ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
EIGHTY PARENTS had lunch Wednesday with their children in recognition of National School Lunch Week and the 50th anniversary of the National School Lunch Program.
Cheese pizza is third-grader Jennifer Bukovsky's favorite school lunch. She likes a grilled chicken patty on a whole-wheat bun, too.
But the entree wasn't the most important thing for Jennifer this week. She had a special treat: She had lunch Tuesday with her father at Penn Forest Elementary School.
"It's fun. I like it," Jennifer said, as she ate ice cream with her father, Jack, after eating a chicken patty and vegetables.
Jack took a day's vacation from his job so he could have lunch with his daughter at the Roanoke County school.
"She had to eat lunch with the teacher last year on parents' day," Jack said. "I figured I better come this time."
About 80 parents of third-graders at Penn Forest had lunch with their children in recognition of National School Lunch Week and the 50th anniversary of the National School Lunch Program.
Maeghan Gliniecki was glad that her dad, Mark, came for lunch. Maeghan likes pizza, too, but the school's hot dogs aren't bad, she said.
The Penn Forest cafeteria brings back memories for Mark because attended school there nearly 25 years ago.
"When I went to school here, I don't think we had any choice in what we had for lunch," he said. "There was only one entree for everyone."
Now the children have four options daily: a choice of two entrees, a chef salad or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They can choose two vegetables or fruits to go with the entrees and sandwich.
Several parents said the choice in school lunches is one of the biggest changes since they were in school.
The parents of pupils in other grades at Penn Forest and many other elementary schools in the Roanoke Valley have also had lunch with their children this week as part of the school lunch celebration.
On Wednesday, dozens of parents of fifth-graders at Glen Cove Elementary were waiting in a hallway outside the cafeteria when their children arrived for lunch.
Carol Furry came to have lunch with her son Jacob. She also has a third-grader, Nathan, and she will be back at the school today to have lunch with him.
"It's a lot of fun. You get to meet their friends and teachers and see what they're having for lunch," she said.
Glen Cove sent written invitations to the parents to lunch with their children.
Cynthia Baugh had lunch with her son, Chris, who gives generally good marks to the school food.
"The food seems to be better than when I was in school, and they have more choices," Chris' mother said.
The price of a school lunch in the county has increased from about 40 cents to $1 during the past two decades, but most parents said it's still a bargain.
Fifth-grader Joel Barnes said most children at Glen Cove like the food, particularly pizza, hot dogs and chicken nuggets.
"The food is a lot better than what my dad says he had in school," Joel said.
Wednesday's nationwide celebration, called "Take Your Family to Lunch Day," was designed to help raise awareness of the role that school food and nutrition programs play in the lives of America's children.
Most Roanoke Valley schools had to spread the school lunch celebration over several days because they couldn't accommodate all of the parents on Wednesday. They invited the parents of children in different grades to come for lunch on different days.
The event was sponsored by the American School Food Service Association to focus attention on the anniversary of the passage of the National School Lunch Act in 1946. Its enactment was one of the first actions taken by Congress after World War II because of the large number of military recruits who failed physicals due to nutrition-related problems.
The federal law requires school lunches to meet dietary guidelines created by the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.
In addition to the lunch program, a breakfast program is offered in nearly 60 percent of schools nationwide.
The nutritional guidelines require that school lunches and breakfasts provide one-third to one-fourth of the recommended dietary allowances for calories, protein, iron, calcium and vitamins A and C.
The national school lunch program serves more meals daily than McDonald's restaurants, according to the school food service organization. The lunch and breakfast programs operate in 93,000 schools nationwide, serving 6 million breakfasts and 26 million lunches daily.
In Roanoke County, about 75 percent to 80 percent of elementary pupils participate in the lunch program, but the percentage drops off in middle and high schools, said Pauline Holloway, food service supervisor for county schools.
Many high school students prefer a la carte items that are offered in addition to the regular lunches, Holloway said.
Cooking and serving the meals for the nation's schoolchildren is a $10 billion industry that represents nearly 10 percent of all food purchased away from home.
Roanoke County has 150 cafeteria workers at its 26 schools. Margaret Beckner, cafeteria manager at Penn Forest, said she arrives at the school at 6 a.m. daily. She's worked in food service for 25 years, including the past 12 as a cafeteria manager.
"I don't mind getting up at 6," she said. "I love children."
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Jack Bukovsky used a vacation day soby CNBhe could have lunch with his daughter, Jennifer, at her school.
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