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At the end of the line, a section of vegetables, including today’s special - carrot wheels - is available. Don’t like carrots? Don’t get them. Like them a lot? Get a bit more than most students.

It’s all part of Sealy ISD’s new school lunch program, now in its second year.

Students have more choices at all of the campuses and can make a decision what they want to eat and what they don’t want to eat.

“It teaches them portion control and how to get what they want,” SISD food service director Donovan DePriest said. “What this does is allow them to make healthy choices.”

And providing students with healthy choices is key to making the system work. Old favorites now have healthy twists. Pizza is low fat with a whole wheat crust. A fruit and cheese plate gives students the chance to still eat a meal with protein in it, even if they’re not in the mood to eat meat.

Parents are helping to give the district some input, too, thanks to the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC).

They are asking questions like, “’If you have nachos, can you have protein in them?’” DePriest said. “It’s all about good food and good education.”

And more choices are being added all the time, some on a seasonal or limited basis. Recently, to mirror the political elections taking place, elementary students voted on the foods they would most like to see on the menu. Once tallied, those foods will be available for them to eat on a limited basis.

“They had shrimp po’ boys at the high school last week and two days ago they served a biggie sandwich, which is a version of a muffaletta,” DePriest said.

The new choices help children to develop a taste for foods that are new and different.

“It changes their taste buds,” DePriest said. “Who would have thought an elementary kid who would only eat pepperoni pizza now is eating Hawaiian pizza with pineapple and Canadian bacon?”

Healthy choices extend all the way to meals at the high school, with fruits and vegetables offered in every line in the cafeteria.The abundance of fresh, vitamin-packed food means students are reaching for those items at lunchtime.

“When you look down the line at their plates, kids are eating fruits and vegetables,” DePriest said. “They see (this type of food) now and they understand it’s not a bad item for them.”

Sealy High School Assistant Principal Shane Every has seen the difference the new choices have made, both at the high school and the elementary school, where he previously served as principal.

“They’re eating more fruits and vegetables than they’ve eaten in a long time, because they scoop their own,” he said.

And those healthy choices are mixed in with entrees like pizza, at the high school, junior high and intermediate schools, where students go through one of several lines.

“When I come through and see pizza, I get pizza and a fruit,” Every said, pointing at a basket of oranges nearby.

For a complete lunch menu, visit www.sealyisd.com and click on “Sealy ISD Cafeteria” and then “School Menus”. After that, viewers can choose the month, school and time of day (breakfast or lunch) they want to see menus for.

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