Serving a hot lunch at Scarborough schools is a money-losing proposition, according to school Nutrition Program Director Judy Campbell.

Campbell discussed Scarborough’s school nutrition with a handful of members of Scarborough Wellness during a Wednesday tour of the lunch service at the high school and Eight Corners School.

Unlike some school districts, Scarborough’s food program receives no district funding and must generate enough revenue to cover its approximately $1 million budget.

That pressure drives some of the schools’ choices of foods to sell at lunchtime, particularly at the high school and the middle school.

Up until about five years ago the district had provided some funding for the program. Since the change Campbell said she was able to break even for four years, but fell a little short last year, which she attributed to a number of factors including the construction of the new high school cafeteria.

It is impossible for Campbell to generate enough revenue through the hot lunch program. According to Campbell, it costs about $3.21 to make a meal, a figure that includes labor, food and packaging. However, that meal has to be sold for $2.25, a price regulated by the state.

At the same time, interest in hot lunches at the high school is low. During the last two months 30 percent of students purchased a hot lunch, which equals about $30,000 in sales. During that same time period food services sold $103,000 in a la carte menu items.

The only two lunch programs making money in the district are the middle and high school programs, which offer a la carte options. Those two programs subsidize the rest of the district’s lunches.

Lisa Letourneau, the founder of Scarborough Wellness, said the district has made some good moves in its food offerings. She was surprised by the range of what was available to students at the high school.

She said some more work could still be done to improve the nutrition in food sold at school. Letourneau suggested the district could offer more fruit and vegetables and less prepared food. She also said the food services could focus more on portion control.

Campbell said the district does control portions and said each server is trained in proper sizing before the start of the year.

Another area of concern for Letourneau was the fact that the district was offering both whole and 1 percent chocolate milk.

Campbell said students liked the whole milk version better. But Letourneau questioned whether sales would decline if just the 1 percent were offered.

High school students have a wide range of lunch options, from processed chicken to a salad bar and a deli offering turkey, ham and salami. Also offered are hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers.

Students at Eight Corners have fewer options. On Wednesday they could get hot dogs or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Students also could get some corn and apples or fruit cocktail. Campbell said that she would soon begin offering grilled cheese sandwiches as an everyday option.

Campbell said most food is wasted at the elementary level and guesses one reason is because the children are talking a lot during lunch. She said that she would like to see the lunch period last for about 10 more minutes than it does now about 20 minutes.

Scarborough Wellness became involved with school nutrition discussions when the school board began discussion state changes to the food policy. Wellness members felt it provided the district a good opportunity to make some meaningful changes to what is being served in school.

While the board decided not to make any changes, Wellness members have remained active in the discussion and on Thursday will meet with Campbell to discuss the program again.

That discussion is part of a larger district effort to develop a wellness policy, which will be required by the federal government beginning next fall.

Scarborough Wellness members will tour the middle school and Wentworth Intermediate School later this week.

Lisa Letourneau (left) and Heidi Will (right), both the Scarborough Wellness, discussing the school lunch program with Scarborough School Nutrition Program Director Just Campbell.

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