Mr. Reynald Debroas

Toledo Public Schools paid between $2,500 and $3,000 to replace a hot-foods holding cabinet at Jones Junior High because it failed to maintain minimum temperature, said Rey Debroas, the food services director for Toledo Public Schools.

TPS' Business Manager Dan Burns and its director of food services, Reynald Debroas, were present at the meeting's start but left abruptly and without word at 4:45 p.m., about midway through the presentation.

"It's not going to be like a Mancy's menu," promised Reynald Debroas, who was hired early last month to overhaul the district's outlook on the food it serves its nearly 38,000 K-12 students.

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"It's not going to be like a Mancy's menu," promised Reynald Debroas, who was hired early last month to overhaul the district's outlook on the food it serves its nearly 38,000 K-12 students.

Mr. Debroas replaced Anna Brown, who retired at the end of the school year, said Dan Burns, the district's acting chief business manager.
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But Mr. Debroas said he hopes the dreaded mystery meat will be gone forever.

"The guessing game has to stop," he said.

"That's the reason why I was hired," Mr. Debroas, 45, said, his voice still dripping with the accent of his hometown, Lyon, France."Because I was from retail sales, I was more open to new ideas.It was time to do something," he said.

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Superintendent Eugene Sanders interviewed him and recommended Mr. Debroas from three candidates forwarded to him by an interview panel, Mr. Burns said; the school board approved Mr. Sanders' recommendation.
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Mr. Debroas came to Toledo in 1985 as an executive chef for the now-defunct Hotel Sofitel's Café Royale.He worked as chef at several area restaurants and at Brandywine Country Club before he joined the business side of the food industry, working at Aramark and AVI Industries for the University of Toledo.

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Mr. Debroas, who is paid nearly $66,000 annually, has promised more choices and better food products for his "little guys," as he calls his grade-school customers.The pupils do not have the options that the high schoolers have, he said.

So far, the students have digested a month's worth of meals from a menu that offers hot breakfasts, with French toast sticks, breakfast pizzas, and popular items such as Kellogg's Pop Tarts, as well as bagels, cereals, fresh fruit, a doughnut or a honey bun.Muffins and yogurt will be added soon, Mr. Debroas said.

Selections for lunch include "rotini with cheese," "diced chicken with gravy," and "pork ham in pineapple sauce," plus alternatives of cheeseburgers and hot dogs.

Lunch choices soon may include smoothies and sandwiches from Subway.

"My main interest is the children," he said."I know that by the time they leave they're not going to be hungry."
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"You eat with your eyes first," Mr. Debroas said."[Children] eat what they see on TV."

And hungry children aren't interested in a unique dining experience.

"No, they don't savor [the food].At that age, they inhale it," Mr. Debroas said recently in the gymnasium-cafeteria at Chase Elementary school in North Toledo, as grade-schoolers chomped into cheeseburgers and sampled fruit cups, juice, and milk.

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Mr. Debroas said the nutrition in a school lunch or breakfast program is assured because of state requirements.And while some may question the nutritional value of a Pop Tart for breakfast, at least the children will recognize the brand and reach for that instead of a fat-drenched doughnut.

Mr. Debroas said the breakfast program has drawn a four-star rating, or, at least, good reviews, judging by the surveys he sends out to schools, seeking comments from food-service staff as well as teachers and administrators.

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To liven things up with nutrition in mind, Mr. Debroas is working with Subway to provide subs as an a la carte item.

He also is working with the federal U.S. Department of Defense to bring in packets of fresh vegetables for his "little guys" who don't have access to salad bars as their high school counterparts do.

He wants students to do a bit of taste-testing too.He is talking with a firm that makes French fries that have a lower fat content, similar to the new fries McDonald's will be offering, and he hopes he'll be able to have students taste the items.

In addition to the surveys, Mr. Debroas travels to different schools - unannounced - to meet with the cafeteria workers and help them serve the food.To the children, he said, he is just another administrator in a shirt and tie.

But for him, it's a chance to be on the front lines to hear students' reactions.

He described one ‘‘little guy" who received a helping of macaroni and cheese.

"He looked up at me and said, ‘But I don't like macaroni and cheese.'"

Without several items to choose from, Mr. Debroas said, "What else can the little guy have?"

"You have your milk, your juice, and two pieces of bread.What a sorry lunch," he said.

A meal a master chef would never serve to a valued patron.

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TPS, state say no to altering building plans 09/26/2002

But Reynald Debroas, the new director of food service for Toledo Public Schools, knows there are some limits to his quest to provide healthier lunch foods for students.

"If we took the pizza out, there'd be a riot," said Mr. Debroas.And, while some school districts have had success with whole-wheat pizza crust topped with veggies, Mr. Debroas, a French native who is a master chef, is a bit dubious about the idea.

"The young ones are pretty basic.For them, it's either cheese or pepperoni," Mr. Debroas said.

Mr. Debroas' experience during his first year heading up TPS' food service echoes the experience of food service directors across the nation, who feed 28 million schoolchildren each day in the $10 billion federal school lunch program.