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Think back to elementary and even secondary school. Think of the highlight of your day. No, it probably wasn’t math or spelling. Right behind recess and gym class, everyone loved lunchtime.

This week has been designated as National School Lunch Week to recognize the importance of what schools are doing to provide nutritious, fun meals to help get students through their day of learning.

In the Chisago Lakes School District, that job is the responsibility of Judy Caroon, Director of Food Service. Caroon oversees a staff of 30 food service employees working in the five district buildings. Collectively, the district serves an average of 2,400 lunches every school day.

The food service department operates under the National School Lunch Meal Program nutrition guidelines. Next year, those guidelines could change as all school districts must complete and implement a wellness policy by the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

Caroon said food service is just a small part of the wellness policy, which will also be designed to include components such as physical activity and student health.

The nutritional guidelines include serving food with 30 percent or less from fat and 10 percent or less from saturated fat.

The challenge for Caroon and her staff is to come up with menu items that fit within the nutritional guidelines for school lunch, while offering something the students will eat.

The balance must be cost-effective for the department, which operates out of its own budget independent from the school district’s. “We do not receive any money from the general fund, all money is spent out of our budget,” Caroon said. The department receives only 26 cents per meal in reimbursements from the federal government.

Caroon is pleased that the department has been able to keep lunch prices the same for the last four years – $1.75 for elementary students and $1.95 for secondary students.

The goal for each school is to try and offer selections that are popular with the students as well as nutritious, Caroon said. That has meant implemented new menu items as well as eliminating those that aren’t as popular.

This can be tricky, because Caroon said what the students wants seems to vary year to year.

At the elementary schools, for instance, macaroni and cheese and sloppy joes were not a big hit. “That was a surprise,” Caroon said. Each new offering is put on the menu three times to see if students will like it. If not, it is replaced by something else.

Caroon said they are concentrating on providing more healthy choices all the time. This year, the switch was made to whole wheat products and low-sugar cereals for those participating in the breakfast programs at the high school, middle school and Taylors Falls Elementary.

Salads are a popular new offering at CLMS, Caroon said. The school serves around 30 or more salads each day. The salad includes eggs, cheese and vegetables and a breadstick so it meets nutritional guidelines for a full-balanced lunch. Salads are offered daily at the high school as well and twice a week at the elementary schools.

An ala carte line was added at the high school, for those students who don’t want a full meal. The ala carte items include personal pizzas or pizza slices and Tyson chicken products like chicken patties and popcorn chicken.

“That change has gone over pretty well for the kids,” Caroon said.

It is also part of an effort to entice more district staff members to eat in the school cafeteria.

Caroon said she meets on a regular basis with the food managers from each school to discuss menu changes and other issues. “We talk about what’s working and what isn’t,” she said.

She also feels it’s important to stay in touch with the students and let them know they can share their ideas about school lunch. Caroon meets regularly with the student council and other students at the high school. She said it also helps the students learn about how the food service is run. “They understand what we can and cannot do,” she said.

At one point, a student raised a concern that syrofoam products were being used and that they are harmful for the environment. Caroon said because of those concerns, they stopped using styrofoam.

“The students are always pretty understanding and respectful,” she said.

They also listen when students tell them what they like to eat. This year, every Tuesday at the high school is Taco Tuesday. The students have a choice of building hard or soft shell tacos or a taco salad for their lunch.

Keeping track of students’ lunch accounts is easier for parents who choose to utilize the PAMS system. Chisago Lakes is in its second year of utilizing the automatic payment system, which allows parents to make direct payments into lunch accounts and review account information. It also sends out automatic email reminders to parents when account balances are getting low.

So what do the students like about school lunch?

At the middle school, a lot of students chose items like chicken patties, pizza and tacos as their favorite lunch selections. Most also have ideas of what could be added. “They should have lasagna and biscuits and gravy,” seventh grader Bobby Dellwo said.

Seventh grader Donavin Ducharme said he’d like if there was more food on the tray. Secondary students do have the option of purchasing a second main entree for $1 if they are not satisfied with one lunch.

Several students, including eighth graders Kelly Gustafson and Shiloh Gulbranson, want to see more variety and more healthy selections at lunch time.

One big factor for the middle schoolers is time. This year, lunch was consolidated into three periods. Eighth grader Alex Sorenson said the lines are too long, so she brings her lunch from home every day. Other middle schoolers echoed the same sentiment and added that they are too crowded in the lunch room.

Seventh graders Ali Ouellette and eighth graders Sam Wenholz, Korin Kreidler and Camillia Belland wanted more than two choices every day and said they didn’t want chicken patties or chicken nuggets as much as they are served. Selections they would like to see served more often are spaghetti, cheese dunkers and Mexican food. Some wanted cake and ice cream as part of the meal.

At the middle school, students do have the option of purchasing ala carte items at the end of the lunch period. These include granola bars, chips, nachos, fruit snacks, milk and juice.

At Lakeside School, the overwhelming choice for favorite lunch with one group of third graders was Tony’s pizza. Others liked pasta and sauce, corn dogs, popcorn shrimp, chicken nuggets and tacos the best.

Their suggestions? “Swedish pancakes,” third grader Tommy Cross said. Third grader Carolyn Katzman thought doughnuts would be good for lunch.

Other ideas were macaroni and cheese with white sauce and stuffed crust pizza. All the students at the school seemed to enjoy the offerings and are usually excited about what they are having for school lunch.

Some students at the middle school now eat lunch at 10:20 a.m., which can make for a hungry afternoon if those students stay for after-school activities. Caroon said one of her goals is to look at some way of providing food in the afternoon for those students, through either a concession stand or preferably, a vending machine with sandwiches and other healthy, more filling items.

Caroon said the staff is dedicated to making lunch time a fun experience for the students. “Their mission is to serve the students and give them a pleasant environment and a nutritious meal,” she said. “The staff at all five schools treat the students with respect and hopefully the students enjoy it too.”

National School Lunch Week is Oct. 10-14. President George W. Bush issued a proclamation recognizing it as School Lunch Week, stating that the school lunch program has contributed to the welfare of the nation’s youth since 1946, now supplying 29 million lunches annually in more than 100,000 schools.

Parents are invited to eat lunch anytime with their child; at the elementary schools, parents are encouraged to call ahead so they can be added to the day’s lunch count.

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