By CATERINA GUINTA Staff Intern

Gas and food prices are up and, as a result, so are school lunch prices in Medina County.

Five of the county’s seven public school districts raised prices this year, with the economy cited as the culprit.

“The cost of everything has gone up between fuel surcharge and price of product itself,” Brunswick Food Service Director Karen Becker said.

It was pizza day on a recent Friday at Ella Canavan Elementary School in Medina and Myra Moore, 7, picks up a lunch served by Lisa Gannon. (Shirley Ware | Photo Editor)

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Wadsworth’s food service director, Jennifer Knapp, agreed.

“It comes down to cost of goods,” she said. “It’s the 6 to 7 percent increase in goods across the board.”

“Schools are not immune to the economic effects of higher prices for goods and services,” Cloverleaf Superintendent Daryl Kubilus said.

Another reason cited for high lunch prices are the wellness programs each school district is pushed to adopt.

“The hardest thing right now is to find healthy products … the parents can afford,” Becker said. “Everything that is deemed healthy has gone through the roof.”

Even global weather conditions are to blame for rising costs, Medina Food Service Supervisor Oksana Demianczuk said.

“All of the fruits and vegetables are more expensive because of climatical problems around the world,” she said.

Knapp said if Wadsworth converted every bread served to whole wheat, it would add an additional $7,798.58 per year. Wadsworth has converted some of the bread served, but not all, Knapp said.

Although the economy was cited as the No. 1 reason the five school districts raised lunch prices, it also was the reason the remaining two did not — Buckeye and Medina.

“I think our district is sensitive to the economical times,” Medina’s Demianczuk said.

Knapp, however, said some school districts may not have raised prices because they had money in reserve.

Buckeye, which hasn’t raised prices in two years, has the priciest lunches of all the districts. Food Service Director Gale Luther, however, prides Buckeye on its selection. The school district provides fresh soups each day, wraps, salads, and almost all sugar has been cut out of the lunchroom, she said.

“School lunches take a big hit on taste and quality,” Luther said.

Brown bag effect

So are parents choosing to pack instead of buy? Not necessarily.

At Wadsworth, lunch counts are up for all grade levels. At Valley View Elementary, for example, lunch counts were up 11 percent the first eight days of the 2008-09 school year compared to last year. They were up 12 percent at Central Intermediate School and 8 percent at the high school, Knapp said.

At Brunswick and Black River schools, however, food service directors have noticed more students packing.

From Sept. 4 to 12 this year compared to the same time last year, Black River’s Education Center is down by 600 lunches, Food Service Director Bonnie Cooper said. At the high school, the lunch count is up by 10.

Fewer bought lunches, isn’t good for the school district, the directors said.

“It affects Title I … the amount of money we will receive for commodity products,” Brunswick’s Becker said.

Other schools echoed the concern, saying low lunch counts would put a financial burden on the program.

“The food service depends on sales from student lunches to pay the employees, purchase food, repair and purchase equipment,” Highland Food Service Director Evelyn Makarek explained.

“You have children that really need to have the program because of their home and home lives,” Luther said. “Some of these kids, this is the only meal they get a day.”

Cooper said while she has noticed more students packing, she also has “been bombarded with free and reduced applications,” she said.

Packing vs. buying

During the 2007-08 school year, Knapp devised a chart comparing school lunches and groceries purchased at Super Wal-Mart. She included price, fat, protein, sodium, carbohydrates and calories. In all instances, the school lunch cost less and, in most instances, was healthier, she said.

At the bottom of her chart, Knapp explains how much parents could save.

“Wadsworth City Schools can save the average parent $0.68 per day. … This savings would equate to over $240.00 per school year for two children purchasing their lunches. …”

Knapp did say in some cases packing could be cheaper, but noted the cheapest bread with the cheapest peanut butter and the Little Debbie might not be the most nutritious meal.

“I think the hardest thing about food service is delivering the right product, at the right price, at the right time,” Knapp said.

“All schools are facing the same difficult challenges,” Medina’s Demianczuk said.

Guinta may be reached at 330-721-4046 or cguinta@ohio.net.