By Justin Joiner
Rep. Kristi Noem, R-SD, on Tuesday listened to the concerns of school administrators and students who say new federal nutritional requirements that promise healthier food are leaving some students hungry and districts with no flexibility.
The new standards, which are being implemented in many schools this fall, were required of schools that participate in the United States Department of Agriculture’s school meal program as a result of the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act, passed in 2010.
The requirements mean student meals have 75-150 fewer calories, depending on grade level, than in the past years, said Darrel Davis, Pierre School District food services supervisor. The district is also serving fewer grains and students are required to take at least a fruit or vegetable with every meal, among other changes. In the past, students could turn down two food groups.
Noem said during her visit to Georgia Morse Middle School that the new requirements offer no flexibility to the school districts, but one option is to pass new legislation.
“Our school administrators and school board members and lunch personnel will be able to make those decisions that better suit the kids than a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.,” she said.
Last week she sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack looking for more information on the requirements and asking whether they would be evaluated.
While the Pierre School District is in compliance with the changes, Superintendent Kelly Glodt said there have been complaints.
“We remain in compliance or risk around a half a million dollars a year,” he said. “But to remain in compliance is not really popular with students or with parents.”
The most common complaint is that students are not getting enough to eat. Noem said students have a variety of calorie needs.
There is also an issue of increasing waste. During Noem’s visit there were many students who threw away full servings of vegetables and untouched apples that they were required to take. Glodt said principals in all school buildings are reporting that waste has increased since the standards were put in place.
“They are saying a lot of the foods that they are being required to serve to the kids, the kids are throwing away,” Noem said.
Glodt said while the intent behind the standards is to provide healthier food, some early results show that is not happening. Davis said one student at the high school told him that students who leave lunch hungry are more likely to eat fast food right after school or eat junk food in between meals.
“I said it was a good point,” Davis said.
Ty Falcon, a seventh-grader at Georgia Morse, said the lunches are OK, but not as good as they were last year. He said he misses some of the extras, such as cookies, that were available.
Noem said this is the first time in about 30 years that there has been a major overhaul of school lunch program regulations and it needs to be evaluated.
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