Parents Join Students for Lunch at School

Spaghetti was the main course. Garden salad with ranch dressing was on the side. And cookies shaped like apples and topped with red sprinkles was for dessert.

That was the meal that 900 parents ate Friday when they participated in the “Take Your Family to Lunch Day” at eight elementary schools in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, which has about 4,000 elementary school students.

The Family Lunch Day is a national program started last year by the American School Food Service Assn. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National School Lunch Program.

The idea is that students can take their parents, grandparents or siblings to school to experience some cafeteria cuisine. The cost is $2.80 for adults and $2.25 for students.

“It was very successful,” said Lynn Murphy, director of food services for the school district. “So much so that parents want another one soon.”