Corn Chips with Cheese Sauce, French Fries, Ketchup, Pears in Syrup and Chocolate Milk

Being the head of a schools lunch and breakfast program I am embarrassed to see this. At our high school we have about 9 different choices everyday. One is a fresh fruit plate with non fat yogurt, peanut butter w/ graham crackers. We also serve a chicken strip salad with romaine lettuce and a baked not fried chicken strip along with a side of fruit. We have a pasta bar with whole wheat pasta. All of our pasta products are whole wheat. Our home made hot rolls are 50/50 wheat to white flour. We are a small district and can afford to do all we want but we are moving in the right direction.
The problem with school lunches is the problem everywhere...money. Healthy food cost more. We have to prepare food, pay labor, buy equipement etc. for 2 dollars a meal. You try doing that.
And there are lots of kids who entire school never having seen a peach or pear, peas or green beans. Food just gets thrown away if they don't like it. (or wont try it). Most kids taste are set by the time they get to us. And basically...we just want them to eat and not go hungry. We see too many hungry kids and even hungry kids won't eat peas.

Thanks so much for your insightful comments. If you have any photos of the food you serve, we'd love to post them!

It is almost as destructive as is the quality of education in American public schools.

Ugh. Plenty of food, but nothing healthy in sight! It's all fat and sugar!

ah, the classic "yellow food" meal, long the mainstay of carnivals and movie theaters, and now served to your teenager five days a week at a high school near you.

Wow. There's very little redeeming qualities of this one.

gone are the days of a turkey sandwich on wheat with lettuce and tomato and an apple.... enter fries and ketchup