Many students are provided breakfast and lunch, with much of the food from local farms
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
A new free breakfast and lunch program at Ashland schools got off to a slow start but is now offering meals to more than half the K-12 students.
“We’re serving about 1,300 kids a day out of 2,400,” said Christina Lehman, director of nutrition services for the Ashland School District.
Fourteen staff members prepare the meals, and many of the ingredients are sourced from local farms, such as pears from Naumes in Medford and grass-fed meat from Dauenhauer Cattle LLC in Ashland.
The Farm at SOU provides herbs and produce to the district. Barking Moon Farm in the Applegate provides organic vegetables. Marvin’s Gardens and Cattle Co. in Rogue River produces livestock, fruits and vegetables for Ashland and other school districts.
Rogue Valley Farm to School is also partnering with the district.
In addition to the offerings at school cafeterias, nutrition services prepares lots of sack lunches for students on field trips, Lehman said.
Fruits, vegetables, corn dogs
Even though there is an abundance of local fruits and vegetables as well as an all-you-can eat salad bar at the schools, the campuses also offer familiar offerings such as corn dogs, hamburgers, sloppy Joe’s, pizza, nachos, ham and cheese sandwiches, and grape jelly and sunbutter sandwiches.
In previous years, parents paid into an account for their kids’ meals. Schools are still getting inquiries from parents wondering how they can put money into the account.
“It’s surprising how many people don’t know about the program,” Lehman said.
Lehman as well as the schools and the district have been trying to get the word out.
A number of other reasons may have contributed to the slow start in getting students to participate. Some kids may have wanted to to take their new lunchboxes to school. As time goes by, Lehman expects the numbers of participants to continue to climb.
This summer the district featured free lunches to any child who showed up. The summer lunch program will be offered to children again next year.
“Anyone driving up the West Coast can pull over at any school and have a free meal,” Lehman said.
Poverty rate exceeds 50%
Ashland qualifies to offer the free meal program because it has a childhood poverty rate that exceeds 50%, based on federal guidelines.
“Our poverty level has gone up,” Lehman said. In Oregon, a majority of schools qualify for the program, she said.
As a result, the district is able to tap into federal dollars, administered by the state, for a period of four years.
An effort is underway to make free lunch and breakfast available at all schools in the U.S.
The nation’s school lunch program was created in 1942, but it was expanded under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which was championed by First Lady Michelle Obama when Barack Obama was president. One of the goals was to introduce more fruits and vegetables into children’s diets.
Under the regulations of the federal program, the schools are required to provide a set amount of food as well as certain types of food to provide well-balanced meals.
Different quantities of food are provided to K-5 students, an amount that differs from middle schoolers as well as high schoolers.
A lot of food goes wasted
Depending on the grade levels, measuring cups are used to determine the quantity of each item. Fruits and vegetables have to be included with each meal, though not all students enjoy them.
As a result, and because some students can’t eat all the food provided, the schools are seeing a lot of waste being generated.
“It’s something we struggle with every day,” Lehman said.
She said that as time goes by, her staff will be able to fine-tune the amount of food being produced to limit waste. Students are encouraged to take fruit and other boxed snacks, such as raisins, with them rather than throwing them away.
There is also a “no thank you” table on which students can place certain items for other students.
Lunches remain the most popular of the two meals offered, Lehman said. Both Bellview and Helman elementary schools each provide about 150 lunches and 20 breakfasts a day.
Walker Elementary offers about 180 lunches and 35 breakfasts a day. Ashland Middle School and Trails Outdoor School offer 350 lunches and 50 breakfasts. Ashland High provides about 250 lunches and 100 breakfasts.
Lehman said most Ashland parents seem to like preparing their own breakfasts at home.
She said some children, such as her own daughters, avoid eating breakfast altogether. However, many also think breakfast is an important meal, particularly for children.
“There have been studies that found behavioral issues can be curbed by 70% if they have breakfast in the morning,” Lehman said.
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com.
