The Guam Education Board is exploring the idea of reopening all of the public schools’ kitchens, hiring cafeteria staff, and having students’ breakfast and lunch cooked and served by the Guam Department of Education. And Erik Swanson, the education superintendent, believes this may be better for kids and his agency.
“We think we can do it better,” Mr. Swanson said.
GDOE operates three kitchens out of its nearly four dozen schools. The rest of the school communities get their breakfast and lunch meals from GDOE’s longtime food services vendor, Sodexo. While board vice chairman Angel Sablan and Mr. Swanson were hesitant to portray Sodexo in a negative light, Mr. Sablan ended up admitting that the food from the GDOE-operated schools was more appetizing.
“I have tried the one made locally by the cafeteria, and it’s local food that you and I would eat,” Mr. Sablan said. He stopped short of criticizing a hot dog and chili meal he saw being served at a school Thursday.
“I’m sure it’s worth looking into, since it seemed like it worked when we were in school,” legislative education oversight chairman Chris Barnett said. “The board is still waiting on the cost analysis. I’d like to see it too, and hear from the students and their families.”
Board members over the years have received numerous complaints that mirror hundreds of online posts and thousands of comments from parents and students who over the years have been unhappy with GDOE’s nutrition program under Sodexo. From the type and taste of food to the amount of food each child is given, there has been a growing, unrelenting petition for the board to bring back the in-house cafeteria system that was replaced by the present outsource model.
“As far as the board is concerned, we have been” considering the switch, Mr. Sablan said. “We’ve been looking at cost comparisons and data to see whether or not going back to that system will save us money, and will it be more efficient.” Another board member, Maria Gutierrez, has long advocated for the return to GDOE-operated kitchens.
The matter remains under consideration.
Cost, however, isn’t the only consideration for the board.
Nutrition for students
The breakfast and lunches GDOE provides (by contract or in house) reportedly are the only meals many of its students will get during the school week, making the public school system the main source of nutrition for hundreds of its students whose families are too poor or otherwise unavailable to provide adequate daily meals for kids. In fact, most of GDOE’s 22,000 students come from homes with incomes below the national poverty line. That is why most GDOE students get free meals.
The nutrition services are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered under the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. These programs are supposed to combat two growing issues: hunger and obesity.
According to a 2020 University of Guam study, more than a quarter – or more than 27 percent – of children living in Guam between the ages of 2 and 8 already were obese.
Keeping the program’s polar opposite goals in mind, GDOE’s food providers need to follow certain nutrition standards in order to continue qualifying for the USDA funding that pays for the meals.
According to a nutrition guidelines table found at GDOE’s Child Nutrition Services website, public schools are supposed to serve only about two ounces of meat per school day to each child. The increase in portions from a kindergartner to a high school senior is nominal, according to the guidelines.
A summary portion in the guidelines shows that the combined calories of daily breakfast and lunch should be only 900 to 1150 for elementary school students, 1,000 to 1,250 daily calories for middle school students, and 1,200 to 1,450 daily calories for high school students.
But if a large number of public school students rely on the these meals as their only meals throughout the week, are these students getting the nutrition they need?
According to the American Heart Association’s guidelines, the answer is no.
According to the guidelines, female children between the ages of 4 and 8 should be eating 1,200 calories a day, to include 3 ounces of meat. For their male counterparts, 1,400 calories a day to include 4 ounces of meat.
Female children between the ages of 9 and 13 should be consuming 1,600 calories a day, including 5 ounces of meat. Their male counterparts also should consume 5 ounces of meat, but their daily caloric intake should be 1,800, according to the AHA.
Female minors between the ages of 14 and 18, according to the AHA guidelines, should be eating 1,800 calories a day, including 5 ounces of meat. Their male counterparts should be on a 2,200 calorie diet, including 6 ounces of meat.
See the current school year menus (for August) from Sodexo for GDOE elementary, middle, and high school students below:
