Roberts dines at HHS, discusses federal lunch program

School lunches at Holton High School have changed a lot in the past 60 years  - a fact Sen. Pat Roberts can personally attest to after dining with students at the cafeteria Thursday.

“We didn’t have the mandates telling us what we could and could not eat,” Roberts told members of the HHS Student Council. “We had a school lunch administrator, and we ate what everybody else was eating at that time.”

The HHS alumnus serves as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which oversees school lunch regulations. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is the driving force behind the requirements, which are set to expire on Sept. 30. Before the act is reauthorized, Roberts plans to eat lunch at 10 schools in the state to hear student feedback on the program.

Roberts supports healthier choices for students to reduce obesity but said the federal government is too involved in “our daily lives and pocketbooks.”

“I have problems with the federal government putting out mandates on what people eat,” he said. “I just don’t think our founding fathers were sitting around a table after they wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our Constitution, sat back and said ‘I have a great idea. Let’s mandate what people eat.’ I don’t think that was quite in their thought process.”

Schools were required to implement new food standards in 2012, which included limiting high school lunches between 750 to 850 calories.

Student council members, who met with Roberts an hour before lunch was served, shared their frustrations with the limited calories available to them, especially those who are involved in sports after school.

Several of the male student athletes reported bringing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to snack on after lunch. It was noted that students can “double up” on their portions at lunch by paying extra. Holton High School currently charges $2.15 per lunch.

“We’re so well below the average (on price) that we’re required to increase the price by 15 cents every year for the next couple of years to stay within regulations,” Principal Rod Wittmer told Roberts.

While Roberts said he’s in favor of reauthorizing the school lunch regulations, he wants there to be more flexibility, noting that the tight standards are causing food waste for some districts, as well as reduced participation in others.

“We have to be careful at the federal level, and I think local control is the best control,” Roberts said. “I think the child nutrition program is doing a lot of good, but I think we can do it with less regulations.” 

Roberts said the overall goal of the program is to reduce childhood obesity.

“I think there are a lot of different ways we can fight it,” he said. “Turn off your iPhone and get off the couch.”

Roberts asked if the district requires students to enroll in physical education classes.

P.E., combined with a health class, is required for all freshmen students, Wittmer said.

 “We have certain graduation requirements mandated by the state so P.E. isn’t required after freshman year,” Wittmer said. “We do offer advanced P.E. classes that many students take.”

Student Council sponsor Debbie Harshaw expressed her concern with regulations regarding the school’s vending machines, which are the main source of revenue for the student council. Even when stocked with healthy snack options, Harshaw said there are regulations regarding when those machines can and cannot be turned on.

“We’re finding it hard to have enough funds this year because the machines can’t be run during the lunch period,” Harshaw said. “It’s competition with the lunch program so we’re having to find other sources of revenue.”

After the discussion, Roberts joined students in the lunch line where he was served a biscuit with sausage gravy, a sausage patty and two hash brown cakes. Roberts then choose a carton of plain milk, green beans and an apple to round out his lunch.

Like every student at the school, Roberts’ selections were inspected at the end of the lunch line by teacher Alex Bartel to make sure Roberts had enough lunch components (meat, grain, fruit, vegetable and milk) to meet federal standards. 

“It was a well-prepared meal and very nutritious, but I don’t know if I would have doubled up on that,” Roberts said.