Kitchens Without
CooksA future
of frozen food for Chicago’s
schoolchildren?
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Kitchens Without CooksA future of frozen food for Chicago’s schoolchildren?
While the debate on school nutrition continues to grab the national headlinesthrough Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, controversy surrounds the lunchprogram in the First Lady’s hometown. Amidst stories of Chicago Public Schoolsofficials taking improper gifts from food service vendors and kids not eating theschools’ food, CPS is making decisions that will have a tremendous impact on thefuture of food for Chicago’s kids. That future doesn’t look fresh—in a $1 billioninitiative to “modernize” Chicago’s schools, CPS has decided that reheated frozenfood will be fed to the city’s elementary schoolchildren.
Currently over one third of our elementary schools are feeding our kids thesereheated frozen meals every day, and that number is growing. Whereas mostschools have skilled and experienced cooks working in fully-equipped kitchens,these elementary schools have “warming kitchens” where frozen pre-platedpackaged meals, manufactured outside the school, are simply reheated. CPS evenmandates that the food delivered to the school “shall not require the opening ofcans at the serving site.” The result is a kitchen without any cooks.
Frozen vs. FreshIn a January 2012 report the lunchroom workers of Chicago’s schools explained
these two food models. The report also detailed a survey of 436 of theexperienced lunchroom workers of Chicago public schools. In that survey 73% saidthe cooked food model was better.
Mirabelle Martinez has served frozen food at Haughan Elementary in the city’sAlbany Park neighborhood for the last 10 years. “The kids are telling me every daythat they don’t like the food. We need a change,” she says.
On the other side of the city, in the Englewood community, lunchroom workerPatricia Williams tells a similar story of serving frozen meals to her students atHolmes Elementary. “A lot of these kids rely on thisfood and it hurts to see them not eat it. We need togo back to cooking food from scratch.”
Parents and kids seem to agree.
Melissa Arroyo attends Cleveland Elementary in Albany Park, which also servesthe frozen pre-plated food. “We should have fresh and cooked food in my school,”she said. Her mother, like many parents we’ve talked to across the city, wasunaware that the food her daughter eats everyday was not cooked in her school.
A concerned parent, Jerry Ward, whose daughter attends Wendell Smith onthe South side, was adamant that he doesn’t want frozen food served to his child.“I want the hard working ladies inside of Wendell Smith to prepare fresh, hot,cooked meals. I don’t want them bringing in any frozen meals for my kid.”
“A lot of these kids rely on this food and ithurts to see them not eat it. We need to goback to cooking food from scratch.”
Unfortunately parents like Jerry may be disappointed that CPS has quietlychosen a different path. The future plans for food service in Chicago’s elementaryschools can be found hidden in section IV (A) of its 2008 bid solicitation for pre-plated frozen meals where it states,
“The District operates warming kitchens in approximately 178 locations. Allnew K-8 schools, additions, and renovation projects are planned to be builtwith warming kitchens.”
At schools across Chicago these changes are taking effect.
“Kids used to eat the food”Students at Sawyer Elementary, in the Southwest side’s Gage Park community,
used to enjoy food prepared by experienced CPS cooks every day, but the schoolhass switched to the frozen food model. Now these same workers are simplyreheating delivered frozen food over which they have little input or control andserving it to the kids. Their skills are going to waste and the workers report otherchanges.
Leo Carter Jr., a 13 year veteran of CPS food service, has experienceworking in both the old cooking and new frozen food kitchen ofSawyer Elementary. “The kids used to eat the food in Sawyer when wecooked,” he says. “Now that we use the frozen food I see a lot of itgoing in the garbage. Cooking may be more work for me but I’d do it forthe kids.”
In addition to schools like Sawyer which have transitioned to thefrozen food model, CPS has shown a clear preference for frozen foodin newly built elementary schools.
Food of the Future?A new rebuilt Skinner West elementary school opened in the West Loop
neighborhood in fall 2009. In the old Skinner West school, students used to beserved cooked food. However, despite spending over $40 million on the newschool, CPS decided that the kids should be fed frozen food that a worker likenedto “TV dinners.”
Jason Haynes worked at Skinner before the new school was built and is criticalof changes to the food service at the school. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Weshould have stayed with the cooked food in our schools.”
Gloria Newsome works at the new SkinnerElementary. “I’ve worked for the Board of Education forthe last 26 years serving food to the kids in CPS schoolsand I’ll be retiring soon. It hurts me to think that in theyears ahead we’ll be serving this frozen food to all elementary kids in Chicago. Weneed to cook from scratch like the old days.”
“ It hurts me to think that in the yearsahead we’ll be serving this frozen foodto all elementary kids in Chicago.”
Skinner is one of 11 new elementary schoolsbuilt since 2006 under the Modern SchoolsAcross Chicago initiative.
The Modern Schools Across Chicago(MSAC), a $1 billion program, was launched inAugust 2006 to construct 19 new schoolbuilding projects. The building programincludes 12 elementary schools, of which 11 arenow complete and open.
