To Buy or Not to Buy: School Lunch at Springhurst

To buy or not to buy? Last week we let you in on the inner-workings of Dows Lane's cafeteria. Today, we extend the question to Springhurst Elementary School in Dobbs Ferry. 

Parents struggle on a daily basis with providing healthy meals and snacks for their children. Aafter the dinner table is cleared and dishes are washed comes the question, "What should I pack my kids for lunch?"  While many parents enjoy packing lunch, for those of you for whom the monotony becomes overwhelming, or if you are just too busy, Springhurst offers some great choices for the, on average, 375 children purchasing lunch daily in their cafeteria.   

Kathy Weinborg, the Aramark representative, and Lisa Doty, the school Assistant Principal, were excited to discuss the Food Services program at Springhurst.  Over the last five years, the school has added many more whole wheat products such as bagels, sandwich rolls and pizza crust.  

"Many of the changes came about from our PTSA," Doty remarked. "They sponsored 'Tasty Tuesday,' in which parent volunteers went to classrooms and let the children sample different foods.  They tried foods like edamame beans and brown rice. The kids enjoyed them, so eventually these items began showing up on our menu. It really was a collaborative effort." 

Weinborg has also introduced more fresh cooking and batch cooking. The soups offered are homemade, many times including vegetables grown in the school's own veggie garden. The school also makes its own macaroni and cheese and proofs the whole-wheat dough used for pizza crust. 

Lunch is available for Springhurst students for $2.75, which includes: Entrée, Hot or crisp fresh vegetable, Bread or Bread alternative, Fruit juice or lowfat/skim milk.  Some popular menu items are:

• Homemade, baked macaroni and cheese, mixed greens with cherry tomatoes, red seedless grapes, milk or juice
• Whole wheat pizza wedge, salad of cucumbers, grape tomatoes and mixed greens, milk or juice
• Popcorn chicken (plain or sweet & sour), sautéed vegetables, brown rice, chilled pineapple, milk or juice

On the whole, the hot lunch offers a well-balanced selection, however, the nutrition offered varies by the day.  For example, one serving of Spaghetti and Meat Sauce provides 481 calories, 12.1 g fat, 30.6 g protein, and 377.7 mg sodium.  Another meal, Beef and Broccoli, which is lower in calories and fat, provides 623.4 mg sodium.  That is an extremely high amount of sodium, which, keep in mind, is for the entrée only.  

If your child is purchasing Beef and Broccoli plus a savory snack—say baked chips—he will ingest more than half of the daily recommended sodium in one meal.  While there is no Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for children specifically, the American Heart Association recommends that an average adult keep his or her sodium intake under 1500 mg. However, the average American consumes 4000-6000 mg of sodium daily. High sodium content is very common among highly processed food, so sticking with entrees that are made on premises will always be a better option.

As children proceed through the line they can choose their fruit and vegetable option from a fruit and veggie bar. Each day there are three to four fresh fruits or vegetables which may include: apples, orange slices, melon, strawberries, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks or cucumber slices.  If a child has not chosen a fruit or vegetable, then they are given the assigned menu item for the day.  Springhurst also offers students a fresh salad bar daily. Fresh vegetables are offered here as well, alongside proteins such as cheeses, tofu, meats and legumes. 

Students are encouraged to eat their lunch first, whether they purchase it at school or bring it from home, before buying a snack item. Although the snacks are popular, Weinborg tries to provide the students with healthier choices: mozzarella sticks, yogurt parfaits and baked chips are among the offerings.  Teaching assistants and lunch monitors are asked to keep a close watch on the children, making sure that this process runs smoothly. 

What is most impressive, however, is the attitude of the administration toward a healthful diet and lifestyle for Springhurst's students.  A licensed nutritionist visits each classroom multiple times a year to talk about the importance of eating a variety of foods, including fruits and vegetables.  Students learn how eating certain food affects their overall health.  

The Nutrition and Wellness Committee for the district's mission statement reads, "We recognize the importance of promoting healthy eating habits to all students through a practical and comprehensive nutrition curriculum that will teach what good nutrition is and how it contributes to one's greater health." It truly seems like the administration at Springhurst  is following through on this initiative.  Children are learning in their classrooms why eating fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains is important, and they are actually being served those very foods in the school's cafeteria.  This sends a strong message to Springhurst's young  students. 

Is the lunch program at Springhurst too good to be true?  Well, comparatively Springhurst offers a much healthier variety of choices than many of its neighboring schools in Westchester, but the answer to that question is truly based on whom you are asking.  For example, there are many parents who believe that snacks, even baked, do not have a place in an elementary school cafeteria. 

If children are eating a healthful lunch, do they need an additional snack? Should children be offered chocolate milk at school?  While it may be free of high fructose corn syrup, it is still a higher-sugar option that in many cases can be considered dessert.  What these questions really amount to, is that parents need to have an understanding of what their children are purchasing in their respective cafeterias.  Springhurst does a wonderful job of providing "the healthiest food possible with the lowest price," according to Doty.  But parents need to set clear expectations for their children and outline beforehand what their child will be buying each day.  A parent and child need to work together and be part of the same team when it comes to healthy eating, because, at Springhurst, the administrators are right there waiting to give you a high five!

Springhurst also offers "MyNutrikids.com," a system for online prepayments and nutrition education. The MyKids feature lets parents make prepayments to their children's school meal accounts  and track item purchases.