Kids in poorer districts tend to eat healthier

It's a little known paradox on Long Island: Students in school districts with more youngsters who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch tend to eat healthier in the cafeteria.

Government reimbursements to make lunches affordable ease financial stress on poorer districts, which don't have to rely as heavily on snack sales as their wealthier counterparts. Combined with students having less money to spend on snacks, that means more of them eat the standard meal -- the school lunch that meets Department of Agriculture guidelines and is more nutritious than cookies and chips.

In Brentwood, the Island's largest district, 63 percent of the students ate free lunch or paid a reduced rate of only 25 cents last year.

"I don't think we have as many difficulties as the other districts are facing," said food service director Deborah Credidio. "I feel for them."

The federal government reimburses districts $2.57 for every free meal served and $2.17 for reduced price meals. An additional minimal state reimbursement brings the total to $2.63 for a free meal. Districts with more than 60 percent free/reduced students get an extra 2 cents per meal from the federal government.

Full-price meals garner a small government subsidy as well -- about 29 cents in combined federal and state funds. But Long Island districts on average charge students paying full price just $1.66, according to a Newsday survey of last school year's prices.

As a result, food service directors in those districts where most kids pay full price struggle more to pay labor and food costs.

"For every meal that I serve that's free, I have that much more money to spend," said Sharon Gardner, in charge of food service for Hempstead schools, where 76 percent of students are free or reduced. "The meals support this program. It is cool because you're focusing on the right area instead of selling a chocolate doughnut."

The impact is not limited to Long Island. The Center for Science in the Public Interest studied school food services in Washington, D.C., and nearby Montgomery County in suburban Maryland.

"We found that in the D.C. area, the food was better in the schools with a lot of free and reduced, compared to the schools in Montgomery County where there are students who are wealthier, where they're buying more snacks," said Margo Wootan, Center director of nutrition policy.

More free lunches

Maximizing government reimbursements for free and reduced lunches is so important that food service directors want all qualifying families to apply. In Brentwood, application forms are passed out on school buses and reminders are printed in local papers. In Hempstead, if children run more than a $10 tab, school officials call home to see whether they need free or reduced help. The class that returns its applications first gets a pizza party.

Some districts say tough economic times are driving more parents to apply for free and reduced lunches this year. One recent morning, West Babylon's food service director got three phone calls within about 10 minutes from parents asking about qualifying for free lunch.

"I don't have an income, I just lost my business," Adrianne Goldenbaum said one father told her. "I'm in debt for $300,000."

At the beginning of this month, 21 percent of district students qualified to receive free or reduced lunches, already two percentage points higher than the end of October last year, Goldenbaum said. And she expects more applications to come in.

Families in need increase

Earlier this month, Kevin Hannon, food service director in Long Beach, said 761 free and reduced applications were in, compared to 707 that time last year -- an increase of more than 7 percent.

In some districts, such as Wantagh and Rockville Centre, applications have remained steady, district officials said.

An increase in applications would fit a seven-year trend in which the percentage of Long Island students qualifying for free and reduced lunches has increased every year -- from 18 percent in 2001-02 to 20.5 percent in 2007-08.

Credidio said the qualifications should be adjusted for Long Island, with its higher cost of living. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level, currently $27,560 for a family of four, are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level, $39,220, qualify for reduced-price meals.

Goldenbaum said some who qualified in the past are now applying for the first time. Some eligible families don't apply simply out of pride, especially in districts with fewer free and reduced students, Wootan said.

There's concern the school meal is stigmatized as being "for the poor kids," she said.

Goldenbaum said her district sent letters home urging parents who qualify to apply with an assurance: "We believe that many people do not want to apply for free or reduced lunch because they feel their child might be embarrassed to be identified as a child in need. We want to assure you that the computerized program we have in place maintains each child's anonymity."

The USDA prohibits schools from overtly identifying which students are free. Many use computerized systems where a number is entered or a card scanned, making the cashier the only one who knows who is paying and who is free.

That's not an issue in Hempstead, Gardner said: "There's no stigma here because everyone is free and reduced. The paying kids are the outcasts."The reimbursement system often allows those districts to serve healthier meals. That's because the reimbursable meal has to meet USDA nutritional standards, while snacks don't.

Gardner said that while she wants her children to enjoy the food, there's less financial pressure to succumb to their tastes. Gardner said she can be like a mom who tells her kids to eat what they're served.

"I can make sure they're eating right cause I know they're gonna take it," she said. "I can't tell you every kid is eating their green beans, but a lot of them are."Gardner, who worked for a food management company before joining Hempstead, said students in affluent districts tended to buy snacks more frequently, sometimes in place of a meal: "Those kids have the money and they can buy whatever they want."

In Elmont, where 45 percent of students received free or reduced lunches last year, student a la carte purchases -- snacks and other food not part of the reimbursable meal -- composed about 8 percent of total revenue in 2006-07. In Bellmore-Merrick, where the free and reduced rate was less than 3 percent, more than 58 percent of total revenue came from student a la carte.

In Jericho, with a student population that was less than 1 percent free and reduced last year, sales of snacks and a la carte items made up 34 percent of the food service's income.

"Without the a la carte program, we wouldn't be able to sustain our program," said Tracy Gilet, district director of food services.

That doesn't mean districts such as Brentwood and Hempstead are snack-free. Hempstead elementary schools have no snacks or other "a la carte" items. But that's because the schools lack space for selling snacks, Gardner said. Secondary schools have some snacks, partly to offset expenses and partly to attract high school students, some of whom are allowed off campus for lunch.

Credidio said she sells snacks to help keep the paid meals at $1. "If somebody has five kids and they have to send them to school with $2.75 a day, it's expensive," she said.

One afternoon last school year, Brentwood senior Sandy Juarez settled down with a tray of chicken nuggets, wheat bun, soup, tater tots and a tangerine. "I'm certainly grateful to get this for a dollar," she said.

Fellow senior Joanne Jean-Louis interjected, "I get this for free so I'm even more grateful."