School Lunch

charlestown@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A rise in school breakfast and lunch prices for Berkeley County students could be in the works, school officials said Wednesday. An increase in food costs and other rising expenses are forcing school officials to consider raising meal prices, said James R. Welton Jr., assistant superintendent of schools. In the past fiscal year, school officials had to put $2 million into the food service program over what was budgeted to run it, Welton said.

Menus for the week of Monday, Nov. 6, through Friday, Nov. 10: Washington County Monday - No school, professional day. Tuesday - No school, professional day. Wednesday - Max stuffed crust dippers with marinara sauce or ham and cheese sandwich, green beans, pineapple, Italian ice and milk. Secondary also may choose bean soup. Thursday - Chicken nuggets or tuna salad sandwich, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, fresh fruit and milk. Secondary also may choose thick vegetable soup.

Washington County students might have to pay 10 cents more for a school lunch this fall. Gary Dodds, supervisor of food and nutrition services, is proposing the increase to cover the cost of raises for lunch workers. Currently, elementary students pay $1.30 and secondary students pay $1.55. The proposed hike would be the first in three years. The cost of a la carte items such as pizza, sandwiches and fruit drinks also is expected to rise modestly, Dodds said. The food service is unique in the school system because it is self-supporting.

ANNAPOLIS - Perhaps there is no free lunch. But Del. Robert A. McKee, R-Washington, would like to make lunchtime a little longer for local students. McKee has sponsored legislation to require Washington County high schools to give students an hour for lunch. McKee told the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday that students from South Hagerstown High School asked for longer lunch periods when he served as a guest teacher in a government class. They have 30 minutes for lunch but complained that by the time they spend 25 minutes of it in cafeteria lines, "basically, they have five minutes to swallow whole the lunch that they bought," McKee said.

by Joe Crocetta / staff photographer see the enlargement At its most basic dictionary-definition level, yogurt is a thick, semisolid food made from milk fermented by a bacterium. Yuck. Does that sound like something that's going to sell a lot of school lunches? Toward the end of 1996, U.S. Department of Agriculture approved yogurt as a meat substitute for the school lunch program. Kids across the country may have had a cartoon image of trying to eat a messy sandwich of yogurt sliding off a hamburger bun. Relax.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Although a backlog of unpaid school lunch meals in Jefferson County Schools is "atrocious," school officials have decided to hold off on any lunch price increases. Jefferson County Schools officials have been facing several problems with meal programs over the last year. Last year, the Jefferson County Board of Education increased school lunch and breakfast prices after it was determined the school system's food service program faced a $600,000 shortfall.

Williampsort School's lunch week on track "Chew Chew into School Lunch" is the theme of the 2003 Williamsport Elementary School lunch week on Oct. 14 At 11:30 a.m. students and staff will celebrate the school's newly renovated kitchen, which features a train theme serving line. Students will eat out of cardboard train serving trays and have the opportunity to win prizes. The kitchen will be decorated and the kitchen staff will be dressed up as train operators. All Washington County Public Schools cafeterias will feature special menus of foods popular with students the week of Oct. 14-18.

Week of June 5, 1955 Scant hours after Hagerstown High School had graduated its largest class, Principal William L. Donaldson broke his leg last evening. Mr. Donaldson slipped on a wet and slippery stone, fell and broke his leg while attending a faculty outing at the Simon Clopper clubhouse at Hunting Creek. The principal was admitted to the Washington County Hospital where his leg was placed in a cast. Magistrate Paul Ottinger said today that city police have received hundreds of complaints in recent weeks in connection with the driving activities of teen aged motorists in the vicinity of Hagerstown High School.

School starts next week. For kids, choosing a lunchbox along with other school supplies might be a big deal. Packing the lunches usually is a bigger deal for parents. There's also the question of whether or not your child would be better off participating in the school lunch program. School lunch programs are nutritionally balanced and economically priced. School breakfasts also might be of interest to busy families. Economical breakfast programs can provide a meal that might otherwise be missed and, in doing so, help your child get the day off to a good start.

