CATCH Champion for March 2007

An interview with June Hayman

Nutritionist, Austin Independent School District

When did you and your district adopt the CATCH Program and what prompted you to do so?

The Austin ISD School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) reviewed all of the state approved programs for the required coordinated school health program to be implemented in all Texas elementary schools by school year 2007 – 2008. The SHAC recommended CATCH to the school board and the school board voted to adopt CATCH. Trainings for the school teams occurred in October 2006.

Describe notable changes since implementing CATCH and how you know CATCH is working.

Our district is just getting started in the majority of the elementary schools but the enthusiasm is already “catching” on. It seems that everywhere you go there are “go, slow and whoa” posters in the cafeterias and in the hallways leading to the cafeterias. Our department has been invited to participate in numerous parent outreach events and health fairs.

What changes have you made in the past year to your breakfast and lunch menus?

Our department began implementing the Dietary Guidelines in 1995. Introducing whole-wheat rolls, making sandwiches with one slice of white bread and one slice of wheat bread, and increasing the serving size for fruits and vegetables were among the first changes. The original CATCH study was conducted in AISD when CATCH stood for something more complicated and research oriented. I believe it stood for Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health. Under the study, a nutritional analysis of our meals revealed that they were higher in fat than the recommendations. This led us to make more changes to reduce fat in the menus. For example some of the higher fat entrees were omitted almost immediately. No one protested this change. Our district does not fry foods. (In the past 30 years, there were two high schools that had fryers for a very short time due to pressure from principals.) Our main focus was on the products we were purchasing and our recipes. In the early 1990s we didn't have nutritional analysis software in order to know how these changes impacted the percent of calories from fat. Starting in 1998, we began analyzing our menus to ensure that menus met dietary guidelines and the Recommended Dietary Allowances for students. We search each year for new products for breakfast and lunch. Food manufacturers are constantly developing new products to meet the market demands for healthier versions of favorite foods. In the past few years we have changed from a biscuit containing 10 grams of fat, to a biscuit containing 4.5 grams of fat. We also have a sausage patty that is made from turkey, a breakfast chicken patty, 100% turkey hot dogs, turkey taco salad, turkey tacos, chicken pasta salad, chef salads, whole-wheat rolls, whole wheat bread stick, and white whole-wheat for the pizza crust at elementary schools.

About three years ago, we started serving fresh vegetables or a vegetable salad daily. We call the fresh vegetables “crunchy veggie dippers” and serve them with an ounce of low-fat Ranch dressing. Our varieties are carrots and celery, cucumbers and tomatoes, and baby carrots and broccoli. We tried cauliflower and broccoli, but very few children would take it, so we decided to pair the broccoli with baby carrots.

Four years ago, our Area Supervisors developed guidelines for setting up the serving lines to make the food more appealing. Instead of just serving whole fresh fruit, they came up with some attractive combinations of orange wedges with fresh grapes, red and green apple slices together, etc. With our emphasis on fresh vegetables and fresh fruit and the new colorful combinations, the serving lines look very inviting. We also offer the flavored milk in 1%. Our milk choices are 1% unflavored (go), 1% flavored (slow), and skim (go).

We have been on the kitchen side of the serving line introducing new foods to students, such as carrot lasagna and apricot crisp, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-wheat breads, etc. without support on the other side of the serving line to entice students to try new foods and to be excited about eating healthy. Already, one Area Supervisor reported that students in one school were selecting the skim milk. We know that was a direct result of the CATCH Program. I think that we will notice more evidence of CATCH working when we introduce different crunchy veggie dippers, different fruits and different entrée items and have the students select them.

How have you incorporated the classification of Go, Slow and Whoa foods into your menus and in the cafeterias?

We have sent out a menu calendar with the “go” foods highlighted in green, the “slow” foods highlighted in yellow, and the “whoa” foods highlighted in red. The calendar is sent via e-mail to the cafeteria managers who in turn send it to the staff at their elementary school. Currently, we have not identified the foods on the calendar that is sent to the parents. Our printer informed us that it would be three times the cost and take longer due to the older printing presses. We are investigating color printing to find out what it will take to provide this service. We are in the process of having plastic adhesive signs for “go”, “slow” and “whoa” for the managers to place in the serving line, so that the students will be able to directly identify the menu item with the appropriate designation.

After reviewing the list, we realized that fruits canned in light syrup are considered a slow food. Since we would like to make it easier for students making selections from our cafeteria lines, we are trying to make sure that all fruits and vegetables are “go” foods. Last year, we started only purchasing fruits canned in plain water or natural juices. We also discovered that our regular saltine crackers that are served with the entrée salads are “whoa” so we are re-writing our cracker specifications to make a change. Two years ago, we started seasoning our cooked vegetables with a butter-flavored substitute instead of margarine. This year our chef developed a seasoning recipe with the butter-flavored substitute and herbs. We have included vegetables with the seasoning in our “taste of go” in the evening family events.

How have your cafeteria managers been able to work as a team with the PE teachers, classroom teachers, etc.?

Each elementary cafeteria manager attended the CATCH training as part of the campus team. The managers are actively involved in promoting CATCH on their campuses. We have been involved with parent and family evening activities. Our managers in many cases have come to school in the evening opened the cafeteria and provided a taste of some of our “go” foods such as the cinnamon oatmeal, whole-wheat bread stick, non-fat seasoned mixed vegetables, salads, crunchy veggie dippers, and fresh fruit.

What are the keys to your success?

