Snacks, such as chips, ice cream or cookies, are available for 75 cents or less, while beverages, such as bottled water, Capri Sun and milk — including lactose free and soy varieties — are $1.50 or less.

"It's an easy, inexpensive option," said Frank B. Dunlap III, the principal of Lansdowne Middle School, who on a recent day was carrying a tray for himself with a spicy chicken wrap and fresh-cut vegetables.

Dunlap, who has worked for the school system for 15 years, believes the quality has remained over the years, but there have been changes for the better.

"We've always had decent product, but the creativity now," he said. "On the menu is a chicken teriyaki salad. Awesome. It's something different, it's something creative, it's something new and I like that."

In secondary schools, students receive more options. On a recent day at Loch Raven Technical Academy, for example, students could choose from pepperoni or cheese pizza, a chicken patty sandwich, a spicy chicken patty sandwich, a cheese steak sub or a grilled cheese sandwich, with sides such as tossed salad, tomato soup, potatoes or canned fruit.

At West Towson Elementary School on that same day, students could pick from chicken nuggets, a grilled cheese sandwich or a yogurt box with granola clusters, with sides of tomato soup, tossed salad or canned fruit.

Not just for lunch anymore

An increase in options isn't the only change on the menu for some Towson-area schools. Padonia International is in its second year of a program which provides free breakfast to students, delivered to classrooms, which the students eat as they're listening to announcements and preparing for the day. Prior to the program, only some students picked up breakfast in the schools' cafeteria before the opening bell, and students ate the food in class. Now every student gets breakfast, regardless of need.

The state-funded program is called "Meals for Achievement."

Because breakfast is given to all students the program helps break down the negative stigma which can be associated with the schools' free or reduced meals program, according to Principal Melissa DiDonato. Everyone gets the same thing — no one is singled out. DiDonato said other elementary schools are participating in the program, but Padonia is the only one in the Cockeysville area.

According to Levenstein, 66 schools in the county out of 173 participate in the program. Schools in which more than 50 percent of students receive free or reduced meals are eligible for the breakfast program.

In Tracy Lidie's second grade class at Padonia on a recent Thursday morning, students were served cinnamon graham crackers, orange juice and milk. The graham crackers are a favorite of 7-year-old Karthika Challagundla.

"It's good," she said. "That's the only description I can give. And tasty."

In the mornings at home she is concerned with getting dressed for the day and fixing her hair, Karthika said, so having breakfast in the classroom has been helpful to her.

Miller-Delosier is responsible for preparing the breakfast for about 320 students.

She and her employees pack the breakfasts into square coolers the day before, and then deliver the coolers to the classrooms the next day. Teachers distribute the food.

Miller-Delosier, who has worked at Padonia four years, said that since the Meals for Achievement program started she has seen an improvement in the energy of the children in the morning.

"It seems like everyone is a little bit more active," she said. "The teachers say that the kids are more attentive first thing in the morning after they eat."

Later in the day, when students are in the lunch line, she hears feedback about breakfast from appreciative kids, she said.

"'We got up late, we're so glad we had breakfast," Miller-Delosier recalls kids telling her.

The scale of the program was a change for the cafeteria staff, she added; before, only 70 students were getting breakfast in the cafeteria, while now more than 300 students are served every day.

Breakfast used to be a one-person job, but it now requires three people.

"It definitely takes a little bit more time," she said.

Sampling nutrition

Chicken nuggets

(Served at West Towson Elementary School Oct. 7)

Terrific Tossed Salad

(Served at Dumbarton Middle School Oct. 7)

Source: Baltimore County Public Schools