Some public school students across the country have been vocal about their disapproval of the new federal school lunch program, but the problem may go beyond taste with many Maryland students reporting that they leave the cafeteria still hungry, a Capital News Service survey found. Nearly 90 percent of Maryland public school students responding to a CNS survey said they are sometimes or always left unfulfilled by their school lunch. This follows a national trend that has become publicized since the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was implemented nationwide this year.

As a new school year begins, it is important to remember the role nutrition plays in assuring kids a successful school year. Proper nutrition is crucial for social, emotional and psychological development. Nutrition and learning go hand in hand. Kids who are nutritionally fit are more likely to have the energy, stamina and self-esteem that enhance their ability to learn. Parents can help ensure that their child is well nourished and ready-to-learn by considering the following: Start with a healthful breakfast.

Using their fingers or plastic forks, dozens of people invited to South Hagerstown High School on Wednesday tasted a variety of potential new menu items as the county school system moves toward offering students healthier foods that use fresher ingredients. Most of the items were new, such as a curried chicken wrap and Asian vegetable noodle lettuce wraps, and others were an attempt at a healthier version of existing dishes offered at schools, said Jeff Proulx, supervisor of Food and Nutrition Services for Washington County Public Schools.

Washington County Public School lunches are already coming with healthier grains and milks this school year. And other healthy changes were expected to affect school lunches starting with the 2012-13 school year, but Congress has already altered a U.S. Department of Agriculture's proposal and might make more changes, Jeff Proulx, county schools' supervisor of food and nutrition services, said Monday. The menu changes stem from recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, which is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, and are proposed in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

Student lunch prices in the Waynesboro Area School District could increase 20 cents in the 2011-12 academic year if the school board agrees with a proposal presented to it Tuesday. Student lunch prices would be $2 for elementary schools and $2.15 for secondary schools, compared to the current $1.80 and $1.95, respectively. Breakfast would remain $1 for elementary students and $1.10 for secondary students. The school board talked about the proposal at its meeting Tuesday, but asked for more information before voting.

Washington County Public Schools students could pay up to a dime more for a school lunch beginning in the fall, and cafeteria meals will limit calories and salt to get a head start on federal proposals aimed at serving more healthful food to the nation’s youth. Washington County Board of Education officials on Tuesday questioned whether students would go for the more healthful meals, or whether they would instead pack their lunches or buy a la carte items. The meal changes are federal proposals designed to fight obesity and improve health among the nation’s young people.

Grace Academy and Broadfording Christian Academy have partnered with Global Vision Christian School of South Korea beginning in the 2010-11 school year. There will be 60 middle school students enrolled between the two schools for the academic year. The schools are in need of host families for the school year. Host families may take up to two students per household and are paid a stipend of $500 a month per student for a total of $5,000. If they host two students it would be $1,000 a month or $10,000 total.

"I just have a question, and that pertains to this notice in the mail that I got about the H1N1 influenza. This came from the health department, the county administrator's office, and the superintendent of Washington County Public Schools. Now, instead of sending all this mail out, at who knows what expense, not to mention the cost of the paper and of course, the green state of Maryland, but why wouldn't this go through the local radio stations and the local media, to make this announcement, this information?"

HAGERSTOWN -- Corn on the cob, watermelon and other locally produced food items were on the menu this week in Washington County Public Schools and at schools across the state during the second annual Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week. The bounty of local produce on school menus also featured Asian pears, apples, lettuce, green beans, broccoli and tomatoes. Menu items included vegetable-rice casserole, garden salad, turkey-vegetable wrap and roasted vegetable pizza, all featuring fresh produce.

To pack or to buy? As a child, the answer was simple. It all boiled down to Aggie's barf-burger gravy over mice and P.U.ed tomatoes. Such were the names I dreamed up for the garlicky concoctions of my school's brawny cafeteria cook. In actuality, the dishes in question were hamburger gravy over rice and stewed tomatoes. The food slopped onto shiny peach-colored trays sliding along the stainless steel counter did not appeal to me. In fact, it elevated my boxed lunch to a source of pride and gratification.