With young students and their parents fully in "Back To School" mode, local papers have started to swirl around the topic of school lunches and the Child Nutrition Act, which is set to expire at the end of September.

In today's Daily Comet, a local paper in Louisiana, reporter Thad Angelloz gives an overview of how important the National School Lunch Act was, and talks about the strides that their schools are taking to ensure a healthy school meal.

Monica Walthers, the child nutrition supervisor from that school district, says that the National School Lunch Program - which is funded through the Child Nutrition Act - changed the entire culture of school cafeterias.

"This happened as a direct result of the Depression. They (government) understood how important it was for them to provide meals to children attending school."

Walthers' district, especially, is trying to ensure that the lunches they put out are nutritious. Gumbo, for instance, is now made without oils and is made with turkey sausage.

Child-nutrition supervisor Lauren Fletcher added that the program "continues to get better." "There's always things you can change...but we think we're hitting the mark for our students."

Over in North Carolina another child nutrition director, Nicole Mayernik, is working hard to provide "a healthy start and a happy belly" to her students, says the Watuga Democrat. Among her tasks are meeting and exceeding federal guidelines for nutrition, and closing the eligibility gap that exists so that low-income students have access to school meals.

"We want to ensure we're meeting the needs of the community and the students. Right now, we're working hard on our free and reduced lunch applications to let parents know they can receive free and reduced lunches and breakfasts."

She also credits her staff of food service workers, recognizing the important role they play. "I couldn't do this job without the staff's hard work. They have a relationship with the children and school administration."

Ultimately, she thinks everyone would benefit if the school meals program provided more access to school breakfasts. Only half of the children eligible for free or reduced lunches - 10 million out of the total 20 million children - have access to school breakfasts.

"Unhealthy students cannot learn," said Mayernik. "We see that when students don't eat breakfast. Their test scores go down. We try to offer them something here. Something is better than nothing. Can we meet those needs within financial restraints? We'd love to, but right now in child nutrition, we're taking it one bite at a time."

Over at our partner site, the Campaign for Quality Services, we've been pushing the notion of an improved Child Nutrition Act that works to close the eligibility gap, expand the school breakfast program, and raises standards for food service workers. You can check out our plan and give your support here: http://campaignforqualityservices.org/a/schoolmeals/index.php.