Seventh-grader urges board to add more fiber to school lunches, cites nutrition sources

Andrea Lewis, a seventh-grade student at Crestwood Middle School, urged the Chesapeake School Board to review the fiber content of school lunches, saying insufficient fiber leaves students hungry and less able to learn.

Lewis recounted an incident on Nov. 20, 2024, when a student was seen asking for food during lunch despite having been served a school meal. She urged the board to examine school menus and increase fiber so meals keep students fuller through the school day. Lewis cited USDA school-meal components and external nutrition sources when describing daily fiber recommendations for children. She told the board girls ages 9–13 need about 26 grams of fiber per day and boys that age need about 31 grams, and she divided those recommendations into per-meal targets for lunch.

Lewis said she measured lunches from Oct. 28 through Nov. 1 and found an average of 14.72 grams of fiber at lunch during that sample, which she said is “a little under 2 meals worth of fiber.” She cited Cleveland Clinic guidance and the National Institutes of Health about hunger’s negative effects on learning and referenced Feed the Children’s materials on food quality and school readiness.

Board procedure and response: Board members thanked Lewis for her prepared remarks. The board’s practice is to receive public comment and not engage in a back-and-forth during the meeting; staff said someone from the superintendent’s office would evaluate her concern and provide a response if appropriate and not already provided.

Why it matters: Student hunger and meal quality can affect on-task behavior and academic performance. The student asked the board to consider fiber content specifically as a potentially modifiable meal component.

What’s next: The superintendent’s staff will review the concern and, if appropriate, follow up with Lewis and the board.