ANAHEIM : What’s Hot (Maybe) in Schools? Lunches

For schoolchildren in the Anaheim City School District, there’s a chance that hot meals--favorites like chicken with brown sauce, peas and mushy potatoes--will finally be served for lunch next year.

The district is the only one in the county and among about half a dozen statewide that does not offer a daily hot lunch to children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The district does offer cold lunches, mostly ready-made sandwiches, which meet state requirements.

But as district officials draw up their budget for next year, they are discussing the possibility of offering hot lunches. Board member Lou Lopez has pulled together money from various programs that could pay for hot meals districtwide.

“For the good of the kids living out of cars, for the good of kids living out of motel rooms, why not give them a hot meal so they can feel good about themselves and do good in school?” Lopez said.

Anaheim schools were built without kitchens, at a time when the area was middle-class and most every child arrived at school with a nutritious lunch packed at home.

“Things are different now,” Lopez said.

Board member Betty Patterson agreed that all schools should provide nutritious lunches but said she isn’t sure hot lunches are necessarily the answer.

“Whatever we choose, we need to do a good job on it. We want a good lunch program, one that the kids will (like), and that takes time,” Patterson said. “In some districts, hot lunches are thrown out, and that’s a shame.”

The district would need about $250,000 just to install ovens to reheat the ready-made lunches. Now the school board must decide if hot lunches should take priority over other special programs, such as special music and computer classes.

Lopez thinks so, and will continue trying to persuade the board.

“I know what it was like when the money ran out, and I had to take a bread sandwich to school,” Lopez said. “And now I’m in a position to change that.”