A Mexican bread called “Concha” is a breakfast favorite of Sam Farsian, a Garden Road Elementary School fifth-grader. He also likes the whole grain graham crackers the school serves because he can do a magic trick by splitting them in half and putting them back together.
“I like corn dogs, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets,” said Sam, 10, who was eating breakfast on the lunch patio on the first day back to class, Aug. 16.
His sister, Olivia Farsian, a 9-year-old fourth-grader, is partial to the frozen fruit.
“Sometimes at lunch they have containers of frozen fruit,” Olivia said. “I always choose them and they are so delicious.”
At a nearby table 4-year-old Declan Bucci was having a breakfast pizza, banana and apple juice with his parents, Diana and Geoff Bucci. Declan, who is starting transitional kindergarten, got some assistance from the cafeteria’s lunch lady, Amaranta “Mara” Ronces, in selecting his food.
“It’s a great way for him to socialize and meet other kids,” Geoff Bucci said. “Knowing that the school district offers this option is really reassuring. It speaks to how much they care.”
Declan Bucci, 4, has a breakfast pizza, banana and apple juice at Garden Road Elementary with his parents, Geoff and Diana Bucci.
(Julie Gallant)
This school year, Poway Unified School District students can expect to see their traditional favorites, like chicken nuggets and pizza, in the school cafeterias along with some intriguing new entrees.
At the same time, meals are planned according to U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements to meet low saturated fat and sodium guidelines, said Emily Cena, Poway Unified’s director of food and nutrition. The meals also comply with age specific calorie levels and include certain amounts of each food group that must be offered with every meal, she said.
Meal planning is done by a registered dietician who chairs the district’s Menu Planning Committee comprised of food and nutrition supervisors from all areas of the district.
At the middle and high schools, lunch options will include several new menu items this fall, Cena said. These include carnitas street tacos and a barbecue pulled pork sandwich. Students will also be treated to spicy habanero-mango chicken wings.
“That was based on student input and they even chose the sauce,” Cena said. “We did a sampling and they chose the habanero-mango sauce.”
New menu options include carnitas street tacos, a barbecue pulled pork sandwich, and spicy habanero-mango chicken wings.
(Courtesy Poway Unified School District)
At the elementary schools, a returning favorite will be “brunch for lunch,” a breakfast meal served at lunchtime that sometimes features whole grain french toast with a chicken sausage patty.
“Kids love it,” Cena said. “It’s been very popular for a long time. Those are the things that will stay on the menu because kids love them. We’ll introduce new items because they add variety, but we’ll keep the options kids really enjoy.”
Typical elementary school breakfast entrees include pancake bites, blueberry muffin tops, egg and cheese English muffin sandwiches, bagels with cream cheese, maple pancakes, and a breakfast sandwich made with chicken sausage and cheese.
Lunch options include a cheeseburger, grilled cheese sandwich, beef hot dog, pasta and meat sauce with cheese and garlic toast, and cheesy bean nachos.
Under the California Universal Meals Program that started in the 2022-23 school year, every student in the district can access free breakfast and lunch meals every school day regardless of household income.
As a result, Cena said more students are dining at the schools, which has led to more students requesting vegan and vegetarian options. In all the grade levels, at least two of the lunch choices every day are vegetarian, Cena said. These include a spicy black bean burger, cheese and green chile tamale, and a chick’n sandwich with a soy-based meat substitute.
“It’s never going to be the most popular request,” Cena said. “We still have kids who want to eat nachos, but we’re seeing an increase under the California Universal Meals Program for the vegetarian option.”
Poway Unified meals are planned by a registered dietician with a Menu Planning Committee comprised of food and nutrition supervisors.
(Courtesy Poway Unified School District)
The state of California increased funding to allow students in the state to eat at school for free in part as a result of the COVID pandemic, Cena said. There was interest in serving universal meals earlier, but the pandemic shined a light on the role schools play in feeding kids, she said.
During the pandemic the federal government funded most of the cost to provide free meals to all students, but that ended June 30, 2022. In California, officials recognized the benefits of free meals during the pandemic and created a statewide universal meals program to continue offering free meals to all students, Cena said.
Cena said Poway Unified’s schools are serving lunch to about half the students in attendance on any given day. With an enrollment of 36,000 students last school year, and daily attendance averaging 34,000 to 35,000 students, about 17,000 lunches per day were served throughout the district, she said.
“Our breakfast participation ended the school year at about 4,000 breakfast meals per day and was still climbing,” she said. “As people are becoming aware of the Universal Meals Program and that breakfasts are available it’s definitely growing.”
The Buccis said they missed out on school meals as kids. For Geoff Bucci it was because his school in Connecticut didn’t serve meals. Diana Bucci said her Chinese parents didn’t speak much English and didn’t realize they had an opportunity to get meals at her elementary school in Mira Mesa.
“What kid doesn’t want to eat breakfast pizza?” Geoff Bucci said, as Declan gave a thumbs up to his turkey sausage pizza.
Neil and Loida Lansang, who brought their daughters, first-grader Lillian, 6, and second-grader Leona, 7, to Garden Road’s cafeteria, said they appreciate the convenience and ability to save money with the school-prepared free meals.
“It’s one less thing we have to worry about and less stress on us since we don’t have to prepare meals,” Neil Lansang said.
Leona Lansang, 7, left, and her sister Lillian Lansang, 6, have breakfast together at Garden Road Elementary School.
(Julie Gallant)
The Poway district has always focused on serving fresh fruits and vegetables, with salad bars available at all the schools every day, Cena said. But with an influx of state and federal funding the past year and a half, the district has been able to provide more locally grown and seasonal produce. Schools are getting their tomatoes and cucumbers from a grower in Leucadia and white nectarines are sourced from Kingsburg, near Fresno, as examples.
The extra funding has also allowed the district to make kitchen infrastructure upgrades such as adding a larger refrigerator and walk-in freezer at Bernardo Heights Middle School and replacing outdated point-of-sale cashiering computers at every elementary school cafeteria.
“Our old machines were very slow and if something happened such as a connection problem it could take 30 minutes to reboot,” Cena said. “Now we’ll have current state-of-the-art point-of-sale systems at every elementary school.”
While the changes are good, school cafeterias are still facing challenges, she said. The biggest hurdle is finding enough staff to keep the breakfast and lunches running smoothly. Cena said they are reaching out to residents in the school district’s territory, particularly to those who have children or grandchildren attending Poway schools, but the obstacles to hiring sufficient staff can be daunting, she said.
Jobs are hard to fill in part because the school food service industry never really recovered from the pandemic and people are able to find higher paying jobs elsewhere, Cena said.
The Poway district focuses on serving fresh fruits and vegetables, with salad bars available at all the schools.
(Courtesy Poway Unified School District)
Ronces, whose title is assistant food service II, manages to serve crowds of kids every school day while keeping a smile on their face. At Garden Road Elementary, the cafeteria staff serve breakfast to at least 45 students and sometimes as much as 80 students and lunch to an average of 300 to 350 students, she said.
Some of the larger elementary schools serve lunch to as many as 500 students, she said. And high schools average around 800 lunches per day.
“They are so happy to get the lunches,” Ronces said. “They always hug me and say, ‘thank you for the really good food you give me.’”