Out of the 11 completed schools, nine are now using the frozen food model.This means that 81% of these new elementary schools built under MSAC servefrozen food compared to 36% of existing elementary schools.
Modern Schools Across Chicago – $117m under BudgetElementary Schools Serving Frozen Food
The Roseland community on the city’s South side broadly welcomed theopening of Langston Hughes elementary, another MSAC school. “When I heardCPS decided to build a new modern school at Langston Hughes I was so excited. Ithought we would have a beautiful new cooking kitchen. Unfortunately we arestuck just reheating frozen food for the kids,” says Adrienne Chambers, a 14-yearveteran of CPS who has worked at Langston Hughes since it opened in 2009.
Another Langston Hughes lunchroom worker, Tiffany Guynes, has a son attend - ing the school. “The first day I walked into the cafeteria two questions came to mymind. Where is the stove? And where are the cooks? We don’t have either atLangston Hughes.” Many days Tiffany packs a lunch for her son instead of letting
School Neighborhood Opened TIF Funds (estimated)
Total Cost (estimated)
Langston Hughes Elementary Roseland Fall 2009 - $45.93
Mark T. Skinner West Elementary West Loop Fall 2009 $40.12 $40.14
Dr. Jorge Prieto Academy Belmont-Cragin Fall 2009 $38.62 $38.85
Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary Avondale Fall 2010 $35.00 $43.57
Mariano Azuela Elementary West Lawn Fall 2010 - $35.49
Calmeca Academy Brighton Park Fall 2010 - $42.51
West Ridge Elementary West Ridge Fall 2010 $31.04 $42.04
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Academy South Shore Fall 2011 - $35.75
Ogden International School Gold Coast Fall 2011 - $60.57
him eat the frozen food she serves the other kids. “I wouldn’t eat a lot of this food.If it’s not good enough for me, it’s not good enough for my son,” she says.
Araceli Salgado, a parent with three children attendingFederico Lorca Elementary in the Avondale neighborhood, isalso concerned about the food served to her children. “Afterspending over $43 million on our new school it should havebeen built with a cooking kitchen,” she said. “Why did CPS or the school not consultwith parents about the best options for feeding the kids in our school?”
As of June 14th, 2011 the MSAC was $117,401,782 or 10.9% under budget.
The Preferred Frozen Food VendorIf students aren’t benefiting from the frozen meals, who is?
Preferred Meal Systems is the company that manufactures the pre-platedfrozen food for CPS and was recently named in the press as involved in an ethicsscandal with a senior CPS official. Its $24 million food contract for CPS wasrenewed last June and is due to expire June 13th 2012. Preferred Meal Systems hasbeen criticized around the country for its delivery of meals to public schools.
In Boston, the school department decided to drop Preferred Meals in July 2011after public debate. The Boston Globe reported that “Preferred Meal Systems hadbeen criticized by students, parents, and members of the Boston City Council formaking its food in a Pennsylvania factory and trucking it hundreds of miles” toBoston’s schools.
Meanwhile, in August 2009, Washington, D.C public school officials begantransitioning all 76 elementary schools which used Preferred Meals, away frompre-packaged meals and in its place implemented a “fresh cook” policy. AnthonyTata, D.C public school CEO, said “The students wanted better tasting food, andwe believe fresh cooked meals taste better”.
In San Francisco, an August 15th 2011 blunder by Preferred Meals left thestudents at 76 elementary schools without hot food on the first day of the schoolyear. Loaded delivery trucks left the Preferred Meals distribution center two hourslate and when the frozen food was finally delivered it was too late as it stillneeded to be reheated by cafeteria staff.
In Chicago, Let’s Cook!The 3,200 frontline workers who prepare over 77,000 school breakfasts and
280,000 school lunches each day for the children of Chicago in over 600 schoolsoffer a different vision: Feed Chicago’s kids the food they deserve.
These workers want to use their talents to cook fresh food for the children ofChicago. They stand ready to work with CPS in implementing the changes whichneed to be made to repair a system in crisis. Accordingly they recommend againthat CPS do the following.
“After spending over $43 million onour new school it should have beenbuilt with a cooking kitchen.”
1. Actively solicit and incorporate our input as it improves school food. Wehave a unique perspective and a lot of experience.
2. Make a commitment to cooking, which means CPS needs to agree to:• Avoid replacing cooked food with frozen food• Build full-size cooking kitchens in all new schools
3. Help us reach our full potential as caretakers for Chicago’s children. Wewant comprehensive training on cooking, serving and eating healthy food.
4. Encourage us to keep students and parents informed if we feel there is aproblem with food quality or safety in our cafeterias, and ensure that we areprotected by our collective bargaining agreement if we do so.
Over 1000 parents have already signed a petition in support of theserecommendations. For the future of food for Chicago’s kids, Let’s Cook!
