On Chebeague Island in Casco Bay, the 22 children from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade could smell the homemade cookies baking down the hall as they took their vocabulary quizzes, prepared to read their writing aloud, and returned from the library. They may not realize how lucky they are, but their teachers do.
Food services director and cook Laura Summa is the furthest thing from the classic stereotype of the frumpy, intimidating school “lunch lady.” As we were introduced through the serving window into her modern kitchen in the three-classroom Chebeague Island School, she immediately asked me what I’d like on my pizza. That was all the invitation I needed! Homemade dough was being stretched onto a half-dozen pizza pans and Laura had a penciled list on the wall indicating who wanted what for toppings. She smiled when I confessed that my favorite pizza was just ordinary plain cheese.
Earlier that day, as I traveled to the island from Portland on the Casco Bay Lines ferry, I ran into somebody I knew who now works for the Town of Chebeague. “If you’re going up to the school, make sure you stick around for lunch time,” he assured me. “It’ll be worth it!”
Chebeague is getting a reputation for having the best school food anywhere. “I had three goals in mind for the lunch program when I started in the spring of 2010,” explains Summa. “One, to eliminate processed foods from the menu; two, to serve a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables daily; and three, to minimize waste while pleasing children’s fussy palates and keeping costs in check.”
When lunchtime came around, we (students, teachers and visitors) all got a plate with a slice of pizza—topped as requested—with a serving of salad and a few slices of grapefruit. The best was yet to come, though: one of the students had a birthday that day. As the students, teachers and ed techs sang “Happy Birthday” in English and then in Spanish (as they are studying Spanish) Ms. Summa appeared at the door with a plate of chocolate cupcakes! The birthday girl got a large one, and everybody else was presented with a small one”¦plenty for the middle of the school day and, again, assuring only a few crumbs left over for the compost.
“We don’t have sweets every day,” one of the adults mentioned, “so it’s special when we do.”
Superintendent Alton “Bump” Hadley was at the school that day. He divides his time between three schools, including Long Island (also in Casco Bay) and the small mainland town of Acton, near the New Hampshire border. He and Laura joke with each other about the cost of the “fine cuisine” in school, but clearly, nobody really thinks the cost is in any way extravagant.
The Chebeague students tend a school garden in season, and grow some of the produce for their lunches. Says Summa, “I use fresh, whole foods whenever possible. The kids are happy to eat roasted garden potatoes that they grew, with olive oil and garlic and fresh baked chicken strips with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, instead of frozen French fries and chicken nuggets.”
“I’m not against sugar, I’m not against bacon,” she continued, explaining that the purpose was not to insist upon a strict dietary agenda. “I’m against fake food. We’re making natural food, good food that people will actually eat.”
The kids all eat the school lunch, very rarely bringing anything from home. Students are also “pleased to report zero milk waste on a regular basis.”
The Chebeague school website lists planned menus for each day—lasagna, homemade chicken soup, chicken pie, omelettes, pasta carbonara. Sandwiches and meatless entrees are available, and fresh fruit is typically the dessert. Sugary desserts are reserved for special occasions.
That afternoon, as part of their reading, language arts and social studies work, the students had invited their parents and a few others in for a “publishing party.” Each of the older students had done some research on a topic of interest, and had written, illustrated and bound a book to be presented at the party. The small group of parents and grandparents enjoying their visit to the school clearly all knew each other; Chebeague is a community of about 350 year-round residents. The best part, however, was the smell of the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies coming from Ms. Summa’s kitchen down the hall. Sure enough, she appeared at the classroom door with a plate piled high with made-from-scratch cookies. Superintendent Hadley stopped in for a cookie, too.
Eva Murray is a freelance writer who lives on Matinicus.