April 16-20

As of April 13th 90 % of you have filled out a lunch survey and have returned them. This is phenomenal number! Most school districts have a 50-60 percent return, so many thanks to all of you who filled out the survey. We have been tabulating as we go along so I can only report preliminary numbers and general comments at this time. The good news for us is that 88% of the surveys came back with a positive response. The remaining 12% were marked unsatisfactory and most of those explained their unsatifactory rating.

The perception that school lunches are unhealthy and fattening made up about 50% of the unsatisfactory remarks. We do not serve ANY fried foods at our elementary and middle schools. At the high school we fry our french fries only in 0 trans fat soybean oil. All other foods at the high school are baked, not fried. At all levels we have switched our buns, rolls, etc...over to whole grains, including pizza doughs. We are using reduced fat cheeses in all recipes, including sandwiches, and pizza. In the future we are planning to use more fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned. This feature will take some time however, and will not be truly instituted until the 2007-2008 school year.

Another perception is that we only serve processed foods. This is just simply not true. It is true we do sell some products that are pre-made or processed. At minimum we are doing production cooking 3 times a week at elementary schools, and 4 times a week at secondary schools. Due to labor and equipment limitations we do have to serve some processed foods. We do our best to keep this to a minimum. The 2007-2008 school year will bring many changes to food service and making our own food will be one of them.

Next week we will address more issues that have been raised. Overall though, most of you like the quality of the food your children are receiving. We will consider all requests on the surveys, both good and bad.