Seattle's Child: eating right at school

January 2006

Eating Right at School

Sue Trainer used to put seven pounds of butter in her popular turkey tetrazzini. Today, the butter is gone, but the tetrazzini remains one of the hottest menu items at the “Denny Diner.”

Also missing from the Denny Middle School cafeteria is the infamous fry station that used to turn out mass quantities of french fries and chicken nuggets on a daily basis. In its place are colorful platters of steamed vegetables and a well-stocked, all-you-can-eat fruit and salad bar. Gourmet deli sandwiches and “grab-and-go” salads are offered daily.

The fry station’s demise – celebrated with a “rest in grease” eulogy – came two years ago when Trainer introduced her new low-fat offerings. (She also eliminated butter from her gravy and now makes it solely with water, flour and spices.)
“The kids don’t even notice the difference,” says Trainer, who has worked at the West Seattle school for 25 years, and has been cafeteria manager since 1997.

The Denny Diner’s new menu is just one of the dozens of health-oriented changes taking place in school lunchrooms all across Washington state. School districts and private and parochial schools statewide are getting a healthy start to the New Year by adding fresh fruits and veggies to their lunch menus as part of overall policies to improve nutritional education and promote physical fitness.

Sales of sodas and junk food have been banned from all 100 Seattle Public School campuses.

The Bellevue School District has added low-fat vegetarian menu items at its elementary schools and abandoned breaded chicken patties for skinless chicken breasts.

In Olympia, school kids have an “organic choices salad bar” and teachers hand out brochures on timely health topics.

The Port Angeles School District, North Thurston Public Schools and St. John-Endicott Cooperative School District have been honored with state “School Board Challenge” Awards of $5,000 each for innovative nutrition policies, including working with local farmers to integrate healthier options into school menus.

Parent Teacher Associations, including many in Seattle, are creating nutrition advisory boards, implementing wellness plans and launching campaigns to promote healthier lifestyles.

Why Be Concerned?

The dramatic changes in school lunch programs are a direct response to growing concerns over rising rates of childhood obesity. A 2004 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that one in seven children nationwide are obese, which qualifies this health problem as an “epidemic.” In fact, the rate of obesity in children has more than doubled, and the rate in teens has tripled in the last 20 years.

Even if they are not obese, the CDC estimates that nearly 16 percent of U.S. children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 (about 10 million young people) are considered overweight. And it warned that overweight children have a 70 percent chance of being overweight adults.

In Washington, about 26 percent of eighth-graders, 22 percent of 10th-graders and 21 percent of 12th graders surveyed were overweight or at risk of being overweight, according to the Department of Health’s 2002 Healthy Youth Survey.

Increases in calories and decreases in activity are contributing to the high percentage of overweight or obese youngsters, experts say.

Students’ diets today are too high in saturated fat, sodium and sugar, and too low in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, calcium and fiber, the CDC report says, adding that only 21 percent of young people eat the recommended five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day.

Seattle youth are not far off the mark from statewide peers in regard to eating and physical activity habits, according to the Healthy Youth Survey of Seattle middle school students. About half of all of these students drink at least one soda a day and spend more than three hours of either computer or television screen time per day.

A recent American Obesity Association report states that diabetes, hypertension and other obesity-related chronic diseases that are prevalent among adults have now become more common in youngsters. Experts predict the long-term health care costs associated with a generation of children being overweight or obese could outpace those related to tobacco use.

“Environmental and behavioral changes brought about by economic development, modernization and urbanization have been linked to the rise in global obesity,” the report says. “True health consequences may become fully apparent in the near future.”

“There is an absolute epidemic of child obesity and Type II Diabetes – we are killing our children,” agrees Seattle School Board President Brita Butler-Wall. “We absolutely have to take this health crisis seriously.”’

What’s Being Done?

The national government is encouraging state and local education officials to combat childhood obesity through legislation, monetary incentives and marketing campaigns.
In October 2004, the federal government reauthorized the National School Lunch Program (the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004). This law requires all school districts participating in federally subsidized child nutrition programs to adopt healthier nutritional guidelines and establish a local school wellness policy by the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture launched a Healthier U.S. School Challenge, which is a voluntary certification for schools that are willing to establish nutrition standards for foods and beverages beyond the school meals programs and provide opportunities for nutrition education and physical activity.

According to federal guidelines developed by the Agriculture Department’s National School Lunch Program, school lunches should provide one-third of the recommended dietary allowances of protein, calories and certain vitamins and minerals. To receive federal subsidies and donated foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, public schools must also turn off vending machines selling “competitive foods” during lunch.
Last year, Washington state lawmakers approved a measure directing school districts to develop nutritional guidelines for the foods they sell in schools. The districts were given until Aug. 1 to adopt new policies on nutrition and physical fitness (check with your local district to see the actual policies). As a result, many districts have banned the sale of soda, candy and fried chips from school vending machines.

The importance of schools providing healthy eating choices is underscored by the fact that many students consume the majority of their daily meals during school hours – up to two-thirds of their daily intake.

In September 2004, the Seattle School Board unanimously approved a set of nutrition guidelines that are among the toughest in the nation, including a policy that prohibits the sale of junk food and soda on all Seattle School District campuses. Gone are cookies and cakes; white rice has been replaced by the more nutritious brown rice; and the district recently rolled out 14 new varieties of ethnic foods.

In addition, only secondary schools can have vending machines, and their contents must be monitored for nutritional value once a month.

“There is a clear link between health and learning, and when we have 46,000 students in our care, it’s absolutely critical to make sure their environment is as healthy as it could be,” Butler-Wall says.

Anita Finch, director of Seattle Public Schools Nutrition Services Department, says the district is constantly researching ways to improve school meal programs and nutrition education. She recently spearheaded development of a districtwide Nutrition Advisory Council.

She says teaching kids healthy eating habits needs to be a partnership between parents, students, teachers and administrators. “The home needs to be the gate keeper for good nutrition; the classroom needs to provide nutrition education, and the school cafeteria needs to be the connection between cognitive learning and behavior,” Finch says.

When students are given healthier choices, they become more accustomed to them. At Denny Middle School, for example, the students at first protested the removal of french fries from the lunch menu. But during a recent visit, many of the kids were eating salads and fresh fruit.

“I eat salads just about every day,” 13-year-old Glenn Brooks says, adding that he isn’t bothered by the lack of junk food on the menu.

While many schools are improving their lunch programs, several stand out. The Central District’s TT Minor Elementary School, for example, was recently awarded a $50,000 grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to hire a part-time school nutritionist. The nutritionist is helping to improve the physical environment of the cafeteria to encourage healthful eating and developing programs and policies that go above and beyond district-level mandates. For instance, the school is developing policies for staff to “not use food as a reward” in classrooms. In addition, the Seattle Nutrition Action Consortium and Washington State University’s Food Sense Change are offering nutrition education to each student. All students also receive free fruits and vegetables during snack time as a pilot program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In 2004, the Bellevue School District was awarded $3,000 for its new policies to improve nutrition education, which is now provided to all students, staff and parents. A quarterly newsletter written by the district’s registered dietician is distributed to all staff at each school and sent home to parents.

Public schools are not the only ones jumping on the healthy foods bandwagon. Private schools also are making changes to their students’ lunch offerings. Karen Tarabochia, assistant superintendent/personnel for Catholic Schools Archdiocese of Seattle, says many of their schools emphasize healthy eating habits through health education classes. The Catholic Archdiocese runs 68 schools from Vancouver to Bellingham with more than 22,000 students.

Katy Mathews, newly hired kitchen manager at Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle, has made sweeping changes in the lunch program, including: switching to nonfat and 1 percent milk instead of whole; replacing soda pop with natural fruit juices and bottled water; switching from processed cheese to cheddar cheese; removing mayonnaise and butter from burgers; baking chicken instead of frying it; offering bagels and low-fat muffins instead of doughnuts; using whole-wheat pasta; and replacing the cheese sauce that used to accompany soft pretzels with low-fat ranch dressing and honey mustard.

“I didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” says Mathews, a former nurse who also worked in the catering business. “But you can make things healthier without turning it into a vegan environment. They weren’t too excited about the changes at first, but now the kids are fine with it.”

Partnering with Parents

Many school districts are getting nutritional inspiration from parents. For example, just outside the Laurelhurst Elementary School cafeteria is an “Eat Smart, Get Smart” mini billboard with a picture of a brain and a reminder to eat breakfast “brain foods.” Second graders at the Seattle school are planting vegetable gardens as part of a “soils” unit. And at last year’s Halloween Carnival, the biggest seller wasn’t cotton candy – it was chipotle-buttered corn on the cob.

Elise Hart, who recently created and chairs the Laurelhurst Nutrition Advisory Committee, initiated those changes. With three young children, Hart was disappointed with the abundance of cupcakes and sugary snacks her kids were getting at school. She decided it was time to help educate parents, teachers and students about nutrition – and make the learning fun.

