I was fortunate to spend my 40th birthday dining with my older sister and one of her friends, Ann Cooper, author of[url] Lunch Lessons and who has since been given the label of the "Renegade Lunch Lady." She was hired by Alice Waters to implement the food end of the Garden in the School program in California and she did it successfully for several years, but then of course, all the money dried up. But she knows all the crazy federal/state/city purchasing challenges that face a school merely getting food at all. And she knows how to slice her way through govt speak -- Purchase Orders and RFPs and other gov't gobbledygook that we don't want to wrap our brains around when thinking about why our kids eating doughnuts AND cereal for breakfast.

Mhays, I don't know if you already know of her but I would be happy to get you her email. She is really well rounded and a bit of a spitfire. I agree with Alice Waters that Arnie Duncan needs to be involved. I also (somewhere) have the direct email for the newly appointed Office of Public Engagement. It's great that the Obama's want to eat more thoughtfully at the White House, but I think it's much more important that our children eat more thoughtfully at school.

bjt