“Tonight, we are hungry. Set the policy on fire. It can burn brighter than the sun,” blared a music video called “We Are Hungry,” which went viral on YouTube after a group of students in Kansas created a parody of Fun’s hit dance song “We Are Young,” protesting new school lunch regulations.
Many BHS students share the sentiments of the Wallace County High students.
“The portions are definitely smaller,” junior Paola Pevzner said, who brings lunch from home. “My friends who buy lunch, they come and eat in a few minutes, and then I offer them some of my food because I feel bad.”
“I think that it’s a little over-priced for the proportions that you get,” Senior Mike Jabour said.
On the other hand, some students say the changes have been positive.
“It’s a lot healthier and better,” junior Oliver Friedman said. “They have less junk food, and they are using whole wheat bread and everything. I think it’s good.”
Brookline Food Services Director Alden Cadwell attributes this year’s changes in food standards to the new regulations imposed by the federal government.
“It’s not the changes that I or the school district is imposing,” said Cadwell, who became Brookline’s new food service director this school year.
In January 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture published new regulatory requirements for breakfast and lunch provided in all public K-12 schools.
According to the new regulations, schools are now required to increase the servings of certain types of food, such as vegetables and whole grains, and limit the calories served to 850 per student lunch.
Before the new regulations became effective in July 2012, there were no limits to the number of calories, according to the report “National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern,” released by the USDA.
Additionally, schools must serve both fruits and vegetables every day, offer only fat-free or low-fat milk and reduce the amounts of saturated fat, trans-fat and sodium, according to the USDA Office of Communications in Virginia.
According to Brookline’s food service website, these changes are “to ensure that all children in America are receiving adequate, nutrient-dense, meals.”
Because these are regulations, the school district must comply, according to Cadwell.
“It’s a misnomer that they are called new guidelines because they are new regulations,” he said.
The government compensates the school 23 cents per paid meal and $2.67 per free lunch for being in compliance with the new regulations.
“We are funded from the federal government, and if we do not comply, we’ll lose our funding,” Cadwell said.
In addition to the new federal regulations, there are also state regulations newly introduced this year. For example, Massachusetts schools are no longer allowed to serve caffeinated beverages, such as coffee.
Many students disapprove of the new regulations.
“I think that I’ve noticed an increase in people falling asleep in class, especially in the morning. It just seems pointless. Coffee is kind of an intellectual tool, and it’s a shame that it’s banned,” said senior Ben Hoff. “Most of my friends who used to buy lunch don’t buy anymore. They either go to some place close, or they bring it from home.”
The new state regulation has not deterred some coffee-drinkers either. For example, junior Guy Talmor now brings his own coffee.
“Now I have to make coffee at home, and it’s a hassle,” he said.
Some students find that food here is still better compared to other schools’.
“It’s much better than at Runkle,” freshman Michelle Rios said. “There is a lot more variety. At Runkle it was always the same thing every week, and also the way it was kept frozen, you could tell it wasn’t fresh and that made it not that good.”
Senior Matthew Brown said, “It’s alright compared to other schools because I have friends at other schools that don’t have sushi every Friday.”
Deadlocked in between new regulations, Brookline’s food department is still hoping to offer solutions.
According to a cafeteria worker who wished to remain anonymous due to job insecurity, not all students are taking advantage of a la carte offerings as they should.
Students are given the option to choose a combination of up to three side items in addition to the entrée meal. For example, a student can choose to get milk, salad and fruit, in addition to pizza or hamburger. They are all included in one price.
In addition, the food department is hoping to make healthy food choices more appealing to students.
“We’ll be starting to phase in new recipes here at the high school and at the K-8 schools as well. We want to increase the choices and hopefully serve what the kids really like,” said Cadwell. “We are going to have a recipe contest in October. The contest is to come up with the veggie side dish that will be simple but also kid-friendly and the winner’s recipe will be served.”
The food regulations, which affect all public schools in the country, have been the cause of heated national debate.
The new requirements are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama.
In defending her program, Obama said in January, “As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat and ensure they have a reasonably balanced diet. We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables,” as reported on the whit house website.
According to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the act is aimed to “effectively and aggressively respond to obesity and hunger challenges for America’s kids,” as reported by the white house website.
The childhood obesity rate has more than tripled in three decades, from 5 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2008, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Despite the aspirations behind the new regulations, some say 850 calories is simply insufficient for some teenagers.
“Think of a high school boy who works out at least three hours a day, not including farm work,” said Brenda Kirkham, a faculty at the Kansas school where the parody video was filmed. “I’m furious,” she told the Wichita Eagle, a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas.
With the nation in disagreement over the new regulations, Brown believes that the regulations work against the school ideals.
“We don’t have chocolate milk any more, we don’t coffee any more,” he said. “So we don’t have the ‘Brookline norm.’”
