How Healthy are Your Kids' Meals at the San Angelo ISD?

In the United States today, childhood obesity remains a serious problem, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 17 percent of children, aged 2-19 years, are obese. This number equals to approximately 12.7 million children and adolescents who have suffered from obesity for the past decade.

Additionally,16.4 percent of children, 2-5 years old, are overweight while 14.9 percent in the same group fall under the obese category. As for adolescent children aged 6-19, this group is 15.6 percent overweight and 15.7 percent obese, noted the CDC. This age group also ranks the 5^th highest in the U.S.

Because of these numbers, most U.S. public schools, including those in San Angelo and Tom Green County, are adopting healthy practices in their meal programs to meet federal school standards and to help in the fight against the epidemic plaguing U.S. children.

Getting the A+ Grade

When it comes to school meals, the San Angelo Independent School District not only gets a stamp of “certified healthy” on its menu, but it also meets and exceeds the standards set forth by federal regulations.

“About two years ago, we started making some big changes in our menus,” said Jamie Highsmith, public information officer for SAISD. “We’re ahead of the game.”

This change included eliminating fried foods, going to whole grains, and offering fresh fruit, which of course meets the guidelines outlined in the Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.

Because these meals “are an important source of nutrition as students consume almost half of their daily calories at schools,” federal regulations require students have access to more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and reduced-sodium foods.

Although adhering to the initiatives and dealing with the continual federal standard changes almost annually for the past four years have been complex and expensive, Child Nutrition Director Kim Carter with SAISD, said the district received a perfect score during the last audit, which happens every three years for compliance.

“We were ecstatic,” Carter said. “We work very hard to try and comply all of the time--but just to receive a perfect audit--that was phenomenal for my staff because they work so hard and try so hard for the kids that we serve.”

Doing What’s Best for the Students

Carter, who has been in the field of nutrition for 29 years and with SAISD for 21, added that she and her staff will always do what’s in the best interest of the students.

“From a nutrition standpoint, following a balanced diet and getting the appropriate nutrients can have an impact on how an individual is going to perform academically,” Carter stated. Good nutrition also determines how students perform physically, she added.

To help with performance, Carter and her staff have no problem providing students with healthy choices. Even the district’s “A La Carte” has strict guidelines with what it can offer. Thus, when Carter’s staff offers pizza to the masses, it’s not the pizza students will find at Pizza Hut or Domino's. Instead, it’s whole-grain with low-fat cheese. 

“I can’t say the choices are appealing to everyone,” Carter admitted. However, for those students who don’t like the healthy option, they elect to bring food from home or do something else. In most cases though, students are happy with the change, the Director said.

Between 2000 and 2014, the percentage of schools, including SAISD, implementing five of the nine nutrition services practices examined has increased significantly said the CDC. Officials with the CDC believe that “schools play a critical role in demonstrating and reinforcing healthy eating behaviors, and that the promoted eating habits are “particularly important because children’s eating patterns carry into adulthood.”

Overcoming the Frustration of Ever-Changing Regulations

Despite schools having implemented many changes in their menus to help with the fight against obesity, more improvement is necessary stated the CDC; therefore, new guidelines by the Federal Government to reduce sodium levels even further have many districts scrambling to find ways how to do so, which makes the process of planning a school meal both complex and frustrating at times, Carter said.

“I think that it’s important that we offer healthy meals to children; however, I think there needs to be a nutritional compromise in the regulations,” Carter suggested.

Although she confirmed that SAISD has noticed some compromise by the government, Carter said more dialogue has to take place because some school districts need some flexibility in their meal planning.

“For instance, one of the requirements right now is the all grains that we offer have to be at least 50 percent whole-grain. That’s pretty high,” Carter said. Despite this, there's an acceptability within most students’ taste palates at this level because that’s what the national dietary standards are.

“I think, however, FDA standards are pushing even beyond that. I don’t think students’ taste palates are adapted to everything being 100 percent whole grain,” Carter claimed. Especially, in cases with pasta and tortillas, the director feels that standard goes a bit overboard.

She said, “It makes it pretty challenging. I think in our district though we try to prepare our children. We started gradually phasing in some things so they could start learning the new taste. Regardless, requiring everything to be whole grain is a little excessive.”

Not only is the increase excessive, but the constant changes in the menu also get costly. Carter complained that no extra funds have been added to the coffers for school meals even though eating healthier costs more money. 

These challenges may be why many school districts outside of SAISD are sticking to the minimum standards in their meal planning.

Superintendent Walter Holik Jr with Wall Independent School District said his district chooses simply to follow the guidelines, which he views as getting stricter every year.

“For us, it’s more a regulatory thing. If you get federal dollars, you have to follow federal guidelines,” Holik noted.

Carter said she doesn’t blame Wall ISD for doing so.

“I’ve been in this business a long time,” she stated. “It’s an extremely complicated process to meet all of the requirements the feds require. It’s also a very complicated structure, and resources and expenses remain an issue.”

Changing More Than Students Can Chew

The greatest issue Carter and area schools face this current school year is the reduction in sodium levels they can offer.

“That is going to be a challenge for everyone because we were already at a very low level, and that’s another one of those compromises where I’m hoping they'll say, ‘Okay, we’ve gone far enough,’” Carter said.

If there is no room for compromise, Carter added that it will take extra time in putting combinations of items together to meet the sodium intake, and nutrition directors across Tom Green County will have to evaluate and look at new products. Although manufacturers are also doing what they have to in order to comply with new regulations, nutrition staff members will have to improvise ways to meet the standard. Not to mention, if federal regulations continue to change at this rate, nutrition directors will have more to worry about than meeting federal regulations.

On that note, Carter said, “[Adopting a healthier nutrition program] is not going to do any good if we’re feeding trash cans.”