Priorities, Relationships, and Collaboration. The nutritional integrity of the school meals program is absolutely the first priority of the Austin Independent School District 's Nutrition and Food Service Department. It starts with the Director, Chris Carrillo-Spano who is a dietitian very committed to providing nutritious meals to students. Due to her commitment, the rest of the staff is empowered to make nutrition number one. Yvonne Seiders, Assistant Director for our department is also a dietitian and works to purchase the most nutritious foods possible. Yvonne works diligently to find new products and test them with students. Our Area Supervisors support all of our efforts in their working relationships with the cafeterias and schools.

Our district involvement with the SHAC and those positive relationships has led to collaboration of P.E. and Health with Nutrition and Food Service. Two years ago, an idea came from a discussion with some of the SHAC members, Michelle Rusnak, the P.E. Coordinator, Tracy Lunoff, the Student Health Coordinator and myself. As a result of that interaction we started including “Family Health and Fitness Fun” calendars on the monthly menu calendars that are provided to each elementary student. Each calendar includes weekly health and fitness discussions, muscle exercises, physical activities, heart exercises and physical activities that tie into the classroom lessons and activities for that month. These relationships encourage communication and understanding. Sometimes people are quick to judge the school menus without having all of the information to make informed evaluations. Tracy Lunoff often answers these criticisms on our behalf. She and Michelle Rusnak have been our defenders and champions. Many members of the SHAC also have a clear understanding of the nutritional integrity of our meals and readily answer others with full and informed explanations. The commitment of SHAC to student health has paved the way for great success with CATCH.

We have developed a fact sheet for our managers and the CATCH teams to assist them in furthering their knowledge of the schools meals and we have a web site where we post the full nutritional information of each menu item. We fully support our managers' involvement in CATCH to the extent of paying for their time if CATCH meetings or activities have to be held outside of their regular working hours. The director, Chris Spano, also approved funding classroom materials for 30 schools not covered under a CATCH grant. When there are positive relationships among people who share priorities, great collaboration is the result and this ultimately leads to encouraging students and parents to lead healthier lifestyles.

What are the challenges you face implementing CATCH in such a large school district with 70+ elementary schools and how did you overcome them?

The first thing that comes to my mind is the identification of the menu items for “go”, “slow”, and “whoa”. I think that it's important that each school share the same menu identifications. This can be tricky because the criteria for go entrees are 16 grams of fat and less. The hamburger patty is a “go” food and the whole-wheat hamburger buns are also a “go” food. But when they are combined, the hamburger is 16.5 grams of fat, which makes it a “slow” food. Jerri Ward with CATCH advised us to identify it as a “go” because two “go” foods does not make a “slow” food. Therefore, on the calendar menu that has the menu items highlighted, I separated the patty and bun and highlighted them green for “go”. I am thankful for computers and e-mail because we can quickly communicate with the CATCH teams through e-mails to our cafeteria managers. This method of communication will help keep the messages standard throughout the district.

What has been the reaction from parents, administration, students, and community? Have the children enjoyed the new foods?

As explained previously, our menus have been evolving over a period of time. We test something and see how it goes. After introducing some bread items made with whole wheat, we gradually increased the number of whole-wheat items as student acceptability grew. This year, we introduced a bagel and cream cheese product for breakfast called “Bagelers” which were made with white whole wheat. The nutritional makeup of the product was very good, but the acceptance of the product by the students was very poor. It was probably too unfamiliar to the majority of students in our district. We will have to discontinue this item because of lack of acceptability.

In a few years we may re -introduce the Bagelers and then see if student acceptance is better due to the nutrition lessons and CATCH Program support. It will probably take some time for us to see the affects of the nutrition lessons on menu selections. We have seen immediate results of giving parents a taste of some of the menu items and explaining our philosophy of providing the healthiest versions possible of foods familiar to students, such as the turkey hot dogs and turkey tacos. Parents have been positive about the no-fat vegetable seasoning, the pizza made with white whole wheat, low-fat cheese and turkey pepperoni, and the attractive fresh fruits and vegetables.

Have the teachers been more supportive of school food service since CATCH was implemented?

I think that the inclusion of the cafeteria manager on the campus teams has been very positive for the relationships on campus. With the focus on “go”, “slow”, and “whoa”, the teachers are becoming more knowledgeable of the nutrition goals of our program.

What are your plans for the future? What is your CATCH vision?

I am sooo…. excited about CATCH. I can envision introducing new menu items with support on the other side of the serving line. Just by having the line of communication through the cafeteria manager to the CATCH team, we could let them know that a new item is coming. The CATCH team could work on some strategies for introducing the item ahead of time to students and parents, and possibly reward students trying the item. Who knows what could be in the future…. Sweet potatoes? Salmon? This is a very satisfying time for me as a school district dietitian and for our entire staff.

Anything else you would like to add?

I feel so privileged to have been with AISD when CATCH was a study and to have seen the positive results that study had on our department's menu planning and on student selection. Now it's even better due to an active and committed SHAC, the support of our Superintendent, Pat Forgione, having our great student health coordinator, Tracy Lunoff, our wonderful P.E. coordinator, Michelle Rusnak and the support of the Texas Department of Agriculture and many committed Texas legislators. For A.I.S.D., the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation for the Advancement for Healthy Living will ensure the successful implementation of CATCH in all of our elementary schools.

CATCH has come a long way and now has the research to prove that a coordinated approach to child health can make a difference. It's great to be a small part of that difference for the students of A.I.S.D.

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