Hot Lunch Program at Beach

Please leave your comments on the current hot lunch program or the proposed vendor.

Note: this entry was edited for clarity on 26 March 2008.

View a Revolution Foods Sample Menu (pdf format)

Pros & Cons Current Program:

UPSIDES:

1. Creates Community, Fun: The Beach tradition of Friday Hot Lunch is a special treat – the highlight of the week for the kids and a break for the parents. There is nothing like a hot meal in the middle of the school day…

2. Fundraising: The BPO gets a substantial return on the volunteers’ efforts to help fund other BPO services.

3. One-time ordering for the entire year.

DOWNSIDES:

1. Limits Program to One Day a Week: Expanding the program would require many more parent volunteers. [1]

2. Difficulty recruiting volunteers to chair a hot lunch day: Without a legible protocol, it is difficult for newcomers to easily step in and know what to do. Limits participation.

3. Time and Labor Intensive:

a. Heavy load on committed few. You see many of the same faces on Hot Lunch that you see volunteering throughout the school. It is difficult to recruit enough volunteer to serve. Often the same people fill in over and over.

b. Administration and management tools aren’t in place, making administration scattered and difficult.

c. Creates volunteer burn-out and limits who can be involved.

4. Target of Complaints: Despite it being a volunteer effort, and because it deals with food and a Beach tradition, parents have high expectations surrounding menu choice, nutritional content and health & safety issues. The current program would required upgrades to keep up with bureaucratic state regulations governing nutritional values, public health or food safety.

Outsource Lunch Program to Revolution Foods:The following pages speak to why this would be the best option.

REVOLUTION FOODS PROS:

1. Multi-day: They offer lunch 3-5 days a week. A hot lunch program is convenient. For kids who stay at school for long hours it provides a healthy break in the middle of the day. Many families voiced a preference for more hot lunch days.

2. Progressive Business Model: Revolution Foods’ was founded by two UC Berkeley women to bring high quality food to low-income schools and do it as “sustainably and green” as possible. They source local where possible and have teamed up with Whole Foods to keep prices low. They hire real chefs and pay living wages with health benefits. They discount their food to Title One schools. Our support of them supports communities without our resources.

3. Good Food. We improve the nutritional value of our program. Revolution Food’s menu is kid friendly, yet not junk food. They use “Whole Foods” quality meats; they average 65% organic fruits and vegetables; and they don’t use trans-fats.

4. Professional Accountability: Complaints can be addressed by the company. Their business depends on their meeting the needs and desires of the BPO and the school as a whole. When volunteers cook for the school, in a sense, the complaints are a bit like “looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

5. Allows us to maintain compliance with bureaucratic state regulations governing nutritional values, public health and food safety

6. Fewer Volunteer Hours are needed. No preparation, no clean-up, no trips to Costco to buy plates. Everything is delivered. The time commitment would be about one hour; unless you want to hang out and chat. Each day would require 1 to 2 volunteer servers – adding up to 6 positions to fill each week. This is about the same amount as we need now, but it is spread over the week with less time per slot.

7. Flexibility and Streamlined Administration: Online ordering on a monthly basis. Don’t guess in June if your child wants Bagel Day in May. If you want 1 day this week and 2 days next week it is all fine.

8. Compostable Packaging! We potentially could co-ordinate with the Grounds & Garden committee to take a bit of this stuff into the garden. It also seems that the new city food scraps program could take this type of packaging. The current Hot Dog and Pizza days have relatively little packaging anyway, but we use a lot of aluminum pans, aluminum foil and paper plates on Chinese, Burrito, Pasta and Roast Chicken day.

9. Affordability: The cost per meal to the BPO would be about $3.25 if there are 100 or more orders, $3.50 a meal for fewer than 100. The BPO could keep the current price at $4.00 or possibly raise it to $4.25 if prices go up.

9. Potential for Fundraising Increased. Despite the lower margin of profit per lunch, there are more hot lunch days, so the potential for fundraising is still there.

10. It is Educative: Revolution Foods has an educational component to their service that will be available on-line for teachers, kids and parents.

11. Frees up Board Positions: Without having to be Chinese Day Chair, Bagel Day Chair, etc., etc., we would be free to volunteer for other positions in the school that are going unfilled! Hah!

CONS:

1. Potential Financial Hardship: Some parents have pointed out that offering more days would create a hardship those who can’t afford more days, because their children would feel left out or the parents would feel embarrassed to request a scholarship or they would find it difficult to turn their children down.

2. Base price of lunch is higher ($3.25 – $3.50) than our current program, though some of this will be offset by the increased number of lunches. To maintain revenues, the price per hot lunch could increase.

3. Loss of Informal Program: Some parents mourn that we’d be going to a food service. Although many of the Hot Lunch Days are catered by local restaurants and chains, there is something nice about the small scale of the effort.

OUTSTANDING ISSUES:

§ Fundraising & BPO Mission: Is school lunch the appropriate place to fundraise? What is the mission of the BPO and of the school. Should income from school lunches be earmarked for lunch scholarships, scholarships for educational programs like the Marin Headlands or should it be open for other programs as well.

BROADER BEACH PARTICIPATION: We need the Beach community to weigh in on the lunch program. Please read the Pros & Cons and leave a comment on the on this post; Come to the Revolution Tasting and discussion on April 7^th; Answer the Hot Lunch Survey in April; Attend and vote at the BPO meeting on May 12^th ! If you have questions please feel free to contact me: kimberly@mo-po.com. [i]

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[1] On the Hot Lunch survey last year, 43 were in favor of more hot lunch days, only 15 were against.

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[i] Thank you to the many and diverse BPO members, Hot Lunch chairs, volunteers, and parents who have shared their thoughts with me over the last 6 months. Thank you to Eliza Chin, Susan Miller and Teermatie Taylor for their help in getting me started this last month.

BPO Meeting Minutes 3/3/08

Call to order – 7:00 pm.

Attendees - Sue Lin, Sherrie Jewett, Kimberly Moses, Mark Aikawa, Jamie Pehanick, Pam Rafanelli, Michael Brady, Tina Coleman, Joe Loduca, Deidre Brodeur Coen, Julie Valdez, Lisa Joyce, Sandy Rappaport, Leslie Estrada, Jennifer Cavenaugh, Laura Katter, Michelle Turner, Jonathan Ring, Amal Smith

Lois B. Rawlings Inspirational Award – Chuck Chakravartula

Chuck Chakravartula is a former school board member whose grown children went through Piedmont schools. He now serves on the board of the Lois Blair Rawlings Foundation. The foundation was started by Ken Rawlings in memory of his mother who was a teacher all her life. This award to honor those, in the Piedmont education community, who demonstrate exceptional ability to inspire, motivate & encourage Piedmont youth – anyone in the community, teachers, city employees, etc. can be nominated. Ms. Pam Raffanelli was a recipient of this award a few years ago.

Chuck stated that the foundation wants you to nominate people and it is a simple process to complete the form. Forms are available at city offices, school offices, call Maureen Rhodin at 547-5640 or the East Bay Community Foundation at 208-0804. The forms can be faxed in to the foundation. The deadline for nominations is Monday, March 31. The award announcements will be made mid-April. The recipient receives $5,000 in two parts. $2500 is to keep and $2500 is donated, on the recipient’s behalf, to a non-profit of their choosing that has been approved by the Lois Blair Rawlings Foundation Board.

Secretary’s Report – February 11 meeting minutes were approved.

Principal Report – Julie Valdez

March 18 new student registration starts at the community center. Online registration is available but you still need to bring some paperwork on March 18.

There is lots of Beach Revue activity going on now and the playground is a buzz with the kids talking about it. It is a great community feel and Ms. Valdez is looking forward to seeing it.

BPO volunteer position nomination process is going on and thank you for supporting the school and for nominating people.

Teachers are busy preparing for conferences. They are assessing and analyzing students to prepare for it. Ms. Rafanelli said this is her favorite conference of the year because there is still a lot time left to work on things and it is very goal oriented.

Ms. Estrada, 1st grade teacher said that preparing for the conferences is a lot of effort and pressure but the results are very rewarding. She enjoys the conference time & learns more about the student based on the parents comments and questions too.

