Students Get to Order Out as Schools Bend Rules on Lunch

Just the mere thought of another school cafeteria lunch brought a grimace to the face of Lakewood High School student Gail McLeod.

Thanks, but no thanks. She’ll stick to a McDonald’s cheeseburger instead--delivered straight to her campus.

Once you have a choice, it’s hard to turn back. At least that’s the prevailing sentiment among students and principals at two Long Beach Unified School District high schools that have broken with their school board by deciding to order in fast food for lunch.

Although the practice appears to go against a nationwide trend in which educators are trying to upgrade the nutritional value of school lunches by reducing fats and cholesterol, Long Beach administrators say it’s worth it to keep kids on campus.

At Lakewood High, McDonald’s delivers. At Millikan High School in Long Beach, it’s Burger King. Every day, students at these two campuses get a delivery either from a burger outlet, a sandwich shop or a pizza joint.

“We just don’t like cafeteria food,” McLeod explained recently.

This fall, administrators at the two schools began contracting with local restaurants to deliver their prepared food to the campuses. The arrangement, believed to be the first of its kind in the state, has created a stir in the Long Beach Unified School District.

The daily food sales are in violation of state and local Board of Education regulations, and they compete against the schools’ struggling food services operation.

They also come at a time when Gov. George Deukmejian has signed into a law a bill that would, among other things, require schools to develop a plan to use food low in fats and cholesterol.

“Fast food tends to be high fat, high salt, and a steady diet of it is not a good idea nutritionally,” said Albert Tweltridge, assistant director for the state Department of Education’s child nutrition and food distribution services.

Ron Piazza, president of McDonald’s Operators Assn. in California, sees it differently. “Our food is extremely nutritious,” said Piazza, citing ingredients in hamburgers that include 100% domestic lean beef.

Schools across California often allow candy and snack sales on campus as fund-raisers for student activities, but daily deliveries from the likes of Domino’s and Round Table pizzerias are “highly unusual,” Tweltridge said.

The practice violates a state Board of Education regulation that limits to four the number of days in the school year that special food sales can be held, Tweltridge said.

“It diverts money the kids would otherwise spend in the cafeteria,” Tweltridge said.

That is exactly what worries cafeteria workers at Millikan and Lakewood, who brought up the rarely enforced four-day regulation. Now, all sides are looking for a compromise that will be both legal and nutritional, said Tom Giugni, superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District.

On Wednesday, Giugni and five high school principals who support the fast-food sales met with a representative from the district’s food services division.

They agreed to explore whether the food services division could contract directly with outlets such as McDonald’s so the division could get a cut of the profits.

Currently, the burgers, subs and pizzas are sold by student workers at on-campus stores, and schools get about 20% of the profits to help pay for student activities.

“We should have some latitude because we need to keep students on campus,” said Wayne E. Piercy, principal at Polytechnic High School.

Of cafeteria food, he said, “It’s not really as appealing and appetizing. You have to have a little smell on the side and a little grease.”

Meanwhile, a growing number of school districts are trying a variety of new ways to lure students to stay on campus during lunch.

The Burbank Unified School District, for example, recently contracted with the Marriott Corp. school food services division to take over its food services. The new cafeteria, called the Grand Marketplace, will feature eight separate areas, including a salad bar, a Cafe Ole with Mexican food and a Wild Pizza section where toppings include pineapple and Canadian bacon, said Chris Werner, the division’s vice president of sales and marketing.

“Because they get to choose their own meals, they see a lot of choices,” Werner said.