Saugus to hike cost of school snacks

SAUGUS – Snackers at area schools will be paying a little more for their baked Doritos, juice bars and other snacks bought a la carte in the district’s cafeterias.School Committee member Wendy Reed pointed out the price increase was not on school lunches per se, but on the added snacks each school offers through the cafeterias.According to Finance Manager Richard Weeks, who proposed the change, a la carte food prices were last increased three years ago. Weeks said because the School Lunch Program operates self-sufficiently, without financial support from the School Department, prices must be changed to accommodate the anticipated price increases from the vendors.Weeks wrote in a memo to Superintendent Richard Langlois that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly all products have increased for a variety of reasons. He cited whole milk, which went up 15.4 percent, bread, which saw a 14.9 percent increase, bananas, which went up a whopping 25.2 percent and red delicious apples, which jumped 12.8 percent.The increases the committee approved vary according to schools. On the elementary level, prices for a la carte items increase mostly by 10 cents from 60 cents to 70 cents. Only Dasani water jumped from 60 cents to 75 cents.At the Belmonte Middle School level, there were fewer overall changes but most equaled 25-cent jumps. Items such as baked chips and snacks went up from 75 cents to $1, as did regular chips, Cheetos, Sun Chips, Smartfood and other snacks. Only chocolate chip cookies went up a minor 15 cents rather than 25 cents.Changes to the a la carte menu at the high school mirrored those at the middle school with cookies up 15 cents, chips and snacks up 25 cents, along with yogurt and Rice Krispies Treats.Weeks noted that the increases were made with a conscious awareness that lunches had been recently increased as well.”They’re certainly justifiable to sustain the program rather than abandon it,” he said.