1. National School Lunch Program
Zaheerah Y Shareef, RN MSN
Walden University
July 17,2009

2. Target Audience Children grades 6-12 Parents of children grades K-12
Teachers
School Dietitians
This presentation is intended for a wide based groups to include children grades 6-12, parents of children grades K-12, teachers, school dietitians. The rationale of targeting children in grades 6-12 is because they have a greater knowledge base than students in grades K-5.

3. What is the National School Lunch Program?
The NSPL is a federally assisted meal program that operates in public and non-profit private schools (USDA,2009).
NSPL provides nutritionally balanced meals to students based on the Food Guide Pyramid.
The meals are offered at reduce price or free of charge.
The National School Lunch Program is a program that is offered by the federal government to elementary, middle and high school students in most states in the United States. The NSPL operates in both public and non-profit private schools. The National School Lunch Program provides meals that are often comprised of components of the Food Guide Pyramid, which include grains, vegetables, fruits, milk products and meat/beans.

4. What is the National School Lunch Program (cont’d)
NSLP operates in over 101,000 institutions across the United States to over 30.5 million children.
In 1998, Congress expanded the NSLP to include snacks to children in afterschool programs.
The NSLP covers children to 18 years of age.
The school lunch program operates to over 30 million children in over 100,000 elementary, middle and secondary educational institutions to children to the age of 18. In 1998, Congress made an expansion to include snacks to children in afterschool programs.

5. What is the National School Lunch Program (cont’d)
The NSLP operates on both the federal and state levels.
Federal: NSLP is operated by the Food and Nutrition Service.
State: NSLP is operated by state funded education agencies
The national school lunch program operates mainly on a federal level with individual state participation.

6. Origin of the National School Lunch Program
The National School Lunch Program was established under the National School Lunch Act that was signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1946 (USDA, 2009).
President Truman wanted to enact this program to protect children.

7. Origin of National School Lunch Program (cont’d)
Program was established after noticing that young men who attempted to enlisted and who were drafted in World War II had been malnourished as children.
President Truman and Congress believed that implementing this program was a “measure of national security” (FRAC, 2009). This is because millions of young men who attempted to enlist and who were drafted in the military for World War II were being rejected because of a connection between physical deficiencies and malnutrition (FRAC, 2009)

8. How Does National School Lunch Program Work?
The National School Lunch Program participation is left to the discretion of the public and non-profit private schools.

9. Benefits of School Lunch Program
The schools that choose to participate in the NSLP program are entitled to receive cash subsidies as a reimbursement.
Schools who participate in the program also receive donated commodities from the USDA for each meal served.
Commodities offered by the USDA are often comprised of unprocessed and partially processed foods. They are a supplement to the cash reimbursement that is received.

10. Nutritional Requirements for School Lunches
Must meet the applicable recommendations of the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA, 2009)
According to the USDA, the School Lunches are required to have no more than 30% of the calories come from fat and 10% of unsaturated fat (USDA, 2009). In addition, the School Lunch Program require that the meals have a balance of protein, Vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium. However, it is at the sole discretion of the individual school what is served as long it includes the aforementioned nutrients.

11. How can children qualify for the School Lunch Program?
For free meals, children must have a family income at or below 130% of the poverty level.
For reduced-price meals, children must have a family income between 130 and 185% of poverty level.
Children who are over 185% of poverty level pay full price, but may still receive a subsidy depending on the school.
There are qualifications that children must meet in order to be eligible for free or reduced priced meals. In order to be eligible for free meals, children must have a combined family income at or below 130% of the national poverty level. Eligibility for the reduced price meals requires that children have family incomes between 130 and 185% and then they are charged no more than 40 cents for meals. According to the USDA, the poverty level income for is $27,560 (130%) and $39,220 (185%)

12. Qualifications (cont’d)
Afterschool snacks have the same eligibility requirement as school lunch program.
Schools who have over 50% of its students receiving free or reduced price meals, may receive their snacks free.

13. Other Nutrition Programs
School Breakfast Program
Summer Food Service Programs
Afterschool Snacks
Afterschool Suppers
In addition to the National School Lunch Program, there are other nutrition programs geared toward school age children. The School Breakfast Program is designed for students who are not able to eat breakfast at home for either financial or physical reasons. The Summer Food Service Program is designed for students to replace the breakfasts and lunches that they receive during the school year that they may lose in the summer when school is out.

14. What can be done to improve school nutrition in the community?
Providing more variety of foods in the high school cafeteria.
Offering educational opportunities to food service employees related to nutrition
Involvement of parents and students to collaborate with community leaders in making recommendations relating to school cafeteria menus and school nutrition as a whole.
Making school lunch affordable for all students regardless of income status.
There are many ways that school nutrition can be improved in the community. First, there can be a greater variety of foods that are provided. For instance, in the elementary and middle schools in my community, there is a monthly menu which provides a healthy balance of the basic food groups. However, in the local high school, the menu stays uniform lacking the basic food group components. For example, the high school in my community only offers two choices: pizza, juice and potato wedges OR cheeseburger, juice and potato wedges-a menu that is not appropriate especially when child and adolescent obesity is on the rise in the United States. Another method to improve school nutrition in the community is to offer educational opportunities to food service employees related to nutrition. These educational opportunities include but are not limited to nutrition classes and seminars. An excellent method to improve school nutrition in the community is for parents and students to take an active role by making recommendations relating to the school cafeteria menus by making suggestions in writing, as well as collaborating with community leaders to seek legislation regarding school nutrition. School nutrition can also be improved by making school lunch affordable for all students regardless of income status. This is because although income plays a factor in reduced price and free school lunches, and especially with the economy in such a poor state, families who, according to the free school lunch application , income is too high for the program, still may have difficulty providing adequate nutrition for their children.

15. Improvement of School Nutrition (cont’d)
All students should be given breakfast free of charge regardless of status (i.e. receiving free or reduced price meals or paying full price).
All students should be provided in between snacks that meet nutritional guidelines set up by the school district and the National School Lunch Program.
Students who attend daily afterschool programs should also be given dinner/supper free of charge regardless of status (i.e. receiving free or reduced price meals or paying full price).

16. Recommendations for Children Grades 6-12
Make an attempt to eat breakfast at home whenever possible.
Avoid eating foods such as candy, potato chips and carbonated drinks as meal replacements
Eat healthy snacks such as fruit, cottage cheese, cheese sticks and yogurt.
Do not skip meals
Make an effort to learn more about the food pyramid

17. Recommendation for Parents
Make sure that your child is eating three meals daily including snacks.
Try to keep junk food out of the house as much as possible.
When applying for free or reduced price meals, make sure that all information is accurate and up to date.
Get to know the dietitian or nutritionist at your child’s school and collaborate with him or her whenever possible.
Junk food can include but is not limited to packaged foods (i.e. potato chips, cookies, deserts), candy and carbonated beverages which are high in saturated fat, carbohydrates, sodium and calories and low in vitamins and minerals. Large consumption of the aforementioned play a significant role in child and adolescent obesity.

18. Recommendations for Dietitians
Collaboration with parents
Determine if there are children with special dietary needs and provide intervention as deemed necessary.
Collaborate with students to determine menu choices
Provide necessary intervention for students who are considered ineligible for reduced price and free meals.
Have snacks and meals readily available for students who enrolled in after school programs regardless of income.

19. Conclusion Nutrition is very important to school children.
Many children can not afford to have breakfast or any other decent meal at home.
Income levels play an important role in feeding children.

20. References
FRAC: An Afterschool Resource Center (2009). Retrieved from
USDA (2009). Retrieved from

21. Thank You