Fourth grade writing test starts this week. It is a sealed test until it begins. There are two state scorers who can give up to 8 points for each student. There is a parent report of this test’s results and it is on the STAR report. They don’t know what the test is until it is opened but likely will be something the 4th graders emphasize at that level. It might be a comprehension piece that they are asked questions about and have summarize. The test can take as long as they want and could be all day. It will start at about 9:45 and most 80+% of the children finish by noon & the rest will have a quiet comfortable room available after lunch to complete it. Brenda Wallace, an outside consultant, has been working with Beach in the Lucy Calkins Program for teaching people how to write. Fourth grade is very challenging because it involves conceptual ideas, small motor skills, and editing work.

Ms. Rafanelli, 2nd grade teacher, added that everything the teachers do is based on state standards and it takes a lot to prepare for STAR testing – every day incorporates it. Grades 2nd-5th participate in STAR testing.

There was a question and discussion on what is the philosophy on sharing the scores of these types of tests with the students themselves. Ms. Valdez said it is up to each family but personally considered it unnecessary pressure on elementary school children to have a number score. They know what they are good at and what they need to improve on.

Stephanie Manalo-LeClair was hired as an aide in the 5th grade class and is also an After School Enrichment (ASE) teacher.

Ms Sawicki’s 4th grade room’s Smart Board is ready to demo at next April BPO meeting.

Math Curriculum Review and Change – Jamie Adams at the district level is directing this effort (she is also the Millennium School Principal). There has been more communication between grade levels and schools than ever and it is a good process. Last week, Sarah Kingston led the curriculum committee in a sample math problem that illustrated teaching to different levels of math in the same classroom and in this case using the same math problem. Table groups worked on the problem and it helped highlight the characteristics of a rich math experience. Learners of different levels worked on the same problem.

A parent asked if Ms. Valdez was still accepting donations. Yes. Ms. Valdez is bicycling 104 miles this weekend for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Beach community has been really generous. There is a Beach Kindergartener who just completed chemotherapy and Ms. Valdez’s father in-law died from Leukemia so this is a way to honor him. She is also riding for a Beach parent who is undergoing a bone marrow transplant this month.

One parent noted that on March 11, please light a candle & think about this parent in support of a bone marrow transplant procedure on that date.

President’s Report – Sue Lin

Beach Revue ticket price was raised to fund some unexpected sound needs this year. Next year, the Beach Revue committee can evaluate need and reset the price.

A motion was approved to purchase a gift for Kim Rhody as part of honoring her as this is her last year as producer.

Online registration this fall will benefit the BPO with information organized and available from the new district system. Communication and emails will be available via this new registration and process. Assoc. Parent Clubs of Piedmont membership form, BPO membership form, volunteer form, and room parent forms have been submitted to the developers to be included in the system. There will still be a paper version of the summer mailer available in the office and available on certain dates near the end of summer and before school starts in the fall. This will be a transition year and the goal is to move towards a paper-less process.

Last year was the first year of online registration for middle & high schools. There were some problems with the support group (PRAISE, CHIME, PAINTS, etc) registrations. They topped out on donations so there was a limit in the system and then it would not take additional donations so parents were unable to donate and join support groups.

David Roth is the contact for the online elementary school process. Laura Katter suggested that pay to & mailing address be put at the top of the online forms to avoid losing donations for those that prefer to pay by check.

Save our Schools campaign – the Piedmont community has sent 600 letters to government officials. Sue is Beach’s representative so is looking for ways to create awareness and increase participation. For those interested, Sue and volunteers will be passing out information to people in line for the Beach Revue show.

Treasurer’s Report – Amal Smith

Amal Smith presented the BPO budget income statement & balance sheet and explained new balance sheet line items. She purchased a new CD for a better rate and explained the breakout of retained earnings for future curriculum support.

