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  • School Lunch Program

    This has yet to make the news, so you are hearing it from me first. I am a School Foodservice Manager at a Hawaii high school and we were told by the DOE School Foodservices Branch that starting next week the Federal Goverment will be conducting audits at 40 random schools to make sure Hawaii is counting thier meals right. Because of this the feds are withholding 80% of funds to SFS to run the program. If 5 of the 40 schools fail the audit the State will not have any Fed funds for the school lunch program. Without these funds the schools will have to pay the cost of lunches. The schools cannot pass the cost on to the parents , so @ $3.00 a lunch a school serving 500 meals a day will have to pay about $1000 dollars a day for the rest of the year. This is major because only 5 schools can fail and the WHOLE State fails. This meaning the 200+ public schools ( including charters) will have to pay for the students to eat.


    Opinions please....

    BTW, in a MOCK audit conducted last week 8 schools failed.
    Last edited by alohabear; March 8, 2006, 05:14 AM.
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  • #2
    Re: School Lunch Program

    I work in the public school system and my school did go thru one of those audits last year. Fortunately we passed. One of the big issues has to do with the way lunch and breakfast systems are sold and the way federal reimbursements are made. One thing that can greatly assist with that is if all the schools get on a computerized ticket system. Unfortunately those things cost money, and since the Feds have taken money away there is no way for the uncomputerized schools to get the system unless they fund it themselves.
    I think it would be nice if the State would computerize the schools with that surplus money they talked about in the beginning of the year. I have written to Linda Lingle and the reps in our schools districts and have not heard back from them. Maybe when this news gets out to the public than something can be done.
    From what I been hearing, if the School Food Services fails the next rounds of audits the Lunch program will be shut down and private contracters such as Sodexo or Marriot are waiting to take over the program. The bad thing about that is lunches will cost much more and there will be no free and reduce program so the hunger problem in Hawaii will increase. Also people working in the school cafeteria's will lose thier jobs.



    Originally posted by alohabear
    This has yet to make the news, so you are hearing it from me first. I am a School Foodservice Manager at a Hawaii high school and we were told by the DOE School Foodservices Branch that starting next week the Federal Goverment will be conducting audits at 40 random schools to make sure Hawaii is counting thier meals right. Because of this the feds are withholding 80% of funds to SFS to run the program. If 5 of the 40 schools fail the audit the State will not have any Fed funds for the school lunch program. Without these funds the schools will have to pay the cost of lunches. The schools cannot pass the cost on to the parents , so @ $3.00 a lunch a school serving 500 meals a day will have to pay about $1000 dollars a day for the rest of the year. This is major because only 5 schools can fail and the WHOLE State fails. This meaning the 200+ public schools ( including charters) will have to pay for the students to eat.


    Opinions please....

    BTW, in a MOCK audit conducted last week 8 schools failed.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: School Lunch Program

      I think this is a good audit program. I've seen waste and abuse in public schools. One the reasons why is that when you have schools that rely on other school cafeteria's to provide both breakfasts and lunches, it's easier to just give a headcount that is the same regardless of tardy or sick students.

      Why not just get a head count? Because in these dependent schools the head count must be in by a certain time and in most cases these schools are rural in nature so school buses run late, parents must drive their kids from very long distances (40-50 miles out) and if they wake up ten minutes later they miss the bus and the head count.

      Teachers know that so to get the meals delivered on time and to the students BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS, they simply run the same headcount numbers and get those exact amounts everyday.

      Now I wouldn't say this is happening at all school cafeteria's but at my child's charter school, they are dependent on a nearby Public school's food service and their cafeteria manager gets really mad when headcounts fluctuates as he has to adjust for those minor (deviating about 10-15 meals) everyday. So by giving him the same count every day he can simply count off the require numbers and off they go. It makes his job easier but also makes him lazier too.

      What happens is that my child's charter school always has a few meals lying around with nobody to eat them. What's sad is that some of the teachers know that and after the kids have eaten their breakfasts, they simply eat them themselves on a regular basis. Some Title 1 parents know that too and ask for those extra meals for themselves as well.

      One morning the providing public school's delivery van was broken and our school was told we had to pick up meals ourselves. As I dropped off my kid, the teacher in charge of the breakfast program asked me if I could use my Astro Van to do the pickup of nearly 200 meals.

