Students’ beef about shrinking lunches aired at BOE meeting
By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ALLENTOWN — The school district is considering selling “after-school” lunches to hungry athletes who say they are running on empty at practices because new federal rules have reduced portion sizes in the cafeteria during the school day.
In response to students’ complaints about the leaner menus, Schools Superintendent Richard Fitzpatrick and Allentown High School Principal Connie Embley have met with student representatives and officials from the district’s food service company to find a solution that won’t break federal law.
”Our kids are spending hours after school at practices, at games, getting a tremendous amount of exercise,” Dr. Fitzpatrick told the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education on Sept. 19. “Our kids are telling us they are not, in their estimation, getting enough calories and protein to sustain them throughout the day.”
Patty Guld, child nutrition supervisor for Chartwells, the district’s food service company, said that selling meals after the school day ends is one of several options under consideration to address the kids’ hunger pangs.
”This would open up a lot of flexibility since it would be after school and portion size does not have to conform to the guidelines,” Ms. Guld said. “We could serve larger portions after school.”
Another idea is to offer more “substantial” a-la-carte snacks, such as chicken fingers, that students could purchase, Ms. Guld said.
The Upper Freehold Regional schools are among the more than 100,000 schools in the nation that participate in the $1.1 billion National School Lunch Program, which provides districts with federal subsidies for free and reduced-price lunches for eligible students. In return, however, the districts must follow federal rules for all lunches it serves, including a complicated nutritional formula that sets the minimum and maximum number of servings for various types of foods.
Ms. Guld briefed the school board on the menu changes required by the new federal regulations that have caused the most complaints at AHS.
”Basically, in a nutshell, the fruit and vegetable portions went up and they put a weekly cap on grains and protein,” Ms. Guld said. “We never had maximums on grains and proteins before.”
As a result, the 6-inch, 5.5-ounce rolls Chartwells served last year are gone because new federal requirements prohibit serving more than 12 ounces of grain per week in school lunches, she said. Now rolls are 2.4 ounces, about half their former size, and the high school students are not happy about it, she said.
”They immediately saw the size difference,” Ms. Guld said.
Board of Education members Lisa Herzer and Patty Hogan said the new one-size-fits-all federal rule about portion sizes ignores the fact that different students have different nutritional needs based on their size and activity levels.
”I have 5-foot-10, 150-pound son who plays soccer for many hours after school and his requirements are not the same as Patty’s daughter that’s 4-foot-9 and 90 pounds,” Mrs. Herzer said. “How do they come up with these guidelines that say all children in that high school have to have the same nutrition?”
School Business Administrator Diana Schiraldi said students and parents in the Upper Freehold Regional School District are not the only ones complaining.
”These are discussions that are going on around the country,” Ms. Schiraldi said. “There have been school districts in New Jersey that have been successful in withdrawing from the federal free and reduced lunch program because they didn’t want to adhere to the new regulations.”
Withdrawing is not an option for the Upper Freehold Regional School District because 6.7 percent of its students qualify for free and reduced lunches, she said. A district that withdraws not only loses federal subsidies, it still must provide all free and reduced-cost meals needed for children who are eligible.
Dr. Fitzpatrick said the fact the price of lunch increased 10 cents to $2.40 at the same time portion sizes decreased has made students even more upset, but stressed the price increase was something the district was required to do by federal law.
”Our kids are obviously concerned that they are paying more money for less food,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said.
Ms. Schiraldi said the lunch price increase was also tied to the requirements of the National School Lunch Program.
”They are now controlling the prices,” she said. “They did not want us to use the federal subsidies for free and reduced lunches to artificially keep the price of a fully paid lunch lower than it should be,” Ms. Schiraldi said.
Using a complex formula, and data provided by each school, the federal government figures out what the cost of a fully paid school lunch should be and requires that school lunch prices be raised up to 10 cents a year until the target figure is met, Ms. Schiraldi said.
Mrs. Herzer asked two AHS students in the audience at the Board of Education meeting for their thoughts on the school lunch situation.
”No one is really buying the lunches anymore,” said Alexandra Moore, an AHS lacrosse player who was at the meeting to receive an athletic award from the school district. “A lot of kids are complaining.”
Connor Roy, a wrestler and lacrosse, player said his assigned lunch period is 11 a.m. and he is often hungry by the time his sports practices begin after school.
”I think your suggestion about an after-school (lunch) program is a great idea,” Connor said. “I do get hungry after school.”
Mrs. Embley said Tuesday that additional meetings are being scheduled with Chartwells on the after-school lunch idea and that no decision had been made yet.