With the blessing of Laurelhurst Principal Kathy Jolly and the PTA, she created the nutrition advisory board and has been helping the school raise awareness of nutrition and health ever since.

“It’s all about choices,” says Hart, whose children are in first, third and fifth grades at Laurelhurst. “We want to help the kids learn about good nutrition – setting them up to be the best learners.”

Experts agree that solving the problem will take more than just providing healthy foods in school. Also needed are increased nutrition education, parent participation and motivation for kids to become more physically fit.

Kim Cooperman, clinical pediatric dietician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, advocates pairing nutritional education in schools with parent education on healthy lifestyles. “We’ve gotten to be such a convenience-oriented society that the art of the family-cooked meal is dangerously on the verge of extinction,” she says.

She advises parents to offer kids healthy choices and to not give up if they refuse to try them. “Kids have a phobia when it comes to new foods. It takes up to 10 times before they finally accept it. You have to keep encouraging new foods.”

“Schools offer a captive audience (for teaching) our children,” summarizes Kirsten Frandsen, nutrition coordinator for Seattle, Highline and Tukwila school districts. “Like other things, it’s important to teach children when they’re young so they can develop healthy habits to last a lifetime. This applies to healthy eating and nutrition. If we can teach our children how to eat well when they are young, the chances of them carrying this over to adulthood are greater.”

“Our children are bombarded with advertisements of foods touting health or attractive ads that entice our children to consume certain products although they may not be best for kids,” Frandsen adds. “We need to fight back and provide students with sound nutrition advice and direction.”

Karen West is a Bainbridge Island freelance writer and mother of two healthy eaters.

Next month: Restocking school vending machines – How schools are trimming junk food without losing revenue.

Schools Statewide Step up to Health Challenge

To encourage school districts to upgrade nutritional and physical activity standards, the state created a “School Board Challenge.”

Awards of $5,000 each were presented to the Port Angeles School District, North Thurston Public Schools and St. John-Endicott Cooperative School District in November at the Washington State School Directors’ Association annual conference in Seattle. Honorable mentions went to the Ellensburg School District, the Mt. Vernon School District and Vancouver Public Schools, which each won $1,000. The NW Automatic Vending Association, the Washington State Dairy Council and the Washington State Department of Health provided the funding.

The School Board Challenge is a collaborative effort between the Washington State Department of Health, Action for Healthy Kids, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Washington State Board of Health, the University of Washington Center for Public Health Nutrition, the Washington Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the Washington Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, and the Children’s Alliance.

The measures taken by 2005 Challenge winners could serve as an inspiration for other schools and districts. Here’s a look at the winners:

The Port Angeles School District has revamped both its nutrition and physical activity programs in all grades, K-12. There was no phase-in period – all new policies were immediately implemented. The policies were developed by a Superintendent-appointed, 12-member Nutrition and Physical Fitness Advisory Committee made up of students, teachers, principals and community members. Port Angeles is also building relationships with local farmers to incorporate fresh, locally grown foods into the school meal program. In a back-to-school press release last year, Roosevelt Middle School eighth grader Amorena Nobile said: “Things are different at school this year. Everything is healthier.” Some of the changes that have been made to school breakfasts and lunches include: offering pancakes with sugar-free syrup for breakfast; reducing the sugar content of cinnamon rolls; providing more salad choices; replacing white crackers with wheat and rye crackers; replacing pork sausage with turkey sausage; and offering a variety of juices, as well as fruit water, instead of sodas. North Thurston Public Schools’ nutrition and physical activity policy extends to the two Head Start programs located within the district’s boundaries and to children who are served by the district’s Early Childhood Home Visitor program. A Healthy Youth Task Force has been established and will serve as an ongoing advisory committee, which will complete a regularly scheduled evaluation of how the policy is working. A student-based Healthy Choices Committee is being established at each high school to provide feedback and input on food options and fitness opportunities. At the elementary school level, students are offered at least three fresh fruits or fresh vegetables a day. Students at the district’s three middle schools and three comprehensive high schools can purchase salad kits, pre-made sandwiches and fruit, yogurt and granola parfaits in “quick stop” lines.

The St. John-Endicott Cooperative School District in Eastern Washington has scheduled a set of activities for the 2005-2006 school year that are directly related to its Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy. In the spring, elementary students will begin working in raised bed gardens that are being built by the district’s vocational agriculture class. A marketing campaign is being developed to encourage community-wide participation in Family Night Out, which will promote healthy eating and healthy lifestyles.

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