'Nutrition in the Schools' Initiative Gaining Momentum, Challenges Ahead

Five years ago, Jill Florin looked at the Upper Dublin School District lunch menu and saw funnel cake as an option.  

“I had to look twice because I could not believe that this would be offered for a lunch,” she said.  

This inspired Florin to start Nutrition in the Schools.

“Nutrition in the Schools is an endeavor with the mission to help find ways for schools to only offer foods which are freshly prepared on site for school meals and limit the amount of minimally nutritional food items that are available during a school day,” said Florin.

Florin had big plans for the initiative, and she planned to grow the movement in Upper Dublin before expanding it to other districts. The 2010-11 school year was a "break-out" year for the organization, bringing it notable speakers and spreading the movement to eight other school districts in the area, including Wissahickon, Upper Moreland, Abington, North Penn, Central Bucks, Pennridge, Jenkintown and Uppertownship in NJ.

Florin began Nutrition in the Schools by going to a PTA meeting. She reached out to other parents for support. An email notification was sent out from the PTA. Over 100 people signed up to be a part of Nutrition in the Schools.

Rachael Andrulonis was one of the parents that responded.

“Since my children started public school education in Upper Dublin, I have been disappointed in the availability of nutritional food choices at school. The high amount of sugar and added unnatural ingredients prevented me from allowing my children to buy lunch,” said Andrulonis. “I was really excited to help out this new committee and encourage change in our district.”

Andrulonis hopes to see students being offered healthy food options and taught the importance of nutrition.

“Our kids are spending much of their childhood at school, and while schools are so concerned with the good test scores, they do not think about the importance of the food that children consume while at school, especially at meals,” said Florin. “Having things like French toast sticks with syrup and chocolate milk was OK according to the government, but where is the nutrition in that meal? Not only could such a meal affect their learning, but it is also doing damage to their bodies.”

Robyn Betterly heard about Florin’s initiative from another parent and reached out to Florin to join the program.

“My oldest child graduated from Upper Dublin in 2010, and she only bought her lunch about eight times her entire 13 years at UD,” said Betterly. “The only foods being offered were simple carbs, processed foods with much too much sodium, added sugar and preservatives. There was nothing that qualified as 'real food' in my book.”

According to Betterly, some of the lunches being offered were popcorn chicken with chocolate milk, nachos (made with cheese from a can and a small bag of Doritos) and chocolate milk, and "rib-a-que" with chocolate milk.

Betterly suggests replacing these unhealthy options with more balanced, healthy meals such as roasted vegetable tomato sauce over couscous with a small salad and fruit cup or real cheese, a bean and natural chicken quesadilla with fresh fruit or salsa, or a salad with avocado, black beans, grilled chicken breast, cilantro, lime dressing and whole grain chips.

Nutrition in the Schools plans on taste testing the new meals with the students of the schools. At the beginning of the school year, they hope to eliminate flavored milk as an option.  

Nutrition was a topic of contention at several school board meetings through the winter months. Nutrition in the Schools members would use the public comment section to address what they saw as inadequate response from the district.

The dialogue culminated in the school board agreeing to review the district's wellness policy, although a large contingent of district staff turned out to voice their support for the current policies. Many were food service workers, and supported food service director Patti Dell'Aringa.

A recent Bucks County Courier Times article delves into some of Dell'Aringa's history in the position, including the addition of "lifestyle lunches," a more nutritious alternative for students.

Still, the district plans to implement a Wellness Policy in the fall using the input of all parties, something Florin hopes will achieve the goals of Nutrition in the Schools.

Money has been a hardship for initiative.

“Serving fresh food brings in less profit and can cost more to purchase,” said Betterly.

Convincing the school district this is a worthwhile cause has also been difficult.

“We have really had a hard time convincing many of the school districts that this endeavor is important and needs to be a priority. At this point it is the choice of schools to either continue serving processed foods and be a part of the problem or start the change to cooking “real” foods and be part of the solution.  I hope they choose the latter,” said Florin.

The goal for the past year was to raise awareness.

"I think we have definitely achieved that goal. What we need to do now is take action," said Florin.

To help raise awareness, Nutrition in the Schools, with the help of Whole Foods Market, brought Chef Ann Cooper to Upper Dublin to speak with parents, school board members, teachers, administrators and food service personnel.

"Having nationally recognized Chef Ann Cooper here helped to reinforce the reason why this needs to be done to many people in many neighboring school districts," said Florin.

Nutrition in the Schools has been making a name for itself.  The organization has been featured on Channel 6 Action News "Health Check" and has been featured in celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" newsletter.

For more information, visit www.nutritionintheschools.org.