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Report card shows how schools fare in nutrition
Dec 22, 2008 (The Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
More than 1.7 million lunches were served in Warren County schools last year.
A recent report card compiled by the district's food services department shows that those lunches, in addition to the more than 600,000 breakfasts served last year, are on target in providing less than 30 percent of calories from fat and less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat.
Gina Howard, director of food service and nutrition for the district, said the report card is compiled annually and returned to the state to show how schools are emphasizing not only good nutrition, but physical activity.
In the report, 54 percent of elementary schools are meeting the Center for Disease Control's target of providing 150 minutes of physical activity per week.
Howard said while that number is the same as last year's report, the schools not meeting the goal are in the 149-minute a week category, and are "just shy" of meeting the goal.
Some schools, such as Oakland and Natcher elementaries, have even started before and after school clubs for running and walking to encourage physical fitness, Howard said.
The report card breaks down the target number of calories, fats and nutrients verses the actual average served over the course of a week in the school's lunch menus.
According to the graphs in the 2009 report, Warren County aims to serve 664 calories a week, but is seeing a slight difference with 696 calories.
Though that total falls slightly from the goal, the county actually excels at providing calcium and vitamins A and C, serving twice the target amount of calcium and nearly three times the estimated vitamin A.
"I think this gives parents some information about the nutritional program as well as emphasizing physical activity," Howard said. "This helps us see where we are and the areas we might want to work on."
Howard said in January, Warren County schools will compete in a veggie contest where classes will compete to see who can eat the most fruits and vegetables. Classes will also be encouraged to take part in the Energize BG citywide competition that logs daily physical activity online.
Howard said the report card -- which can be viewed at www.warren.k12.ky.us, under the food services link -- is consistent with previous years' reports.
"We work really hard to make sure children receive well-balanced meals," she said. "We continue to emphasize physical activity and schools create an environment where they know how important it is to be physically active. They play a big role in knowing how important it is to eat well and feel good."
To see more of the Bowling Green Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to http://www.bgdailynews.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily News, Bowling
Green, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints,
email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send
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