ALLENTOWN: AHS students tasting victory

Changes in the lunchroom menu, new after-school meals offered

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   ALLENTOWN — It was a cafeteria food fight that made school administrators proud.
   Operation Paper Bag — a student-led protest at Allentown High School over the higher cost and smaller portions now required by the National School Lunch Program — launched petitions, not meatballs, in its successful quest to bring about change in the lunchroom.
   ”Respectful persistence has paid off at Allentown HS,” student leader Jack Streppone announced last week to the 613 members of Operation Paper Bag on Facebook. “New food options will now be available for purchase during lunch … and after school food options will be available for purchase as well!”
   Jack, along with co-organizers Zamin Kazmi, Alexis Fischer-Kennedy and Westin Lohne, worked with school administrators and the district’s food service provider, Chartwells, to come up with a two-fold solution that makes sure kids have enough to eat without breaking federal rules limiting hot lunches to 850 calories.
   The result? Chartwells last week began offering more substantial a la carte foods (not subject to the federal regulations because they are not part of the regular meal), instead of only the small a la carte snacks that were customary in the cafeteria at lunchtime. There is also a new “Munch Time” menu available after school now for athletes and other students who stay on campus late every day for sports practices, clubs and other activities.
   ”Many of our students are here from 7 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. in the evening and if they eat lunch at 10:30 a.m. they are very hungry by the afternoon,” Principal Connie Embley said Oct. 18, three days after the Munch Time service was launched. “We love the idea of being able to offer the kids something to eat after school.”
   The Munch Time menu, which is exempt from the federal nutrition requirements because the food is served after the regular school day, has a variety of items ranging from a 50-cent fruit cup to a Boar’s Head roast beef wrap for $3.75.
   Richard Fitzpatrick, the superintendent of schools, said he was proud of the way students conducted themselves. The student leaders researched the changes to the National School Lunch Program and came to the meeting with administrators and Chartwells thoroughly prepared to discuss the problem and explore possible solutions.
   ”The kids arrived in suits and ties and brought a PowerPoint presentation to make their case,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said. “I was really proud of them.”
   Dr. Fitzpatrick told the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education on Oct. 17 that news coverage of the issue had attracted the attention of state officials and that students were now poised to “take democracy to a whole new level.”
   ”I received a phone call asking me to share my concerns and I said our kids our hungry. They are athletes; they go to clubs after school and they can’t survive on a sandwich smaller than the size of a fist,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said.
   ”(State officials) said we’re very interested in getting your feedback and would you be willing to meet with us and bring your students and we will bring someone from the federal government as well,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said.
   The meeting with Janet Hawk, the head of the School Nutrition Program at the state Department of Agriculture, is tentatively set for Oct. 29, he said. The four student leaders, Mrs. Embley and Dr. Fitzpatrick will be attending.
   The smaller, leaner meals in school cafeterias have caused controversy nationwide in the 100,000 schools 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 the districts must follow federal rules for lunches it serves, including a complicated nutritional formula that sets the minimum and maximum number of servings for various types of foods.
   Critics of the move to smaller, leaner lunches say that while efforts to combat childhood obesity are commendable, the one-size-fits all approach of reducing portions for everyone and capping the amount of grains and protein students can have is leaving physically fit athletes and active teens hungry.
   For example, the 6-inch 5.5-ounce sandwich rolls that Chartwells was allowed to serve last year at Allentown High had to be reduced to half that size on the regular menu because the new federal requirements prohibit serving more than 12 ounces of grain per week.
   ”It looked like finger food to me,” Jack, 17, said.
   The fact that the price of a lunch increased 10 cents to $2.40 at the same time portion sizes decreased only made the situation more upsetting, he said. (The price increase was also made as per federal requirements).
   ”We decided to get involved and change the situation,” Jack said. “The faculty was very supportive and gave me the opportunity to go into each lunch period with a megaphone and ask people to sign the petitions,” Jack said.
   He collected more than 1,000 signatures from students and faculty, he said.
   When told the district could not afford to withdraw from the National School Lunch Program, Jack and the other students began brainstorming ideas with administrators and officials at Chartwells and came up with solutions.
   Jack said he is excited about the scheduled meeting with state officials and hopes it will lead to changes that will help students in other schools confronted with the same Catch-22 of having to pay more money for less food.
   Withdrawing from the National School Lunch Program is not an option for the Upper Freehold Regional School District because 6.7 percent of its students qualify for free and reduced lunches, district officials have said.
   Any district that withdraws not only loses federal subsidies, it still must provide all free and reduced-cost meals needed for children who are eligible.