Not enough profit from Cornwall school

CORNWALL — School lunches seem so simple, a perfect combination of peanut butter and jelly, cold milk and hot soup.

But in fact they’re one of the trickiest issues that boards of education must deal with each year. Many schools have had programs for years, and have had to adjust as nutrition pyramids and popular tastes change. But even new programs have their growing pains. Case in point: The lunch program at Cornwall Consolidated School (CCS), which is only in its second year, is already hitting a snag.

A kitchen was included in the recent school renovation, but was not designed to meet requirements of an on-site lunch program. It’s probably just as well, as some schools running their own programs are now struggling to break even against rising food costs.

The answer in Cornwall seemed to come last year in the form of a program through Education Connection in Litchfield. Lunches that meet the state’s nutritional guidelines are delivered four days per week. The cost to students is $3.50 a day.

The fifth day of the week, Friday, had been pizza day, a fundraiser sponsored by the eighth grade —until this year, when parents decided the amount of work wasn’t worth the profit.

So a decision was made at the beginning of this school year to offer the delivered lunch five days per week. Since then, there has been a marked decrease in daily sales, not just on Fridays but every day.

The situation was discussed by the Board of Education at its Nov. 20 meeting. Principal Kathleen Fitzgibbons said the theory is that families are not willing or are unable to budget more toward buying lunch, and are sticking with a four-day schedule.

What that means to Education Connection is another trip to Cornwall with no additional sales to offset the cost.

Education Connection has suggested a juice and water vending machine that could provide profits that would allow them to continue providing a full week of lunches here.

Overall, board members were not thrilled with the vending machine idea, but said they would consider it if it was the only way to keep the program going. They also discussed looking into reestablishing a lunch delivery by a local establishment.

In the meantime, they agreed to go back to the four-day schedule.