Four School Districts, Three Different Food Service Programs

This is the fifth and final installment of Woodridge Patch's "What's for Lunch" series. of District 68's school lunch program, see how District 68's food and hear from and in our previous installments. 

Ask school districts near how they handle their school lunch programs, and you’ll get different answers. 

Valley View School District 365U in Romeoville prepares all of its food on-site in school kitchens, employing district employees to do so. 

Community High School District 99 and Center Cass District 66 outsource their food service to Aramark, whose employees prepare food in the schools’ kitchens and serve the food to students.

Darien School District 61 has a split system. The district uses Preferred Meal Systems for its elementary schools and has a scratch kitchen at Eisenhower, where district employees prepare and serve food for students in the school’s kitchen.

Below is more information on how local districts are handling their food service programs.

Student Population: 18,000

Towns served: Bolingbrook, Romeoville and portions of Plainfield, Lockport, and Downers Grove

The following menus are for the Thursday of week one in the school's food rotation cycle. 

Elementary Menu: Soft shell tacos with cheese, shredded lettuce and salsa; or Julienne salad with a dinner roll; each with whole kernel corn, fresh vegetable selection, fresh or chilled fruit (Full menu)

Middle School Menu: Cheese pizza sticks, grilled chicken sandwich, nachos el grande, turkey gritter, cheeseburger, PBJ Uncrustable, yogurt lunch, vegetarian wrap or turkey/ham wrap, assorted deli sandwich, breaded chicken salad (Full menu)

High School Menu: Spicy chicken sticks with ranch dip, grilled chicken sandwich, bosco cheese sticks with marinara sauce, Rib BQ on a bun, corn dog, Big Daddy Pizza, PBJ Uncrustable, yogurt lunch, vegetarian wrap or Caesar wrap, assorted deluxe deli or vegetarian sandwiches, chicken Caesar salad (Full menu)

Price: $1.50 elementary, middle school (depending on the meal choice) $1.75/$2/$2.25, high school (depending on the meal choice) $1.75, $2, $2.25, $2.50 

The Valley View School District has 20 schools and 18 school kitchens. The two schools without a kitchen share one. Breakfast and lunch are prepared daily on-site by district staff.

 “We operate independently,” said Sharon Nichols, director of food services for the district. “We’re not farmed out to a food service management company.”

Nichols said operating independently makes a difference.

“The quality of our program is better,” Nichols said. “Any of the profits that our program generates goes into the program, so we have good wages for our employees, excellent food for the students. Our kitchen has great equipment. There’s no middle.” 

The district offers two entrée choices for elementary school, 10 options for middle school and 11 entrée choices for high school. 

Nichols said that middle and high school students can choose up to four servings of fruit and vegetables per day. They can choose from carrots, celery, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, pears and bananas. The district also receives canned fruit from the government.

In addition to breakfast served at the school, the district has grab-and-go kiosks for breakfast in the hallways of its schools, which offer foods like breakfast pizza, hot pockets, waffles, yogurt and graham crackers, pizza fingers, French toast and Bosco sticks.

Nichols said the district also received a fruit and vegetable grant from the USDA that provides for fruit and vegetable snacks. These snacks are offered outside of breakfast and lunch and has to be fresh. Mangos and papaya are some of the fruits offered, she said.

Student Population: 1,700

Towns Served: Darien, Downers Grove, Willowbrook and Westmont

Junior High Menu for Thursday, May 5: Hot sliced turkey or cheeseburger with French fries or applesauce, milk and assorted desserts (Full menu)

Elementary School Menu for Thursday: Cheese pizza dippers, marinara dipping sauce, fresh grape tomatoes, mixed fruit cup (Full menu)

Price: $2.75 for elementary, $3.00 for junior high

District 61 employs two different food service methods.

The two elementary schools use Preferred Meal Systems, which provides pre-made meals that are heated up and served to students. 

At the district’s junior high school, the meals are cooked daily by district employees in the school’s scratch kitchen. Two entrees are offered each day for students. The school also offers a daily salad bar.

Food Service Director Mary Ann Mangiaguerra said the meals district employees prepare are comparable to those delivered by Preferred Meals Systems.

“Honestly, the meals are of the exact same quality. The appearance is different,” Mangiaguerra said.

But the kids love the meals from the scratch kitchen because they aren't served in little boxes, she said.

“(With food from Preferred Meals Systems,) the cheeseburgers are in a box, the green beans are in a box, the fruit is in a box,” Mangiaguerra said. 

“Whereas here, the girls (working in the Eisenhower kitchen) are actually dishing out rotini and putting the spaghetti sauce on top of it. It’s more like high school.”

There are also more options with a scratch kitchen, Mangiaguerra said.

“My girls here, because we have a scratch kitchen, can make homemade spaghetti sauce,” Mangiaguerra said. “They can bake their bread homemade here. We can do a lot more with a scratch kitchen.”

Mangiaguerra orders ingredients from Fox River Foods. The district also receives government commodities like ground beef, canned fruits and vegetables and burgers.

District 61's junior high started offering a daily salad bar this school year. It includes diced chicken, ham, tuna, broccoli, sesame seeds, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, potato salad, fruit, kidney beans, spinach, shredded carrots, garbonzo beans and cottage cheese.

“We switch it up so the kids don’t get bored with it,” she said. 

Student Population: 1,200

Towns served: Darien, Woodridge, Downers Grove

Jr. High Menu for Thursday: Beef ravioli with meat sauce, carrots, pears, milk (Full menu)

Elementary school menu for Thursday: Soft shell tacos or hamburger on a bun with baked beans, pears and milk (Full menu)

Price: $2.50

Center Cass School District 66 outsources its food service program to Aramark, which prepares lunches at the school’s elementary school and administrative center, That food is then delivered to and .

“They make the menu up,” said Joann Blaze, secretary to superintendent of schools. “They do the hiring for their people. It’s a complete outsource.”

Blaze said the district has used Aramark for its food service for the past eight years. “We’re happy with them,” she said.

The district menu shows one entrée offered per day. These entrees are offered daily with fresh apples or oranges.

For the elementary schools, kids can also purchase Tony’s cheese pizza, a chicken patty sandwich or use the school’s salad bar a la carte. 

A la carte items for Lakeview Jr. High are also offered and include hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken patty sandwiches, homemade pizza, deli sandwiches and salads.

Menu for Thursday: Baked pasta, corn, chicken poppers (North), taco/nacho bar (South), sizzlin’ salad (South) (Full menu)

Price: $2/$2.25

Like District 66, District 99 outsources its food service to Aramark. The district has used Aramark for its food service since 1999.

Students have several options for lunch. They can purchase a la carte items for lunch such as a hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, deli sandwich, pizza or entrée salad. Sides include tossed salad, fresh or canned fruit, juice, baby carrots, veggie of the day or grain items.

There are also separate stations at North and South High School that offer specific kinds of food. These stations vary depending on the day. One station serves pizza. Another makes deli sandwiches. There’s a sizzling salad bar, a taco bar and a pasta bar.