Posted Aug 25, 2010
A new online service at Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Schools allows parents to check on what their children are eating for lunch and breakfast as part of an effort to reduce childhood obesity.
For $10 a year, parents can get a 45-day history of what their child is buying at school meals, said Robin Taylor, the schools’ child nutrition director. Currituck and Dare counties also offer the service that has been available in North Carolina for five years.
“Good nutrition is essential for learning,” Taylor said. “If parents stay involved with nutrition the way they do with grades, it benefits the child.”
Developed by Education Management Systems, a software company based in Wilmington, the program allows parents to sign in at www.lunchprepay.com to purchase meals in advance and to keep up with what their students are eating.
But junk food is hard to find on school campuses these days.
Deloris Brumsey, cafeteria manager for Northside Elementary in Pasquotank County, hands out about 300 apples a day, she said. “We offer a lot of fresh fruit,” said Brumsey, a 16-year veteran of Elizabeth City public schools.
Pizza, a school lunch favorite, now has whole grain crusts and low-fat cheese, Taylor said.
Another favorite, chicken nuggets, are baked instead of fried in a whole-grain coating.
Whole milk with its higher fat content is gone. Students have the choice between 1 percent or skim.
Even ice cream is low fat. Popular Nutty Buddy ice cream treats are not available. “We heard some complaints about that,” Brumsey said.
Nothing in elementary schools is fried anymore. Not even french fries, Taylor said. They are baked. And there’s no ability to sprinkle on extra salt. Those little packets are no longer offered.
Some foods in high school, such as french fries, are still fried. New on the menu this year are ready-made bowls of chef salad on the a la carte menu, and rotiss erie chicken is on the entree list.
Even cookies are made from whole-grain flour.
Almost half of the children ages 5 to 11 who visited public or school health centers in Pasquotank County were either over weight or obese, according to statistics from a 2008 survey provided by Albemarle Regional Health Services. The state average is 44 percent.
Child Nutrition Services, the school meal contractor for Elizabeth City schools, provides more than 5,700 meals a day in 12 schools at an annual cost of $2.5 million.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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