      After bringing them back to the school the teacher had this horrified look on her face. She ran up to my van and told me she forgot the K-3rd grade Elementary school grade level had left on the bus for a field trip. I told her I knew that that's why I dropped my kid off early (as indicated in the newsletter) I also told her not to worry because those students going on the field trip were also told to eat breafast at home because of the early field trip departure time.

      But what was I going to do with the leftover breakfasts sitting in the back of my minivan? Not wanting to report this horrif error on her part, she told me to eat them or "Something".

      Okay yeah maybe one or two but about a hundred? Uh uh. I ended up taking it to one of the many homeless shelters and distributed it quietly.

      Yeah that's how the school lunch program get's messed up.
      Last edited by craigwatanabe; March 8, 2006, 10:36 AM.
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      • #4
        Re: School Lunch Program

        Hunger is an interesting problem in a place where food will hit you in the head if you stand under the right tree.

        Imagine a parent, who has to get up 5 minutes earlier everyday, just to pack a lunch bag with some vittles for their child. Oh the burden !!
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        • #5
          Re: School Lunch Program

          Originally posted by craigwatanabe
          I think this is a good audit program. I've seen waste and abuse in public schools. One the reasons why is that when you have schools that rely on other school cafeteria's to provide both breakfasts and lunches, it's easier to just give a headcount that is the same regardless of tardy or sick students.

          Why not just get a head count? Because in these dependent schools the head count must be in by a certain time and in most cases these schools are rural in nature so school buses run late, parents must drive their kids from very long distances (40-50 miles out) and if they wake up ten minutes later they miss the bus and the head count.

          Teachers know that so to get the meals delivered on time and to the students BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS, they simply run the same headcount numbers and get those exact amounts everyday.

          Now I wouldn't say this is happening at all school cafeteria's but at my child's charter school, they are dependent on a nearby Public school's food service and their cafeteria manager gets really mad when headcounts fluctuates as he has to adjust for those minor (deviating about 10-15 meals) everyday. So by giving him the same count every day he can simply count off the require numbers and off they go. It makes his job easier but also makes him lazier too.

          What happens is that my child's charter school always has a few meals lying around with nobody to eat them. What's sad is that some of the teachers know that and after the kids have eaten their breakfasts, they simply eat them themselves on a regular basis. Some Title 1 parents know that too and ask for those extra meals for themselves as well.

          One morning the providing public school's delivery van was broken and our school was told we had to pick up meals ourselves. As I dropped off my kid, the teacher in charge of the breakfast program asked me if I could use my Astro Van to do the pickup of nearly 200 meals.

          After bringing them back to the school the teacher had this horrified look on her face. She ran up to my van and told me she forgot the K-3rd grade Elementary school grade level had left on the bus for a field trip. I told her I knew that that's why I dropped my kid off early (as indicated in the newsletter) I also told her not to worry because those students going on the field trip were also told to eat breafast at home because of the early field trip departure time.

          But what was I going to do with the leftover breakfasts sitting in the back of my minivan? Not wanting to report this horrif error on her part, she told me to eat them or "Something".

          Okay yeah maybe one or two but about a hundred? Uh uh. I ended up taking it to one of the many homeless shelters and distributed it quietly.

          Yeah that's how the school lunch program get's messed up.
          Now imagine Craig... if the school lunch program fails this audit, can your child's charter school survive with a cost of having to pay the State for thier lunches and breakfasts? 200 lunches @ $3 a day ...this is how major this audit is.
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          • #6
            Re: School Lunch Program

            Originally posted by alohabear
            This has yet to make the news, so you are hearing it from me first.
            I remember seeing a story on the federal sanction on the school lunch program last year on KHON. Apparently an audit last summer was what first revealed the scope of the accounting problems, and now they're coming back to check on our progress. Doesn't sound like we've made much.

            I've heard about the extra lunch problem myself (via jokes about teachers netting stacks of school lunch plates). I guess knowing exactly how many kids will take lunch is impossible, but I can also see how lax tracking can lead to a Day 1 headcount being used for the whole year -- even after 100 kids have left, transferred out, or settled on home lunches.

            What I want to know is, if it's common to see a dozen or more extra lunches at the end of an average day at an average school, how can we still force some kids to eat a "minimal lunch"? Especially if "minimal lunch" penalties are as rare as they say they are?

            I agree that parents need to pay their fare share, and there should be penalties for not doing so. But it always boggled my mind that if the parent was the deadbeat (and let's also say, just for fun, that the home is probably also not the most secure or enriching environment as well), that the person who suffers -- in an environment that might very well be their only safe haven -- is the kid.

