Kids Can Swallow Baked Lunches

by Melinda Tuhus | May 1, 2007 9:08 AM | | Comments (6)

sue%20and%20chris.JPGNew Haven’s public schoolchildren are getting used to eating more healthful lunches, reports the man at right in this photo.

His name is Chris Avtges, the head of food for the public school system. He’s shown in the photo sharing a laugh with schools construction chief Sue Weisselberg as they waited for a delayed Board of Ed meeting to start Monday night.

The New Haven school district put in place some fairly far-reaching nutritional guidelines two years before similar legislation passed the state legislature last year, as part of a broader nutrition and health effort. How has it been going since?

“We had already switched from fried to baked foods and gotten rid of all beverages with added sweeteners,” Avtges said. “At first the kids were a little disappointed, but now they’re buying what’s available. In fact, we’ve actually increased our participation in the school lunch program by 5 to 7 percent,” meaning that 78 percent of the kids buy their lunch.

Throw in breakfast for a lot of the kids, and Avtges oversees 27,000 meals a day for the 21,000-student body.

Weisselberg, meanwhile, showed up at the Board of Ed meeting to talk about preliminary work on the old West Hills School on Valley Street, which is the swing space for students when their home school is being renovated. The students at Beecher just swung out of it. Soon the students at Sheridan Middle School will swing into it, as their school gets its makeover.

Weisselberg and Avtges, along with the handful of other people in attendance Monday night, waited almost an hour for the actual board meeting to start, because of difficulties in mustering a quorum.

After 45 minutes a couple of board members walked in. Then they waited hopefully for fellow members to arrive. It seemed doubtful they would manage to scare up the quorum. But a call to board member Carlos Torre later in the evening revealed that — once board president Brian Perkins arrived late after dealing with an emergency and the others dialed up board member Pat McCann Viseppó, who participated by phone — the board did indeed have a quorum.
dan.JPGIn the meantime, “Dan the Music Man” (pictured) swung into action. His main job at Board of Ed meetings is to videotape the proceedings for the official record. His other self-appointed “job” is to play music before the meeting starts to “mellow people out.” On Monday he got to play a lot of music.

On the playlist: Latin jazz. (Click here for a sample).







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Comments

Posted by: Leslie Blatteau | May 1, 2007 9:50 AM

Am I missing something? While I'm thrilled that the nutritional value of the students' food is improving, I wonder if there's another story here? Why don't the members of the Board of Education show up for their meetings? Is it this sort of laissez-faire attitude that adds to the frustration so many people feel about our schools?

Posted by: East Rockette | May 1, 2007 12:46 PM

Plus, hello, improved nutrition? Good start, I guess, but the daily vegetable is still canned corn or green beans if you're lucky, and the daily fruit is a "fruit cup," i.e. pineapple ladled out of a can... Zoo animals get fresher, better food than that.

Can we get Alice Waters to come and work her magic for our schoolchildren and not just Berkeley College?

Posted by: maybe | May 1, 2007 6:33 PM

Maybe if people knew that the Mayor's mother passed away and services were last night the venet could have been rescheduled. In fact I am amazed that NHI, regardless of opinion on the administration would not list the passing of this wonderful woman. Shame on NHI and shame on the Ragister (not a spelling error) the mayor deserves more respect than he was given

Posted by: Observor | May 1, 2007 8:22 PM

What about Board members showing up? Will someone tell Pat McCann she actually has to attend meetings and not dial in. I haven't seen her at a meeting in over one year! Aren't there other members of the Board as well who never come to meetings? The Board is a joke. It makes a good case for why we should have an elected Board of people we can hold accountable by electing them or voting them out!

Posted by: Gary Doyens | May 1, 2007 10:11 PM

Am I reading this correctly? The New Haven Board of Ed members don't come to their own meetings? No wonder the architects are gong crazy and Mayo is overseeing a runaway school budget stuffed with consulting contracts and a bunch of new hires nobody at city hall knows what they do. Good god almighty...this is the mayor's board of ed right? Was Mayo there? How can you start a meeting an hour late?

Posted by: onceinside | May 13, 2007 11:42 AM

This is not an illusion and is far too common. The new hires are friends, cousins, nephews, or neices. It happens that way in New Haven. Unfortuately the people who know how to get the job done are the dispensible ones. Getting Board members to actually perform the jobs they were appointed to...Ha,don't be silly. Priviledge has it advantages, you know.

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