Lee School Committee discusses cafeteria program

LEE – The deficit of the cafeteria program at Lee Public Schools has grown from $1,700 at the start of the school year to $4,800 at the midpoint.

This was a major topic of discussion at the most recent Lee School Committee meeting.

Most districts throughout the county and the commonwealth are seeing these types of deficits, and they can, for the most part, be attributed to two factors: declining enrollment county-wide and the implementation of state and federal restrictions on what types of food can be served in school cafeterias (in an effort to combat childhood obesity).

In Lee, enrollment is down nine percent, but the food consumption is down 12 percent.

“There’s a concern…that the change in food has led to a decrease in consumption,” School Committee Member Thomas Consolati said.

“They [the students] want the junk food back, and they’re not going to get it,” School Committee Chair Susan Harding later said.

Several items were discussed to help bring the deficit down.

One suggestion, brought forward by LPS Business Coordinator Tiffany D. Morawlec (filling in for Superintendent Jason P. McCandless), was to add an early morning breakfast at 7:30 at Lee Elementary School for $5 a week for students.

No action was taken on this or any of the topics of discussion, instead the school committee requested a presentation from the district’s cafeteria staff with possible methods to improve the situation at the next meeting.

However, the idea of an early morning breakfast was generally agreed upon as a good idea, especially parents with busy morning schedules.

“It’s going to be a benefit to parents,” said School Committee Vice Chair Robert Lohbauer.

Another suggestion was for the cafeteria to do some outreach and advertising to the students to help them better understand the new guidelines and get more feedback on what meals and food items the they prefer.

“It’s going to take some creative marketing,” added Mr. Lohbauer.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on January 31, 2013. Filed under Education News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry