What's for Lunch? What Parents Said About Food in District 68's Cafeterias

This is the fourth edition of a five-part series about cafeteria food in District 68.

To Diane Moca, the mother of two at , the food served in the school’s cafeteria constitutes “carnival food.”

“They’re things that they know kids will eat,” Moca said. “But I don’t necessarily consider them healthy choices.”

She said she prefers to pack lunches for her kids, but her kids don’t eat them.

“My kids are picky and if I pack a lunch for them, they don’t eat it,” she said. “They complain that the strawberries are mushy or the sandwich isn’t fresh.”

So her kids eat lunch at school every day.

Moca said she understands that the school’s lunch program is typical of other districts. But she doesn’t want District 68 to be typical.

“I don’t want us to be followers,” she said. “I want us to be leaders and take a stand and be more healthy than other school districts. I think there are ways that that can be done.”

Woodridge Patch talked with seven District 68 parents about the district’s school lunch program. Many echoed Moca’s concerns. While parents said they understood the district was restricted by its budget, they wanted to see more fresh items and fewer processed foods on the menu.

The food

Kelly Richardson has three children who have gone through District 68. One is at Downers Grove South, one is at and one is at

She said they occasionally eat at school, but they more often bring a lunch.

“They are not fond of the hot lunch,” Richardson said. “I feel that it’s very poor quality. Sometimes it’s undercooked. It’s even frozen. On two occasions there was what appeared to be mold on my daughter’s food.”

Other parents also reported food being overcooked and sometimes burned.

Another complaint: the over-processed, heavy nature of the food.

Wendy Ley, whose has two children who go to William F. Murphy Elementary School and two at Jefferson Jr. High School, said her kids only eat at school in emergencies, like if they forget their lunch.

“It’s just so terribly over-processed,” she said. “I certainly wouldn’t eat it…There’s not enough fresh anything."

Lorie Barber, whose third-grader at John L. Sipley Elementary School, would want to see lighter options in the cafeteria.

“I like that they will occasionally have an apple or a pack of carrots,” Barber said. “But in my opinion it gets canceled out from other greasy, heavy fat-ladened courses.”

Kris Miller, who has two children at Willow Creek Elementary School, said she thinks it’s okay that her kids eat at school sometimes, but only because her kids eat healthy when they’re at home.

“They have a healthy diet at home, so I feel if they eat at school a few times it’s okay,” Miller said. “If this was their only food source, I wouldn’t think that.”

Fruits and vegetables

A big request from parents was to add a salad bar to the school lunches. Jefferson Jr. High offers a salad bar to the students on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but there is no salad bar offered at the elementary schools.

Barber said she wanted to see more color in the students’ lunches, and especially in the salads that are offered as a side dish.

“If they’re just using iceberg lettuce, that pretty much has no nutritional value,” she said.

Each day, District 68 lunches come with a fruit or vegetable side dish, from apples and bananas to cinnamon apples, a pear cup or an orange juice bar. But students don’t have to take those sides if they don’t want to.

“That’s the one thing I don’t like,” Miller said. “They don’t even have to pick the salad or the corn.”

This issue also concerns Mary Kennedy, whose fourth-grader goes to Willow Creek.

“At our home, if you have food in front of you, you need to eat it,” she said. “If she doesn’t take it she won’t even try (the food), so that won’t even be a possibility.”

Miller said she realized making students take healthier foods might lead to kids just throwing the food out. But Moca said that if kids are hungry, they will eat healthier foods put in front of them.

“I feel if kids are hungry and the only choices are healthy choices, they’ll eat what’s there if they’re hungry,” she said.

Barber said in Marquardt District 15, the district where she teaches, there is a daily fruit and vegetable program. Every student gets to choose a fruit or vegetable as a snack. There’s a lot of variety for the students, as well.

“We had a farmers market where the students could go and pick out what they wanted,” Barber said. “They brought a melon cart by where they get cantaloupe and watermelon and honeydew. It’s fantastic. I’ve seen everything under the sun."

Priorities

Parents said they understood the school was restricted by its budget, the size of its kitchens and its staff. But Moca said improving the school lunch program is possible. It’s just a matter of priorities.

“They found the money for the SMART boards,” she said. “I completely 100% love the smart boards. But you can teach science without a SMART board. They were doing it forever.

“Without healthy choices for them during the lunch day, they’re not going to have proper nutrition they need to keep them going and keep them focused.”

Parents also said they appreciated the food service at school and the fact that the school does not have pop or snack machines with junk food. But they said they definitely see areas where the program could be improved.

“We’re very glad the service is there,” Kennedy said. “But if things were different would we be using it all the time? Probably not.”