With a new breakfast and lunch provider in place at the start of the school year for Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 students, administrators wanted to know what the youngsters thought of their meals.
With a new contract with OrganicLife to provide breakfast and lunch approved less than a month before school opened for about 13,500 students, LaBaron Moten, the district’s deputy superintendent for operational supports and programs, said quick feedback was important.
Questionnaires were prepared for students and their families to answer a month into the school year. Results were compiled after Sept. 30. Moten said 65% of students and 45% of parents think the meals are better, or much better, than last year.
“We were not getting the quality we expected from the old vendor,” Moten said. “We wanted to get ethnic menu options. We needed to get a feel early of how OrganicLife was doing in case we had to explore options.”
Moten presented the results of the survey to the District 60 Board of Education Tuesday at the Education Service Center in Waukegan, giving board members and the public a report on how the community reacted to OrganicLife’s efforts.
Questionnaires were given to all middle and high school students as well as the parents of every student. Moten said selections are different because the middle and high schools have kitchens, but the lower grades do not. Selections and preparation are different where there is no kitchen.
Board member Carolina Fabian said she was concerned elementary school students were not part of the survey. Should they be displeased with the quality of food and the selections offered, it is important to know how they feel.
Fabian acknowledged the younger children had to eat food prepared elsewhere, but learning their opinions is important. She suggested letting them graphically show their pleasure or displeasure while they were eating so memory is not an issue.
“A lot of the concerns we get are more from the elementary level because the food is coming to them prepared to eat,” Fabian said. “With little littles it’s better to do it in the moment because they can’t remember as easily.”
Though the elementary school students were not initially quizzed, Moten said they will be surveyed most likely in small focus groups. A more controlled situation will lead to more accurate results.
Though food is prepared differently for the elementary school students than it is for their older counterparts, Moten said all students can now have hot breakfasts, which was not the situation for the past three years. There are some new favorites. Fresh fruit and salads are usually available.
“The chorizo is a very popular breakfast item this year,” Moten said, referring to a spicy Mexican-style sausage. “They could not have a hot breakfast before. All of the fresh fruit is cut in the kitchens. Salads are made fresh daily.”
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Both student and parent groups expressed a desire for more variety with an expanded menu in main entrees, healthy snacks, and international foods, according to the report. Concerns included inconsistent quality, food temperature, and the “availability of meals throughout all lunch periods.”
Of parents responding to the survey, 55% have children in the elementary schools, 24.9% in the middle schools, and 20.1% in high school, according to the results. More than half the students eat both breakfast and lunch at school, while 29.4% only eat lunch.
Conducted online, links to the survey were shared in multiple emails to families, student emails, the district website, and social media, according to the report given to the board. More than 1,400 responses were received.