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            • #7
              Re: School Lunch Program

              I talked to my wife today a little bit about this audit. She works at a primary school in Mililani. Her take is that there are just too many variables and unknowns to make an accurate assessment. What do the feds consider accurate or a passing grade?

              Also, removing funding all together is going to leave free lunch programs in a lurch. Wife told me that for many of these kids, the school meals are all they get. Many miss breakfast, so lunch is the only meal for the day. Kinda sad, but hard to believe that the feds and state would forsake these children.

              Keep us updated.

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              • #8
                Re: School Lunch Program

                Originally posted by pzarquon
                I remember seeing a story on the federal sanction on the school lunch program last year on KHON. Apparently an audit last summer was what first revealed the scope of the accounting problems, and now they're coming back to check on our progress. Doesn't sound like we've made much.

                I've heard about the extra lunch problem myself (via jokes about teachers netting stacks of school lunch plates). I guess knowing exactly how many kids will take lunch is impossible, but I can also see how lax tracking can lead to a Day 1 headcount being used for the whole year -- even after 100 kids have left, transferred out, or settled on home lunches.

                What I want to know is, if it's common to see a dozen or more extra lunches at the end of an average day at an average school, how can we still force some kids to eat a "minimal lunch"? Especially if "minimal lunch" penalties are as rare as they say they are?

                I agree that parents need to pay their fare share, and there should be penalties for not doing so. But it always boggled my mind that if the parent was the deadbeat (and let's also say, just for fun, that the home is probably also not the most secure or enriching environment as well), that the person who suffers -- in an environment that might very well be their only safe haven -- is the kid.
                It is possible. Here in the UK, as soon as we take the attendance register, we also take the lunch register. It only takes 2 minutes to do this and we know exactly how many children are taking the school dinners and how many children are having packed lunches. We then forward the information to admin who will calculate how many children in the whole school will have school dinner/hot meal each day. We have our own staff who actually prepare the meal and run the school dinner, so, no food is wasted. In the event of miscalculations, because the food is prepared on site, adjustments are easily done.

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                • #9
                  Re: School Lunch Program

                  Your wife is correct about the school breakfasts and lunches being the kid's only meals. Out here on the Big Island especially in the Puna district there are many Title One families and typically most of these families can't afford three meals a day, let alone two (breakfast and dinner) so they rely on getting their kids fed thru the school lunch program for breakfast and lunch.

                  Why is there a breakfast program? Simply because everyone knows that the most important meal of the day is breakfast. And when you don't start your day off by nourishing your body, you tend not to be able to learn as well as your peers. Educators understand that a good breakfast is as important to education as school itself. The problem lies with those impoverished families that cannot afford to feed their families that most important meal.

                  And your wife is correct again that it's really difficult to get an accurate head count everyday. Once again out in the rural areas where students wait along gravel roads at 5:30 in the morning for their school bus and they have to walk almost a mile just to get to the pick up point in the dark. In most cases parents drive and wait with their kids in their cars for the bus to arrive.

                  But in some instances there are families where they're so poor that when their car breaks down it could be months before they can afford the repairs so the parents walk with their child to the pick up point and with our current weather, it's in the dark and in the cold rain. That's the rural aspect of going to school here in the boonies.

                  It's those times when parents will walk the mile with their kids only to see the bus leaving the area before they can get to it. Then they have to walk back and call for a ride. That's when the kid misses their breakfast and a teacher eats it only to find out the child arrived just in time for the morning bell with no food in their belly thinking their breakfast would be waiting for them.

                  I've actually had to pick up these kids from nearby families that will call me if their child misses the bus. And usually when I get the call, I either make a grilled cheese sandwich or take them to McDonalds for a $1 sausage McMuffin then take them to their respective schools because I know their kid will miss the morning breakfast. It's really sad out here.

                  But as for failing an audit, it's not the small head counts that will kill the program, it's the outright rubberstamping of hundreds of lunches everyday that either go uneaten or distributed otherwise that will hurt schools like my child's one.
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                  • #10
                    Re: School Lunch Program

                    Originally posted by Da Rolling Eye
                    I talked to my wife today a little bit about this audit. She works at a primary school in Mililani. Her take is that there are just too many variables and unknowns to make an accurate assessment. What do the feds consider accurate or a passing grade?

