Board Member Bonita Lucky Experiences Lunch

School board member Bonita Lucky had lunch with Sunset Hill fourth graders on February 21. The lunch period was from 11:25-11:45. However, this time included putting down their coats at their table, standing in line, and settling in to start eating. This is followed by the time needed to throw away their school lunches or pack up their home lunches, and get back to the classroom.

The students started coming inside from recess at 11:23—they took off their coats at their table and immediately got into line. They wore snow pants during lunch. Hand sanitizer stations were available, but many students did not use them.

Lunch was either chicken nuggets or cheesy bread and a dipping sauce, with vegetable options of Brussels sprouts (a new item), carrots and cucumbers. Fresh kiwi or packaged peaches were the fruit options. The bento box was peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The kids could choose from chocolate or regular milk, as it was a Friday. The culinary staff was very efficient serving the kids the chicken nuggets, cheesy bread, sauce, and Brussels spouts from two lines.

Bonita and her lunchmates got back to their table at 11:33 to start eating. Bonita talked with several fourth grade students about what changes they would like to see with school lunch. Ideas from the students included: giving them more time to sit down to eat, adding a salad bar, more vegetarian options, and more healthier choices. The kids also commented how certain foods like the personal pan pizza don’t do well after they're transferred over by a truck from the prep kitchen. Bonita said she read the Healthy Food + Healthy Habits for Wayzata Schools' report and thanked her lunchmate for inviting her come.

At 11:43, the students had to start packing up or throwing away their lunches. Bonita did not finish her lunch in those 10 minutes. She said the experience was “eye opening." One student had to eat so quickly to finish her lunch, practically shoving food in her mouth, and another student was only halfway through and had to toss the rest. Bonita and her lunchmate's mother also talked about how time is especially important for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch who depend on these meals for their main daily nutrition. The picture shown is the food left on one student’s tray.

Bonita was our last guest at the schools. We want to thank Bonita, Chace, Cheryl, Andrea, Sarah, and Linda for taking the time to connect with students to experience firsthand a lunch time at the elementary schools. We’re waiting to hear from Chace and the school board about when they plan to discuss their lunch time observations and their actions moving forward.

Board Member Andrea Cuene Experiences Lunch

School board chair Andrea Cuene warmly received her invitation to lunch in December at Sunset Hill. Andrea's invitation had been drawn with a hamburger on the front, and ironically, hamburgers were on the menu the day she visited. Andrea's lunchmate was a 4th grade girl, who took her through the lunch line with her friends. Andrea selected a burger while her lunchmate brought home lunch, as did most of her friends, except one, who had the black bean burger.

Andrea asked the girls what meals they liked the best, and they shared how much they liked the recent Around the World Wednesday additions of chana masala, breaded tofu bites and lo mein. They lobbied her for a salad bar.

Andrea enjoyed her burger and the fresh pineapple that was served as a side and was wonderfully engaged with the kids. She was able to finish her meal, though not all the kids were.

After lunch, she said she thought the district should review the decision to take the high school off the federal school meal program. She said she felt there were good reasons for doing it at the time the decision was made, but for better or worse, federal policies have changed, and it’s time to take a look at that decision.

She sent a really nice thank you note to her lunchmate.

Board Member Sarah Johansen Experiences Lunch

School board member Sarah Johansen visited Kimberly Lane on January 8 and met up with a 5th grader and her mother for lunch.

Sarah's lunchmate was one of the first students in from recess and to get a meal, due to assigned table washing duties. The student did not have the opportunity to wash hands or receive hand sanitizer. Sarah and her lunchmates sat down to eat at 12:41, with the last student receiving their meal at 12:47, sitting down at 12:50. Some of the students reported the lunch paras had come around with hand sanitizer before they received their meals, but noted that rarely happens.

Lunch consisted of cheeseburgers, jojo potatoes, salad (dressed, with red peppers, grape tomatoes and croutons), fresh pineapple, sliced grapefruit, carrots, snap peas, and bananas. Most students were able to finish their lunch, although plenty of carrots went into the garbage.

