School's lunch vendor on a 'short leash'

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WINNETKA, Ill., May 23 (UPI) -- Administrators at a suburban Chicago high school said a food vendor is on a "short leash" after taking a healthy foods policy too far.

Don Goers, associate superintendent of the New Trier Township High School District, said students "rebelled" and sales dropped off when Aramark Educational Services took over food vending at the school in August and followed a "strict implementation" of a wellness policy leading to all fried foods and monosodium glutamate being cut from the menu and all breads, pastas and tortillas made from wheat, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

Aramark responded to threats from the school board to solicit bids from other companies by changing its menu and brining in new cooks. Administrators said response to the food has been positive since the changes were implemented in April. However, school board President Al Dolinko said the company is being closely watched.

"This is now on a short leash," Dolinko said, "as short a leash as it can be."