Facing deficit, high school brings banned snacks back

Gatorade, brownies, hot cocoa and other popular snacks can return to Bozeman High School’s cafeteria this fall.

The Bozeman School Board voted 5-3 Monday to leave the National School Lunch Program because its nutrition rules, designed to fight the national obesity epidemic, were deemed too strict.

The school’s food program lost $35,000 last year, and while that wasn’t as bad as the $205,000 mid-year loss, the program is supposed to be self-supporting to avoid eating into classroom dollars. Officials predicted that losses would deepen as federal food rules tighten in the next few years.

School Board trustees, in a rare split vote, agreed to adopt Superintendent Rob Watson’s recommendation to suspend the high school’s participation in the national lunch program. Bozeman’s elementary and middle schools will stay in the program.

Bozeman High’s dropping out will mean losing a $117,000 federal subsidy, but it will let teens have choices like Rice Krispy treats and other snacks, which will be outlawed under the Obama administration’s food rules this coming school year.

“We’re going to continue to serve healthy, wholesome meals,” promised Bob Burrows, food service director. He argued Bozeman High can continue to follow the old federal guidelines for making lunches healthier, and may actually be able to do more with local foods under more flexible food rules.

Burrows said the “one-size-fits-all” federal limit of 850 calories per meal was too low for active kids like athletes. And its limits on salt in future years would make it tough to offer most meals with meats.

Last school year under the federal program, white bread, Gatorade, tater tots, mini-burgers, goldfish crackers and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were banned from the menu, and cookies were shrunk in size. Next year, cocoa and other snacks would have been off limits.

With Bozeman High’s long tradition of an open campus at lunchtime, that would mean more students voting with their feet and eating at nearby fast-food restaurants and grocery stores.

“I think we can do far better than the federal program’s restrictions,” Vice Chair Andy Willett said. There’s a risk of a public backlash, he added, but the school district just spent $4.5 million to renovate and expand its food service building to create a top-notch food program.