Paras came to their table at 12:55 and turned over a card that indicated it was time to start cleaning up. Sarah's lunchmate needed to stop eating due to table cleaning duties, handing unfinished fruit to mom in hopes of bringing it back to class to finish. After cleaning the tables, Sarah's lunchmate came to get her winter gear and fruit. It was hard to hold everything and the fruit dropped to the floor. There were no offers to replace the fruit, nor was there any food left to offer as it was the last lunch of the day.

Paras walked through the cafeteria gathering unopened milk. The milk along with sealed snacks are sent to the Kimberly Lane office and used as extras for hungry students or for those who may need calming.

Sarah said lunch time was a balance as more time might allow kids to get rowdy.

Board Member Cheryl Polzin Experiences Lunch

School board member Cheryl Polzin visited Kimberly Lane on January 6. Cheryl helped carry the basket with home lunches and water bottles, learning that students rotate in this role. The basket was dropped off by the cafeteria and then the 2nd graders went to recess.

After recess the students lined up to enter the building for lunch. Cheryl met up with one of the students and her mother. There are four 2nd grade classes, and the quietest class was selected that day to go in first, which happened to be the class of Cheryl's lunchmate. Cheryl was approached by another 2nd grader who said they needed more lunch time and that only about 60% of their food is eaten.

As they arrived to the lunch room, Cheryl began to hang her coat on the hangers outside the cafeteria but noticed no one else was doing so. She kept her coat on and then sat on it once seated as everyone else did.

A para was offering hand sanitizer to the students, which normally does not happen. Not every child received hand sanitizer, and neither did Cheryl.

Lunch was served very quickly, with the last student receiving their meal 8 minutes after the lunch period started. Most students finished their main course (pancakes or omelet), but many veggies were discarded. Cheryl finished her meal. With two minutes left in the lunch period, students were told to line up. A student was assigned as table wiper.

Board Member Linda Cohen Experiences Lunch

School board member Linda Cohen visited Greenwood on January 2. It was a cold, windy day but she took the time to watch the full recess, and then met up with a 5th grader and her mother for lunch.

As the students entered the lunch room, none of the students were seen using the available hand sanitizer. 5th grade lunch begins at 1:05, and Linda and her lunchmates were at the last table to get in line at 1:10. At Greenwood, students leave their snowpants on and sit on their coats, hats, and mittens. Linda sat on her coat as well.

Linda and her lunchmates sat down to eat at 1:15. Lunch that day was chicken fingers, smiley fries, a whole grain dinner roll, and either apple slices or peas, which were cold and hard.

The students at the table talked about fruit and veggie requirements. They said they have to take either a fruit or a veggie, even if they don't want it or don't plan to eat it. If they don't eat it, they throw it away, but salvageable items can be donated: unopened milk, unopened applesauce containers, etc. Linda was very concerned about the food waste aspect.

At 1:20 the lights were turned off, giving the students a 5 minute warning. They could still talk, but the dimmed lights meant they needed to finish up. Teachers started arriving just before 1:25 and students were dismissed to compost and line up right at 1:25. The table Linda was at ended up with less than 10 minutes to eat. Lunch paras cleaned the tables. None of the students at the table had empty lunch trays, and Linda did not finish her meal either.

Linda shared with the attending parent that the experience was very informative and eye opening, and that the two issues that stood out to her most were the time to eat and the food waste. She said she would bring it up again at the next board meeting and would like to figure out how to add even 5 more minutes of lunch time into the schedule.

Superintendent Anderson Experiences Lunch

Superintendent Chace Anderson visited Sunset Hill Elementary on December 20. He came before lunch to observe recess, and then sat down for lunch with a group of 4th grade girls.

As the students entered the lunch room, none of the students were offered hand sanitizer nor was it available. Dr. Anderson hung his coat up outside the cafeteria area and then came back in to sit down. 4th grade lunch begins at 11:25. Dr. Anderson was one of the last to get lunch and sat down at 11:35.

