Jordan District earns an F in lunch

Elementary kids might love chicken nuggets and pizza, but those kinds of school lunches helped Jordan School District get an F and Davis District a C+ on a national school lunch report card issued Tuesday.

The grades are part of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's 2007 School Lunch Report Card. While school meals may meet USDA nutritional guidelines, the group decries those standards as lax because they allow for foods high in fat and cholesterol, and pushes schools to offer more fruits and vegetables and vegan fare.

"Given the prevalence of obesity among children and adults, it is clear that schools should meet nutrition standards that are more stringent than those set by the USDA," the report states.

But Jordan's director of nutrition services takes issue with the report's accuracy — she says elementaries do not serve a foot-long hot dog or the colossal burger, as the report states — and says the district deserves a B grade or better.

While leaders from Davis School District, the 64th largest in the country, had no comment on the accuracy of the report, assistant superintendent Paul Wait said he is very pleased with the direction the district is going in terms of nutrition. And though he acknowledges there may be ways Davis can improve, he said the district is moving swiftly in the right direction.

The $8.2 billion school lunch program serves about 30 million lunches a day in about 100,000 schools across the country. The physicians' group evaluates program meals annually because of their influence on kids' health in a time of rising childhood obesity rates.

The group evaluated 22 elementary school lunch programs in the nation's 100 largest school districts. Jordan and Davis were the only ones evaluated in Utah, and ranked 21st and 12th overall.

Schools were graded on obesity and chronic disease prevention, health promotion and nutrition adequacy and nutrition initiatives. Pinellas County Schools in Florida got the only A; A minuses went to Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina, Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and San Diego Unified School District. St. Louis Public Schools ranked last.

High-scoring schools offered more plant-based entrees, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, served nondairy beverages and provided nutritional education in the cafeteria.