Schools

No More Mystery Meat

The Darien Public School District's lunch program serves up top-notch fare to students.

Gone are the days of mystery meat, soggy pizza and mushy peas. School lunches have never approached haute cuisine, but the Darien Public School District's lunch program may be healthier and tastier than ever.

As students hit school cafeteria lunch lines this fall, members of Congress begin work on the re-authorization of the Child Nutrtition Act, legislation that governs federal nutrition programs, and the school service community will debate its importance. In Darien, serving up healthy fare has been a top priority for years, said Director of Food Services Deborah Bossie, and this year may be its healthiest yet.

The Darien Public School lunch program is run by a proprietary fund, which means that while the town does not financially support the program, it operates efficiently through government subsidies and revenue generated from servicing school lunches, said Bossie.

"We pay our own wages, benefits, equipment and bills. Every cost we have we cover," said Bossie, who has overseen Darien’s food services for over ten years.

Keeping costs down and quality up is the biggest challenge that the program faces. Organic ingredients and environmentally friendly lunch trays cost Bossie twice as much; but don’t expect bologna or styrofoam to make its way back into the cafeteria anytime soon. Bossie says she is committed to providing the highest quality lunch program she can afford.

“The better the food, the more popular it is," said Bossie. "As a mother of seven, I’ve had a lot of experience getting low-cost, healthy meals on the table."

All five Darien elementary schools participate in the National School Lunch Program, which provides Bossie with fresh, high-quality ingredients, subsidized by the government. The program is very restrictive, though. School meals must meet the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," which have strict recommendations on the number of calories from fat and the percentages of vitamins and minerals that each meal should provide.

Preparing a school lunch under these guidelines is fine for elementary school children who don’t eat very much, but not ideal for the older students who have bigger appetites and a more sophisticated palate, said Bossie.

That’s not to say the meals at Middlesex Middle School and Darien High School aren’t healthy. In fact, opting-out of the national program allows Bossie more flexibility in terms of what she can offer, which in turn generates more revenue for higher quality food. The deli at the high school cafeteria, for example, allows students to buy made-to-order sandwiches with organic Boars Head deli meats.

“We pay top dollar to serve top-notch organic lunches,” said Bossie. “ It’s healthy, and it’s what the kids want.”

Nutrition education is part of the physical education and science classes in the elementary schools, but unlike many school districts where students struggle with obesity and related-health issues, Darien children generally come to school with an understanding of what healthy eating is, said Bossie.

Walk through the Darien school cafeterias and you'll see all sorts of healthy fare, but you won't see much junk. The Connecticut State Beverage Act was signed into law four years ago, banning caffeine from school cafeterias. Bossie has implemented some of her own rules, too. She got rid of the deep-fryers in the elementary and middle schools, and refuses to sell any product made with artificial sweetners.

Bossie says she tries to pack a nutritional punch into every meal, and she ups the ante every year. She introduced whole wheat bread into the schools eight years ago, and substitutes lean ground turkey for beef whenever possible. This year, Bossie is on a whole grain mission.

 “I want to see the little ones lining up for brown rice,” said Bossie. “I’ll see a drop in sales for a bit, but once they get used to it, they’ll be asking for seconds.”

Bossie says that students at MMS and DHS who make their own selections can buy a complete meal for about $5. Hot lunch at the elementary schools is $2.65. Those students who need financial assistance are absorbed by the program and offered a five-point meal made up of a grain, a protein, a fruit, a vegetable, and a milk—on the house.

It's her love of children, her passion for cooking and her appreciation of a hearty, home-cooked meal that Bossie says has prepared her for the job and motivates her to continually raise the bar for the Darien lunch program.

“My children are all grown up,” she said. “The program is my baby now.”


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