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Talks between the Berkeley Unified School District, Mayor Shirley Dean’s office and the Downtown Berkeley Association over a proposed food court at Berkeley High School have taken on the proportions of a Bill Clinton speech – they keep going and going and going. 

At the Sept. 6 school board meeting, the board approved $5,000 for an implementation plan for the project. Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said at the time that he hoped a week later carts piled high with delicious and nutritious food prepared by downtown merchants would be rolling into the gallery of the Berkeley Community Theater. There, he hoped to play music and create an ambiance that would keep students on campus for lunch.  

That was three weeks ago, but 3,200 students are still pouring into downtown at lunchtime. 

“We’ve pulled back and are reassessing,” said Dean. “It’s just not there yet. There’s no timetable for this.” 

The Child Nutrition Advisory Committee – a committee of parents, students and citizens appointed by the school board in 1998 after a new food policy was adopted – has to take nutrition, logistics and money into account as they work with the DBA, the police, merchants and the city to devise a plan for the food court and give it wings. 

According to Eric Weaver, chair of the committee, the High School’s food service spent $60,000 last year to serve only roughly 150 students eligible for free meals federally subsidized through the USDA. Weaver says that the number of students actually eligible at Berkeley High is close to 600. 

The problem is, he says, that more low-income kids would likely participate in a program that provided great food with a good atmosphere – the ultimate goal of everyone involved – which skews the calculation as to whether or not the food court would be economically viable. 

He explained that food services would be reimbursed $2.13 from the federal government for meals for low-income students that meet federal low-income guidelines. To meet federal requirements, it has to include milk or juice, and fruit – each of which costs roughly 60 cents. 

“So that leaves $1.53 for the entree,” he said. “If the merchants charge $2.50, it will obviously be a loss (to the district).” 

Weaver said that the idea is for food services to buy the food from the vendors, add fruit and milk, and sell it to the students. 

Initially the district asked the merchants to sell their food at half the price they sell it in their restaurants.  

Manuch Fany, the owner of Round Table Pizza at 2017 University Ave., said “no way,” along with the rest of the merchants. 

“We know that we’re going to lose money at first, but telling me to come that far below my cost is unreasonable,” he said. 

Weaver estimates that if a mix of students – some paying full fare and low-income students paying less – frequent the food court, food services could realistically ask the merchants to charge 25 percent less than they charge in their restaurants and food services would subsidize the food any more than they had last year, he said. 

“But we don’t know if the merchants would accept that,” he said. 

He added that a ticket system would probably be used to eliminate the stigma for students getting free lunches. 

Caleb Dardick, Interim Director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, said that the vendors’ committee has not proposed prices to the school district. 

“Our understanding is that they’ll study the issue and come back to us,” he said. “But every single day, 3,200 students flood the downtown, which has a huge impact on the merchants.” 

Fany said that he often has to act as a watchdog over the students, only letting a few in at a time and throwing rowdy ones out. Some businesses only let three students in their stores at a time, he said. 

Another variable in the equation is the nutrition content of the food. The district’s food policy asks for a push to organics and asks for an elimination of potentially harmful food additives and processes, such as bovine growth hormones, irradiation and genetically modified foods. 

“Asking for all the ingredients to be organic will greatly increase the price of food,” Dardick said. 

He said, however, only one of the list of nine merchants expected to participate didn’t fit into the USDA guidelines the policy employs. 

Gered Lawson of the Food Systems Project, headed by former Assembly member Tom Bates who is assisting the committee, said that they want to work with merchants to help them make the transition to organics. Merchants would not be excluded if they didn’t use organics, he said. 

Lawson added that he has also been meeting with students to find out if the food court would fly with the consumers. 

“It’s got to get off on a good start or it will never take off with the kids,” Weaver said.  

But others say that there has been ample time to put it together. 

“Let’s get this thing going,” said Jennifer Drapeau, Dean’s aide. “We want a timeline. Our concept was that it was something that could evolve.” 

Lawson said that it’s important for everyone to get involved to get it right the first time. 

“The whole idea is s complex and challenging feat to pull off,” he said. “And it’s really going to take the whole community to pull it off. It may be a little slower, but the benefits of study will be helpful.”