Committee Reports

CHIME – Jonathan Ring is the Beach Parent CHIME committee member. There was some confusion at the Feb. BPO meeting about a music department request and possibly other funding sources for it so Jonathan came to clarify the process. CHIME supports music programs. Last spring’s Tri-School fundraiser “Spring Fling” Fund an Item was held at the event and earmarked for the music program. $4,030 was raised for Beach’s music department. The music program is a district-wide run program and so the CHIME president coordinated the music teachers from the elementary schools to identify their most pressing needs. Jonathan Ring clarified what the requested amount is for – instruments and clinic service. These are things that CHIME has funded in the past so that is how CHIME got involved in helping with this process. For example, the district cut the 4th grade program several years ago & CHIME was able to save itThe music teachers need to fund a clinician/music teacher to do small clinic work ($650) and purchase instruments. Beach is behind the other Piedmont schools in their program this year and the clinic work is needed to catch up. Beach is behind because of the music teacher rotation days and so many Beach days land on minimum days and Monday work/holiday days. This schedule has been in place for a number of years and that is another issue that Ms. Valdez is taking up to ensure equitable music instruction time at Beach. There was some concern over BPO paying for staff ($650) and is there ongoing need for it. CHIME typically funds clinicians and these requests come in as grant requests from the music teachers to CHIME. The music teachers’ needs for Beach were presented to BPO to be filled by the Spring Fling money and so they did not submit grant requests to CHIME for these needs and CHIME is making decisions on their grant requests received tonight. Ms. Valdez had an earlier concern for the baritone (mini-tuba) request as that is a huge instrument and concern about need, expense and storing it. The list of needs was updated to move the baritone to a lower priority and not part of this request. The additional instruments are needed primarily because kids are trying instruments in the 4th grade rotations & can’t cover all needs & need process to be more efficient due to timing of this year. Also, on any given year, 5th graders need to pick and work on one instrument and the music department would like to provide some options because the interest for a particular instrument fluctuates between the years.The motion to fund this Music request of $4141 (including the $650) was approved. But the $650 is a one-time deal. The rest of the request is for instruments: 6 trumpets $2,934, 6 trumpet mouth pieces $112, 6 trombone mouth pieces $112, tax $333 = $4,141

Additional requests needed in future – 1 baritone $1650, 5 trumpet $2445, 6 king trombones $2970, 3 violins $1550

Nominating Committee – Joe Loduca. There is good progress in filling BPO volunteer positions for next year but still lots of opportunities. For example, the important Tri- School Spring Auction, that raised $65,000 for Beach, needs volunteers. If you have an interest & are would like to join a committee, please let Joe Loduca know & he will find something to meet your needs & time available. You don’t need to be a committee chair. There are lots of opportunities to meet parents & people outside of the Beach parent community too. You can nominate someone (& remain anonymous) or yourself just contact JOE LODUCA.

Hot Lunch – Kimberly Moses. Kimberly is starting the discussion to improve the hot lunch program and free up volunteer hours for other needs next year. She presented two options: One would be to keep Friday Hot Lunch as it is and the other is to change to Revolution Foods. She will open it up for a school wide discussion by posting a Pros and Cons sheet on the BPO website this week and attaching it to the next Wednesday News and requesting comments.

There will be a tasting of Revolution Foods on April 7th and survey of the whole school after that. The survey will ask people to choose between the current program or to try Revolution Foods. There will be additional questions to help define BPO goals and objectives. For example, rank the priority of affordability, earth friendliness, number of days offered, and nutritional value. Also, do you think BPO should be using this as a fundraiser if we move to an outside service? Currently, it provides between $7K and $10K+ a year to the BPO budget that includes curriculum support expenses. With the survey results, the BPO meeting attendees will vote on it at the May BPO meeting. .There was a question on what other schools do about hot lunch programs. Ms. Valdez said that other school districts run hot lunch programs at a district level (typically large districts) but critical to have central kitchens, professional chefs, transportation, site coordinators, etc. Health codes are important and also districts contract the whole thing out. Pros & Cons and background information is being compiled and put on the www.beachparents.org website VERY SOON!!!

For now, Hot Lunch Fridays continue to be volunteer run so call or email Kimberly to help as they can use help on most Fridays between 11:30am-1pm.

Parent Education – Michelle Turner for Margaret Ovenden April 2 is a Children’s Environmental Health event including indoor air quality. Details are online at www.beachparents.org. It will be a very informative night with demonstrations, how to read & interpret cleaning product labels & plastic information. This event will be hosted at Beach school. There are also volunteer opportunities for sound, supplies, photography, set up, clean-up and PowerPoint presentation technical support for the presenters.

Green Committee – Michelle Turner for Margaret Ovenden May 8th is multi-school event and an electronic flyer is going out very soon.

Meeting adjourned 9:40 pm