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| By Courtney Llewellyn Reminder Assistant Editor EAST LONGMEADOW For the first time in 14 years, the East Longmeadow Public Schools will see an increase in the price of lunches district wide. The increase of 25 cents per lunch at each school level is a modest one, according to the school system's business manager, Theresa Olajarz. "Fuel prices have had a domino effect, on grocery prices, on everything," Olajarz told Reminder Publications. "[The increase in lunch prices] is not a bad increase. I hope it does the trick." Elementary school lunches will cost $1.50 each in the 2008-09 school year; middle school and high school lunches will be $2; and adult lunches will cost $2.75 each. In contrast, lunches in the Hampden/Wilbraham district start at $2 each, as do the lunches in Longmeadow. West Springfield school lunches start at $1.75. "We always try to provide a quality lunch at the smallest price," Olajarz explained. "One thing that helps us [save money] is that we're keeping all the meals the same at all the schools," Food Services Director Joan Huhtanen said. "That prevents waste. Students do prefer certain brands, though, which is more expensive but participation [in the lunch program] goes up because of it. It's a balancing act." Huhtanen added that about 63 percent of the district's approximate 3,000 students participate in the lunch program, which helps pay for all the food services. Lunches include the main entree, a second choice meal of a chicken patty at the elementary level and a variety of bars (pizza, salad, hot dog, deli or spicy chicken, etc.) at the middle and high schools. "We depend on the paying child," Huhtanen said. She noted that approximately seven percent of students are enrolled in the free or reduced lunch programs. Normally, the food services program ends the year with $185,000 in reserves for emergency repairs and day to day expenses; it ended this school year with $131,000 in reserves. "That shows how fuel prices are changing things," Olajarz said. The increase in school lunches should increase the reserve fund by about $71,000. The East Longmeadow Public Schools serve more than 286,000 meals to students and adults working in the district each school year. To learn more about the lunches the schools serve and their nutritional values, visit www.eastlongmeadowma.gov and click on the Schools page. The first year of the 2008-09 school year will be Aug. 26. |