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HO OUI I
THE BRUNSWICK'ftlEACON
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Waccamaw School Cafeteria
? I
Sets Shining Example
BY SUSAN USHER
On a typical day nine out of every 10 students eat
lunch at Waccamaw Elementar>' School, a larger
percentage than at any other school in the county.
And almost hall the students cat breakfast as well.
What makes the difference?
"These kids love to cat up here," asserts Sharon Long,
cafotcria mflrmgc r "They h;ive rejil pood appetites."
Overhearing the question, a teacher, Angela Smith of
Shallotte Point, offers her own explanation: "We have
the best cooks."
Both claims appeared to be the case on this particular
day, as first-graders went through the line eagerly
choosing lunch.
That day's options created an appealing, colorful ar
ray of lood. Sue Inman and Assistant Manager Alice
Smith were on the line serving ham and chccsc hoagics,
nachos and chips, lettuce and cheese cups, curly fries,
steaming bowls of vegetable soup, chips, mixed fruit
and Icclcan Bellamy's big chocolate chip cookics.
Youngsters had a choice of beverages as well, milk or
fruit juicc.
Good appetites help, but Mrs. Long and her staff
aren't afraid to innovate and find ways to appeal to those
appetites. Many of their ideas fall right in line with some
of the changes the school system's new child nutrition
director, Rcbccca Brandon, is encouraging some of the
other cafeteria staffs to implement.
Ms. Brandon comcs to the school system with 15
years in uietcucs ami nuiiiiion in ihc hospitality and hos
pital industries. The new job gives her a chance to put to
use all her accumulated skills managing money and
working with employees and the public. "I thought it
would be a fun job and 1 think I was right," she said.
"You know 6-year-olds cat differently from 18-year
MARSHA COLEMAN adds another hoagie to a
growing stack.
olds." says Ms. Brandon "If you want lo know what the
kids like, look at the dishwasher tabic."
So why, she asks, was the system serving virtually the
same menu at all three types of schools, elementary,
middle and high?
And why, if a school cafeteria is operating 111 the red,
or near it, as is true at several county schools, would
policv discourage or forbid those bringing bag lunches
from buying a la carle items to supplement their meal?
Past thinking was that the practice might discouragc or
dering of plate lunches, a main source of program rev
enues because of U.S.D.A. reimbursements. Students arc
offered a choice of five items and must have three items
(only one entree) on their tray for the system to qualify
for reimbursement from the federal government. Still, Ms.
Brandon says she would rather have the increased sales.
She wants all school cafeterias operating on the plus side.
To make it happen, she's looking at everything from of
fering students more appealing menus and quick-serve
options to more efficiency in operations through bulk pur
chasing and better material handling.
Interestingly enough, in an a la carte experiment at
one county school, full lunch sales didn't drop; instead it
looked like the cafeteria was attracting additional clicn
telc-and income Ms. Brandon figures might have gone
to a fast-food restaurant otherwise.
Having "closed" campuses, where students arc not
supposed to leave for lunch, doesn't seem to be making
much of a difference in her opinion.
"U" rom M'K'tt 1 />??? frtn it'i- n r\l moVirto or*%; Hi ff/>r/*nl
* ?*>??? ?? nut ? vuii .?w, it a nvt xiiutuig,
In my humble opinion they're cither finding a way to get
it someplace else or are not eating, or having a friend
who's eating pick up extra a la cane items for them."
Unlike some other county school cafeterias in the
past, Mrs. Long's staff has already been offering assort
ed supplemental food items students can order in addi
tion to or instead of a plate lunch.
"We sell a lot of a la carte items," she said. "We have
always offered a la carte items even when the other
schools didn't so much."
Typical offerings include chips, ice cream, graham
crackcr and marshmallow cookics, juices and fruit
punch and budget items such as popcorn and dill pickle
strips.
"Wc try to keep something for a dime for the kids
who don't have more than that lo spend," she said
"Whatever they'll eat, we'll sell."
Ms. Brandon also wants to move toward more low
fat, low cholesterol food items on the menu, but expects
to move gradually as the U.S.D.A. works on the same
concern in the types of commodities it makes available
lo schools.
"We want to offer a happy medium," she said. "Wc
want to offer food that people will cat. We want to move
as many people through as possible."
One example-serving curly "fries" instead of mashed
potatoes and gravy. The potatoes arc just as nutritious,
the kids like them better and will eat them. And they're
a timcsavcr for staff to prepare.
Knowing what your student body <\ats goes a long
way toward keeping operations profitable; during first
semester all schools were asked to survey and come up
with a "top 10" list.
At Waccamaw, Mrs. Long knows her students ? what
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ASSISTANT MANAGER Alice Smith checks to see what kindergartner Steven iXorris Hants for lunch,
as Teacher Assistant Winnie Norris escorts a class through the cafeteria line.
Ihey like to cat, how much they can afford to spend.
"Pizza's their favorite food -and chocolate milk," she
said.
Pizza's also a hit at other schools. Typically Bolivia
Elementary School serves about 350 meals a day. But
the day pizza and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
were on the menu, 500 ate. "I don't know where they
came from. And only 65 ate peanut butter and jelly,"
said Ms. Brandon.
Taste testings, theme meals and other promotions,
such as listing daily menu items and their prices at the
door, also are aimed at increasing student participation
and introducing new foods.
Students can eat up to two meals a day at
school-Brunswick County participates in the national
school lunch and breakfast programs, which offer dis
counted meal prices for students of lower-income fami
lies.
However, county wide, breakfast panic ipation was
running about 4 percent at the end of the first semester
of school, with participation lightest at die high school
level and highest at the elementary level.
"Mothers arc more concerned about the K-5 kid get
ting something to cat, even if it's cold cereal and milk,"
noted Ms. Brandon. "Older youngsters are more inde
pendent. They get to school and arc more interested in
socializing."
At one upper-level school, an average of 25 students
was eaung break last every day. but the school was pay
ing salaries for two employees to fix and serve the meal.
"Twenty-five kids at 69 cents each is not a lot of
money," noted Ms. Brandon. "I've got to find a way to
get kids to eat breakfast, particularly at the high schools
and middle schools."
She wants mor teamwork and interaction between the
food service staff and the rest of the school's staff.
"You're teaching them, we're feeding them. We're on
the same team. We'd like to work more closely."
A little of that very kind of teamwork at Waccamaw
licked the breakfast problem there, says Mrs. Long.
Younger students were turning out for breakfast as
soon as they got to school, but not the seventh and
eighth graders.
Mrs. Long and Principal William Shoemaker put their
heads together. Ai Shoemaker's suggestion, the older
students now eat breakfast after their first class, from 9
a.m. to 9:15 a.m., said Mrs. Long, and "participation has
doubled."
"We try to work together, wether we're working out a
schedule or trying to increase participation," she said.
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