School Lunch Guidelines | Video

Kristin Clouston | 12/19/2012

Most of them are too young to vote, but if they could, there`s a good chance kids would support Senator John Hoeven. When the USDA made changes to the school lunch program this year, kids weren`t happy, So, the Senator helped fix the problem, at least for now.

If your child complains about not getting enough food at school, you might want to ask what he actually ate at lunch.

"When the new regulations came out, the meal patterns, a lot of folks thought we were offering less food. We were required to reduce the amount of meats and grains that we offered, however we doubled the amounts of fruits and vegetables we offered so in reality, what we offered was more than we offered last year," said Bismarck Public Schools Food Services Coordinator Doug Joersz.

But kids don`t always appreciate or want food that`s good for them.

"The kids wanted more noodles, that was the main thing," said BPS dietitian Joan Knoll.

They`ll be getting more grains and protein too.

"It affected our meal planning slightly at the elementary level. There are a few things we had to reduce but now we can add them back the first of the year," Knoll said.

Bismarck public schools feed 9,000 kids a day.

"We`ve had to keep our menus pretty standard sized so we really were doing pretty well as far as meeting our criteria for amounts of food items," Knoll said.

But what works for Bismarck, doesn`t always work for rural schools, where students have longer commutes and are used to larger portions.

John: A one size fits all approach with these strict guidelines versus giving the professionals in the schools the flexibility to meet the overall calorie/protein limits over time in a flexible way that works," Hoeven said.

The change only affects this school year, but the Senator says he`s working towards a permanent fix so kids get food they like and proper nutrition.

Hoeven actually has a nutritionist on staff who is working directly with the USDA and North Dakota schools. Here in Bismarck, the school district posts pictures on its website, www.bismarckschools.org, so parents can actually see what their kids are getting for lunch.

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