PORT TOWNSEND SEmD How many angry moms does it take to change a school lunch menu?
According to the film “Two Angry Moms,” it takes a whole community to change the status quo.
Which is why a coalition of local parents is circulating two petitions SEmD one for adults and one for students SEmD asking the Port Townsend School Board to do three things: maximize use of fresh, whole food in the cafeteria; minimize processed food in lunch and breakfast programs; and buy more food from local sources.
“We started the petitions last week,” said Rosanna Herman, a coalition organizer.
“We’re also working on a wellness committee with Mark Sperrazza, the food service manager, and are hoping to do a trial breakfast at Grant Street in the fall.”
The Jefferson County Farm to Schools Coalition formed last year after the North Olympic Peninsula Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Blyn, Herman said.
Films draw crowd
On Sunday, the group’s fundraiser drew more than 100 supporters from as far away as Forks to the Rose Theatre to see two documentaries, “Two Angry Moms” and “Stepping Up to the Plate,” about how other communities have gotten junk food out of schools and healthy food in.
“I don’t see this as ‘us versus them,'” said Sam Gibboney, a coalition member, addressing the audience afterward.
“Sometimes I’m angry, but mostly I’m just motivated to work with the school district and work with the farmers.”
Trial under way
The Port Townsend School board has already agreed to a two-week trial to change the student breakfast SEmD Fruit Loops, chocolate milk and something called a bagel log, Gibboney said.
The members hope the trial period will be expanded to six weeks, she said.
“This is something we know how to do: grow food and commerce food,” Gibboney said.
“We know how to do this. We have the knowledge.”
The coalition is also encouraging local residents to take an online survey (www.schooldistrict.survey) about what qualities they want in the school superintendent to replace Tom Opsted, who is leaving.
One of the applicants for the job is Bill Evans, former superintendent of the Lopez Island School District, who spoke at the fall Farm to Cafeteria Conference on how the district eliminated processed food and worked with food producers on the island to buy local meat and produce and incorporated the school garden into the curriculum.
Others trying, too
Sunday’s films drew local school board members, staff and administrators, including Blue Heron Principal Mark Decker.
Decker said that the school has considered putting in a school garden in the past but lacks the space, so it is looking at options nearby.
Quilcene elementary school teachers Michele Moriarty and Eric Jorgensen talked about the success of the school garden program.
Moriarty noted students harvested the first crop of lettuce from the greenhouse and delivered it to the cafeteria Thursday, which was Earth Day.
Jorgensen said he has been amazed by the success of the garden program, which has students begging to pick kale to snack on during the school bus home.
He encouraged Port Townsend residents to make a similar program, which is integrated into the curriculum, happen here.
“Push. Get angry. Do whatever you can to make this happen because it is happening on the Olympic Peninsula,” Jorgensen said.
“We’re taking small steps toward something very big.”
In “Two Angry Moms,” Amy Kalafa and Susan Rubin, a dentist and nutritionist, teamed up to look for school districts that had successfully converted the cafeteria from a place that heated up or fried frozen, processed food to a place that offered organic salad bars and fresh, whole food made from scratch.
The steps included forming a committee, surveying the constituency, auditing the ingredients used in processed food, reading the food service contract and formulating a wellness policy.
Progress in PA
That’s what a group of Port Angeles parents did this year, according to Beth Loveridge, a member of the district’s nutrition advisory committee, who spoke at Sunday’s event.
Because of involved parents, Loveridge said, the school board unanimously passed a wellness policy that stipulates that food service providers must present a plan for using more whole food, less processed food and incrementally increase the amount of locally sourced food each year.
The bidding period is now going on and has two companies vying for the contract, according to Kia Armstrong of Nash Farms, who also spoke at Sunday’s program.
The program also drew Dawn Savage, a school volunteer and parent from Forks, and her father, Duane Jensen of Sequim. Both are grant writers, Jensen said, including for the Sequim Food Bank.
“I came to learn about food and industry practices,” Jensen said. “I’m also here as a concerned parent and grandparent.”
Loveridge said the Port Angeles School District is two weeks into six-week trial lunch program at an elementary school, offering menus that replace chicken nuggets, corn dogs and peanut butter sandwiches with healthy, whole food.
So far, participation in the school lunch program has gone up, not down, she said.
“We took a huge leap,” Loveridge said, “It’s because a lot of people stood up.
“You have a right to have your kids have healthy food.”
The Jefferson County Farm to Schools Coalition is looking for volunteers to serve on the wellness committee, serve on the trial breakfast task force, volunteer in the Grant Street School garden and do grant writing and outreach to the community.
Contact Jessica Winsheimer, volunteer coordinator, at jesswinsheimer@hotmail.com.
For more information, go to www.jcfarm2school.org.
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County Reporter-Columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at 360-379-5688 or jjackson@olypen.com.
