Two private schools benefit from opting out of federal lunch program

Meals are a bit tastier this year at two local parochial schools that have opted out of federal funding for lunch.

Notre Dame Regional and Saxony Lutheran high schools have made agreements with local restaurants to provide meals. Both have seen an increase in the number of students and faculty served. They continue to provide lunch to lower-income students, but are covering the cost themselves.

Tony Buehrle, development director at Notre Dame, said the school began looking into adding more entrees and an open salad bar this year, plus adding some a la carte items. It also was decided to bring in some local vendors, such as My Daddy's Cheesecake, Papa John's, Tractors Classic American Grill in Jackson and Chick-fil-A, for "restaurant Wednesdays."

Students also may buy ready-made sandwiches, deep-dish pizzas, fruit, cheese, trail mix, V8 juice and fruit, among other items.

On Papa John's days, four types of pizza -- pepperoni, sausage, vegetable and cheese -- are offered, plus students may also get a salad and fruit with it, Buehrle said. Cost is $2.50 for regular days and $4 or $5 on restaurant days, depending on restaurant menu items.

Students and faculty make their way through the lunch line at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Laura Simon)

Some breakfast items such as fruit, bagels, muffins, yogurt and granola bars also are offered, Buehrle said.

"It's fresh pizza," he said. "If you get it from the state or a manufacturer, it's in a box. This is fresh. They'll deliver multiple times during that lunch hour. We're quite pleased with what we've got going on so far."

Buehrle said Notre Dame has 565 students and 65 faculty and staff members. It can serve 600, but about half that number were taking advantage until the school opted out and the percentage jumped to 75 percent.

Joan Dunning, Notre Dame food service director, said the change should reduce her paperwork overall.

"The biggest change is that you don't have to be so strict with your menus," Dunning said. "You don't have to keep track of all the sodium and calories."

Alyssa Chapman waits for students to come through the lunch line at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Laura Simon)

With the federal program, schools received commodities and could sometimes order items, but they might not get the requested quantity. Under federal guidelines, calories have to be watched and there has to be a set amount of whole grains, among other requirements. Without these, Dunning has more freedom.

"You can go back to a little more home cooking and not have to analyze it all to death, and by doing that can make it a little more tasty. You can put a little more butter or margarine in the vegetables," Dunning said.

Now, she finds, participation is up and waste is down.

"They're not throwing it in the trash like they did before," Dunning said.

Notre Dame principal Brother David Migliorino has been "toying with this for a couple of years," Buehrle said.

A student tops his chicken sandwich with pickles Sept. 4 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Laura Simon)

"I think it's wonderful. The kids are happy; parents are happy. We've gotten nothing but compliments. The whole atmosphere in the cafeteria has changed. It's like a college. The kids feel grown up and I'm very grateful to the restaurants that have come in to help," Migliorino said.

Students agree the fare is better than last year because of the options and the restaurant food.

"They really upped their game," senior Dennis Holterman said.

"I like that they have new entree options. The catering's awesome. It's a little more expensive, but it's worth it," said senior Jon Renner.

Saxony Lutheran offers Chick-fil-A on Tuesdays and Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursdays. A grab-and-go breakfast is available for students who so desire in the mornings, capped off by "chicken biscuit Friday," where Chick-fil-A provides chicken biscuits for breakfast.

The school also offers items for purchase such as chips, snack crackers and protein bars. It hasn't offered breakfast before, but has started to make muffins, cereal and Pop Tarts available.

Principal Mark Ruark said his school was only receiving federal funds for students on free and reduced-price lunch and is now self-funding those. Chick-fil-A offered menus last spring, followed by Buffalo Wild Wings.

On Chick-fil-A days, students can get an eight-piece nuggets or a regular chicken sandwich, plus a side vegetable. The Buffalo Wild Wings choice is a basket of five wings and a side item for $3.50. Breakfast chicken biscuits are $2.50.

"It seems to me, at least from my perspective, it's been pretty well received by our student body," Ruark said.

The normal school lunch is $2.50, which includes an entree and two side dishes, such as a vegetable and fruit, and a beverage. He stressed this means students aren't just living on junk food.

"We want to make sure we're serving a well-rounded, healthy, balanced meal," Ruark said. "We don't think the current federal guidelines give kids enough calories to sustain [them], especially those in extracurricular activities."

"Kids will not eat what doesn't taste good," Ruark said.

Ruark said the school wants food service to be self-sustaining, so it will look at how it's doing at Christmas. If needed, it could go back to the school lunch program.

Saxony Lutheran has 210 students enrolled and serves 180 to 190 lunches a day. Last year, the school had 186 students and served 140 to 150 lunches, or fewer depending on the menu.

This year, the numbers are more consistent, Ruark said.

Sophomore Emily Buerck, junior Ashlynn Collier, senior Josh Vogel and freshman Nathan Ruark are all enjoying the change and say it keeps them going throughout the day.

"It's pretty awesome. It's just a lot more filling," Ruark said.

Vogel appreciates the choice and noted it means less food is wasted. He added that it gives kids a little practice in figuring out what to eat since, like him, they'll soon be heading off to college.

" ... We're all athletes here. It's nice to be able to choose how much food you want, or don't want, to eat," Vogel said.

Collier said she normally brings her lunch, so she tries to plan ahead, money-wise. "As a teen, it's not like we're loaded with money," she said.

She added that the new food features are an advancement -- and a selling point for Saxony.

"It's cool to say as a small school that we offer this," she said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

265 Notre Dame Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

2004 Saxony Lane, Jackson, Mo.