From the New London Day, October 2, 2006

Food For Thought
Stonington school officials learn that healthy menu choices are crowd-pleasers

By Joe Wojtas

And then there's the fresh fruit that's available every day. Not just apples, bananas and pears but strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and kiwis.

Elementary students are discouraged from bringing in sugary cupcakes and cookies for their birthday celebrations. Candy cannot be sold in vending machines or school stores, and soda has been removed from the teachers' rooms.

The school system has gone far beyond what state and federal guidelines say schools must do to provide healthy food choices for children. Paquette and his staff have slowly made changes, testing new recipes and items with students before incorporating them into the menus.

For Paquette, who is in his 11th year here, it's not just important to offer healthy food choices. He wants to make sure the kids like what's being served.

“I don't want to have one of those programs where they make jokes about the mystery meat. I want them to enjoy lunch, he said. “I tell our staff that the children coming through the (lunch) lines are not students, they're our customers. We need to please our customers.”

It seems they are.

Last year Paquette and his 23 employees sold 233,000 lunches. A total of 62 percent of students participated in the lunch program, 11 percent more than when Paquette started here.

Paquette does a computerized nutritional analysis of each week's meals. Over five days the meals have to have an average of less than 30 percent of calories from fat, 10 percent from saturated fat and provide enough fiber.

Stonington belongs to a large food co-op and that allows Paquette to afford the fresh fruits and vegetables. Some of the fruit goes to West Broad Street school, where the only allowed snack is fresh fruit and bottled water. Students pay 30 cents a day for the snack.

“Some of these kids are trying fruits they've never tried before,” he said.

To up the fiber intake of students, Paquette has found a white bread with two grams of fiber per serving for peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese. He's also found a whole wheat pasta for use on Wednesday's pasta day as well as low-fat cookies. He said he's constantly talking to companies about new menu items and is hoping to offer turkey hot dogs, higher fiber pasta and a daily heart-healthy choice. All of this goes along with educational programs he does with students.

“If they get into the habit of eating healthy in school, they'll carry that message home,” he said.

Offering so many fruits, vegetables and salads and trying out new and healthier foods, means more work for Paquette's staff.

“It takes more time to wash and prepare fresh produce. But the staff believes in the importance of the kids eating healthy,” he said.

Chef manager Judy Rebello, who works at Pawcatuck Middle School, said she encourages students to try new offerings and asks them for their opinions so changes can be made.

“If we won't eat it, we won't serve it to the kids,” she said.