Lunch that day was homemade turkey gravy, fresh carrot sticks, fresh fruit choices, and an apple pie cup.

Dr. Anderson engaged with the girls and asked them about their favorite and least favorite meals. One of the girls said that the lunch being served was one of their favorites. He asked them what they would change if they could change anything about their lunch experience. One girl mentioned she would like to see a salad bar. They also all agreed that eating in their snow gear was not ideal. Many said they need more time.

4th grade lunch ends at 11:45. None of the students at the table had empty lunch trays. A child sitting alone by himself to his right was eating the entire time, and as the notice was given for lunch to be over, he shoved food into his pockets and was eating his sandwich as he walked to the garbage to throw the food he couldn’t bring with him away.

Mr. Anderson did not finish his lunch and he remained in the lunch room for an additional 8 minutes, as the next round of children came in from recess to begin eating.

After he was done eating, Dr. Anderson asked if the 20 minutes the children have starts at the time they enter the room. This was confirmed (this fact is also in our report we submitted to the board last September). It was mentioned to him that Eden Prairie recently passed a referendum that increased the amount of ‘sit’ time, meaning that the children get 20 minutes to eat beginning by the time the kids sit down to get up and he was encouraged to consider this for Wayzata.

What Happens to Leftover Cafeteria Food?

This was a question posed by one of our Facebook group members.  We went to Michelle Sagedahl, Culinary Express Director for the answer:

"To start this is an area that I would like to take a deeper dive into with our district and make sure we are streamlined across all kitchens, but have not had the opportunity to take that deep dive yet.

For food that we serve from our kitchens we save everything we are able to. Many items can be cooled, frozen, and reheated. Fruits and vegetables we reuse what we are able to. There are some items that just do not freeze and reheat well, like pizza. In this scenario, we work with kitchens to batch cook and keep an eye on numbers as they go along.

Unfortunately, at this time the entree food items that go to the satellites (Sunset Hill, Birchview, Greenwood) is not saved. They save anything they can as far as Bento Boxes, fruits and vegetables go. This is another area on the list to take a closer look at as it is possible to save some entree items and does involve updating our current HACCP plan.

All cafeterias have some sort of share table/station concept. However, this is an area I would like to streamline and improve. At this time, we are looking into purchasing carts like these for cafeterias. Some cafeteria utilize their composting area for the share table and would like to provide a separate area for this.

Any food that we might have that won't hold over a long break, we do try and donate to a food bank. Recently, IOCP does not take produce/perishable items so the next closest food bank would the The Food Group in New Hope. I am also looking into utilizing an app called Meal Connect. You enter any food into this app and then Second Harvest Heartland comes and picks it up for you."

Do you have a question?  Please submit it and we'll work to get an answer for you!

January and February Menu Highlights

A few highlights from the January and February Elementary menus:

- Several items previously containing concerning ingredients have been improved: Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Tenders, and Lo Mein
- The Chicken Noodle Soup has been updated with the new organic soup base
- A new Spanish Rice recipe with the new organic soup base
- Last year's Chili is back on the menu
- A new "Meatless Monday" designation
- The Black Bean Burger patty will be supplied by a new supplier, providing a cleaner ingredient list.  (The item is still marked red on the menu due to the bun)

The number of entrees with concerning ingredients fell quite a bit in January but rebounded a bit in February.  Still better than a year ago.

Elementary Menus Improving Incrementally

This is what the old Turkey Gravy ingredient list looked like. It now includes Minnesota-grown Ferndale Farms turkey, a new soup base and soon, the bleached flour will be gone!

And here is the comparison between the old Chicken Noodle Soup and the new soup's ingredient list:

And the old Black Bean Burger patty along with the new version.

A big thank you to the new Culinary Express Director, Michelle Sagedahl for making these improvements!

Wayzata High School Vending Machines

These vending machines are in the high school cafeteria and are on all day, including during lunch.