By DONNA JACOB

Staff Reporter

RESERVE – &#8220We are a learning laboratory in the food department,” says Vivian Landry of Center Will Consultants as she announced numerous improvements recently made to the St. John Parish School Lunch Program.

The consultants group was hired by the St. John Parish School System to evaluate its school lunch program last year. The review was performed to help modernize and streamline the lunch program and make it more efficient.

Following the review, consultants provided recommendations and analysis as part of a three-phase plan – Phase One, discovery and research on the handling of the lunch program; phase two, compliance with state guidelines; and phase three, training programs implementing strategies to improve the lunch program.

The review pinpointed problem areas to be addressed. They included outdated computer systems, poor records of student meal status reports, under use of commodity foods, inadequate labor for staffing lunchrooms, lack of training and management, a need for large cafeteria equipment, improvement of centralization of school menus and improvement of satellite food programs food distribution.

Landry said site visits were being conducted, new training programs were being developed and a plan to improve internal communication was being created.

This May, the review concluded and the St. John Parish School Board considered the recommendations and took action to implement changes.

Outdated computer systems were replaced and networking was provided. Every school cafeteria in the parish received a new cafeteria computer with MCS software. The new software is geared towards how the Louisiana school lunch program operates. Another advantage the programoffered is that it can function as a point of sale computer with touch screens. The new touch screens will help with cross training employees.

Poor records of student meal status reports was also resolved with the implementation of the new software. The all inclusive program covers all aspects of school food services. Free and reduced school meals, food production, inventory management verification and nutrition analysis will all be managed with the new state-of-the-art software.

The new system also helps simplify processing free and reduced school lunch applications. The applications will be scanned for input information and will be determined on a household basis rather than on an individual student basis. Applications will be submitted by the oldest student in each household.

The systemwide under use of commodity foods to provide balanced meals was another area of concern. To address this problem the school system has contracted a service to deliver these commodities on a frequent basis. The use of commodity foods, which include fruits, vegetables, grains and meat, helps the schools keep its food costs down.

The inadequate labor and training management situation was addressed by cross training employees in all aspects and monthly training meetings.

Large cafeteria equipment was moved from the St. John Early Childhood Development Center in Garyville to John L. Ory Magnet School. Rather than purchase more equipment, the decision was made to relocate the unused cooking equipment to a school which needed it. The need for large equipment at other area schools is still being evaluated and will be brought to the attention of the school board.

The review suggested the need to improve the centralization of school menus. Cafeteria managers will be required to comply with the three-week cycle menus. Using the new computer system, managers can pull up menus by the day, week, month or by the year.

Fifth Ward Elementary School cafeteria managers are working to improve food distribution to the satellite schools that they prepare meals for. Landry says she is working to improve communication between the cafeterias to meet the students’ needs.

&#8220We are working to encourage healthy eating and to increase portion sizes for healthy foods,” says Landry.