Annette Fuentes

In W. Oakland Middle School, cook Tamara Purifoy prepares cheeseburgers

Think of Jennifer LeBarre as the general of the Oakland Unified School District’s food service.

Every day, she marshals an army of 300 employees who prepare, cook, deliver and serve 21,000 lunches (and 6,500 breakfasts) to 107 schools, some with as few as 35 students and others with more than 1,000. She must devise meals for schools that have no kitchens to warm up hot food as well as those with warming ovens.

As director of the district’s nutrition service, LeBarre crafts weekly menus that she hopes will satisfy all constituents: federal and state agencies that set guidelines on student nutrition, school administrators, parents and, last but not least, her customers—the students. She must do all of this without spending more than about $1.20 for the food on the plate – less than half of what some wealthier districts spend.

“It’s difficult to please all the people,” said LeBarre, in an obvious understatement.

These days, LeBarre is tackling a challenge that would defy many a chef: creating more-nutritious meals that aren’t more expensive. She’s determined to use more scratch cooking, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and even vegetarian options. The healthier choices are not always embraced by the kids, at least not right away, but LeBarre is among the many school-food professionals who are taking very seriously their role in attacking childhood obesity and related ailments.

Annette Fuentes

Cook Tamara Purifoy reheats burgers in the W. Oakland Middle School kitchen

In the past few years, in fact, school lunch reform has become a cause célèbre in many school districts in the Bay Area as concerns mount about children’s health. And the Oakland school district, along with the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, is among the pioneers in injecting healthier food choices into their menus despite a paucity of resources and the challenges of re-educating taste buds.

School lunch funding in districts where many of the students are low-income is provided primarily by the National School Lunch Program, operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A revised school lunch law signed amidst much fanfare by President Barack Obama in January increases the federal reimbursement – but only by 6 cents per lunch, to a total of $2.81. The state provides another 22 cents; the $3.23 total must cover not only the food itself, but also labor -- the single most expensive ingredient in producing meals -- and overhead.

Schools also rely on commodities provided by the USDA, like surplus cheese, and fruit from a special program begun by former Sen. Hillary Clinton that sends surplus from local military bases.

“Once, we got bags of fresh apple slices—a ton of them—and put them on the menu three times,” said Lisa Maloney, a supervisor in the West Contra Costa County schools district nutrition service. “The kids were getting sick of them.”

Low-income school districts face a double-edged challenge: the don’t have the money for fancy food, but they have a higher percentages of kids who are overweight, as measured by the state’s physical fitness tests.

Among Oakland and West Contra Costa district students, more than a third were considered overweight in school year 2008-2009, according to the state’s fitness test. Healthy school lunches may not be a cure-all for such problems, but they play an important role in children’s and teen’s daily diet and nutrition education, says Gail Woodward-Lopez, associate director of the Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley.

“Children that eat federally reimbursable lunches tend to have better nutrition than kids who don’t,” said Woodward-Lopez. “School lunch does lead to more healthful eating.” A study published by the American Heart Journal in September 2010 backs her up. It found that the best ways to combat childhood obesity were to increase physical activity, reduce amount of time watching TV or a compute monitor, and improve the nutritional value of school lunches.