Typical School lunch in Sweden
United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his wife Karen will be touring D.C Prep Edgewood Elementary and Middle School Campuses in northeast Washington DC in celebration of School Lunch Week.
The secretary is going to observe physical education activities, participate in lunchtime readings and visit with students.
D.C. Prep teaches wellness to students through implemented practices of physical education, recess and field trips to local grocery stores. The school’s nutrition services are provided by Revolution Foods, a company which services a variety of schools, including charters.
Healthy food choices are a pet peeve for many parents today.
Most parents and educators desire and push for rigorous academics plus healthy foods.What research has shown for a long time is that nutrition and achievement go hand in hand.
That makes sense. A high performance vehicle needs high octane fuel, just like a high performance achiever does better with a quality nutrition source.
The trick in charter schools is often how to provide affordable and healthy luch options without having a kitchen facility. With budget restraints in regards to school buildings, many charter schools are either located in temporary, leased, or facilities built on a tight budget--which may result in lacking of kitchens, P.E. halls, art rooms and libraries.
School lunch outsourcing is becoming more and more common. Suppose outsourcing is a trend in most businesses today and making and serving meals are not the primary purpose for our education system. Businesses like Revolution Foods offer breakfasts, lunches snacks—even faculty meals. Rev Foods have found a niche, and as mentioned previously a part of the customer base comes from charter schools.
Another trend in lunchrooms around the country is nutrition vamped programs like the ones designed by renegade lunch lady Ann Cooper. Cooper's program does require kitchen facilities, whereas Revolution Foods offer both lunch box options and school lunch services that are delivered without need for onsite kitchen prep.
Karin Piper is the author and speaker of Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing 2009), which boasts more than 30 chapters of must-know information and a complete school research guide for parents seeking charter schools.
At the Examiner we always appreciate learning about updated information and current events.
You may contact the Charter Schools Examiner directly Karin@charterschoolmom.com.
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Comments
Why the schools wanted to be in food service business has always puzzled me. Now that they started it, to get rid of it they have to fire perfectly good and dedicated people and it causes all kinds of adversarial feelings.
On another note, an issue with nutrition in kids' lunches has to do with them throwing away all the stuff they don't like in school, as obviously there are too many to supervise to tell them to "eat all their veggies."
Interesting article, Karin!
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