PEABODY — Parents in Peabody are screaming about ice cream, and it's not the good kind of screaming.
Last month, elementary students were sent home a letter announcing the sale of ice cream — and bottled water — every day at lunch. The items would be featured "a la carte" for 50 cents each.
Center School parent Tina Smith, who sent a letter to School Committee members, said yesterday by phone that she was taken aback by lunchtime ice cream sales.
"I was just horrified that they would select ice cream as their choice," said the mother of two boys. "What do elementary school kids need that's a la carte?"
In her letter, Smith expressed surprise at the decision given the national obesity problem.
In fact, Peabody has the highest obesity rate in the area at 26.4 percent, compared to Wenham's low of 12.6 percent and the next closest of Salem at 22.9 percent.
Smith wrote Superintendent C. Milton Burnett asking to reconsider the ice cream sales.
But Smith and her concerns will have to wait at least a month.
After a 75-minute discussion, the School Committee voted 4-2 to give Food Services Director Janyce Harkins one month to see if the new plan worked.
Harkins told committee members last night that she made the decision, which was vetted by Burnett, to improve her department's bottom line.
Peabody's food services program is completely self-supporting, she said. With an increase in health insurance costs and a shortage of federally subsidized food, her costs were spiking, Harkins told the committee.
"It's getting to be very difficult, especially with Blue Cross Blue Shield," she said.
In the 10 days the items were offered in February, the program took in $3,249. So far, March reaped $1,910.50, Harkins said.
The food services director said the ice cream had also been approved by the state on what's called the "A List," meaning it met standards for portion, fat and calories.
Besides, Harkins said, other neighboring school districts all over the North Shore had already adopted a la carte programs.
"In all honesty, I really feel it's gone over well," she said. "I'm really probably the last holdout that's done this."
Some committee members, like Brandi Carpenter, said last night that they had heard from a number of parents who were similarly concerned about daily doses of the confection.
Since learning of the addition of a la carte items, Carpenter learned that the ice cream was low-fat, but she still wondered if it were necessary.
"Ice cream is a treat," she said. "They don't need it every day."
The director asked for a month to better track student buying patterns and overall income.
"I just want time to experiment with this," Harkins said.
She also said she would be rotating other items form the state's "A List" so students wouldn't always be getting ice cream daily.
But Carpenter asked to make the a la carte items available only on Fridays. Committee member Tom Rossignoll agreed.
"It's something for kids to look forward to," he said.
Committee member Jarrod Hochman took aim at the process.
"I don't believe it's the function of your department to make a profit," he said. "It's our business to set policy."
Colleague Beverley Dunne said it was the change that parents didn't understand and the lack of knowledge about it in the first place.
"The School Committee was blindsided," she said.
But committee members Edward Charest and David McGeney didn't share the same concerns.
"The kids that are obese will still be obese," McGeney said. "The kids that are skinny will still be skinny."
He also praised Harkins for her 41 years in the district, 19 as the director of food services. By his estimate, she had served some 2 million meals to Peabody students.
"I trust you implicitly with the healthy choices you're putting out there," McGeney said.
And, Charest said, the ice cream was ice milk and was not unhealthy for children.
"The point is it's the responsibility of the parent," he said.
Carpenter countered that the schools were setting a bad example by offering the frozen dessert daily.
Mayor Michael Bonfanti, who serves as chairman, asked fellow committee members to let Harkins see her idea through, at least temporarily.
"I think we have an obligation to give her a few weeks," he said.
All but Hochman and Rossignoll agreed with Bonfanti.
Smith offered that if money for the cafeteria program was a concern, school administrators might have been better off hashing out their options more fully.
"I think that they probably had the children's best interest at heart," Smith said. "They just needed to think about it a bit deeper."
She wished decision makers had been more creative with their food choices, perhaps picking yogurt or sugar-free pudding for students.
"To me, I think the whole thing is a farce," Smith said. "I just don't understand where it all came from."
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