                    Also, removing funding all together is going to leave free lunch programs in a lurch. Wife told me that for many of these kids, the school meals are all they get. Many miss breakfast, so lunch is the only meal for the day. Kinda sad, but hard to believe that the feds and state would forsake these children.

                    Keep us updated.
                    We were told in a recent teleconference that the cost cannot be passed on to the parents, so free and reduced kids will still be so. The school will have to pay the difference out of thier budgets( this is @ a cost of $3 a meal) this could mean cutting positions or programs to ALL students. 40 schools are being audited, only 4 can fail. 5 fail and the WHOLE State fails.
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                    • #11
                      Re: School Lunch Program

                      Lunch at Kalaheo was only a dollar, I thought that was pretty good for the food they were providiing.

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                      • #12
                        Re: School Lunch Program

                        you gotta wonder if the schools are not hurting themselves many of the schools have the meals made in a centeral kitchen and then sent out.but to cook that many meals they have to start well before any child steps into a class.... when I was going to school we had a full cafeteria staff (3 ladies) and it was the jobs of the 5th and 6th grade kids to rotate thru the cafeteria to help serve the food. (that was the fun part cause you got to leave class an 1/2 hour before lunch to go help) we also helped to clean the cafeteria and wash lunch trays. lunch was prepped on site. they used the attendence records from the morning to determine how much but they never ran out. you also didnt have a choice of foods there was a main dish, a veggie, a roll of some type, and fruit, served with milk if you were lactose intolerent you got juice. and thats it if you didnt like what was on the lunch menu you asked mom to make you a lunch. my kids school has usually 2 choices of food and at times a 3rd... how much is wasted beacuse they try to send enough of everything to satisfy the kids choices? GAHHH it makes me nuts.
                        lets see 5th and 6th graders also rotated thru the office to help file or stuff envelopes even answer the phones. they also were used as school crossing guards (JPO's) with whistles and the power to give student detention.
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                        • #13
                          Re: School Lunch Program

                          You want to know what waste is? Try going to any public elementary school during the lunch hour. I was appalled when I saw the kids throwing out their uneaten lunches. Sometimes not eating at all. But the most eye-popping thing I saw was unopened milk cartons being dumped into the garbage can. I saw at least one 55-gallon drum full of unused milk thrown out. I asked the cafeteria manager why this could happen. She just said this happens everyday and really there's nothing they can do about it. Once distributed to a child the carton cannot be taken back for redistribution to another child.

                          So I ask why not make serving the milk as an option? She replied that they are required to serve a balanced meal and milk is one of those in the food pyramid. My goodness not only the milk but the main course, salad and fruit cups being tossed out and the kids end up eating nothing or whatever snacks they brought with them for A+ later in the day. Now they have nothing for their afternoon after school snack.

                          When I saw that was about the same time the A+ Programs were being trimmed back and no snacks or drinks were to be provided by the State. Our PTSA had to fundraise and budget to provide snacks and drinks to those A+ students at Hokulani Elementary School. I was wondering why these kids were devouring their subsidized snacks, they ate it at lunch instead of their subsidized lunches. And if they didn't get their breakfast at home or at school and missed their lunch, by late afternoon when parents pick up their kids at A+, these kids are starving! No wonder school grades arent making their marks.

                          When I was a kid back in the 60's we had one teacher act as a food monitor making sure we ate our salads and at least half of our lunch if not all (depending on who was the monitor that day). Now you get a choice of lunches and white or chocolate milk! My how times have changed.
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                          • #14
                            Re: School Lunch Program

                            If the school lunch program is such a big mess perhaps it should be done away with completely. A private food service company like Mariot could be contracted to take over. Companies are supposed to be much more efficient. The downside is that all the cafeteria workers and managers employed by the state will have to layed off. But this is not supposed to be a way to employ people but to give nutritious meals to school kids.

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                            • #15
                              Re: School Lunch Program

                              Originally posted by craigwatanabe
                              When I was a kid back in the 60's we had one teacher act as a food monitor making sure we ate our salads and at least half of our lunch if not all (depending on who was the monitor that day). Now you get a choice of lunches and white or chocolate milk! My how times have changed.
                              we had cafeteria monitor too an if you wanted to go out for recess fast everyone had to eat at least half their lunch or you sat an waited for the straglers to eat harassing them the whole time now that was good peer presure...
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