For the next three months, Dunklin R-5 Superintendent Stan Stratton and Deputy Superintendent Clint Freeman will be trying to lose weight as part of a fundraising campaign to pay off the district’s $4,800 in student lunch account debt from last year and build up reserves for this school year.
The effort will begin Sept. 3 and run through Nov. 1, when Stratton and Freeman – who say their combined weight is more than 500 pounds – will seek sponsors to donate money for every pound they lose.
They also will accept any donation toward the fundraising campaign.
The challenge ends the day Dunklin R-5 is holding a health fair.
Stratton said he was looking for ways to reduce student lunch debt when he came up with the idea for the weight-loss challenge.
“I was just thinking about student lunch accounts and that both of us would like to lose weight and thought this might motivate us while helping students,” Stratton said.
Dunklin has an enrollment of about 1,500 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The district also serves another approximately 200 youngsters in its pre-kindergarten program.
“We want all of our students to have the same nutritious lunch and not have to settle for an alternative meal,” Stratton said.
Many Dunklin students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches, but those who don’t qualify for those and who don’t have money for a school lunch are offered an alternative meal – like a peanut butter or sunflower butter sandwich, fruits and vegetables and a milk – and the district does not charge for it, said Matt Lichtenstein, the R-5 communications director.
“Despite these efforts and more, there are gaps that lead to negative balances,” he said.
For example, Lichtenstein said the district gives some students credit in advance for lunches, and if that money is used but not paid back or reimbursed through the free and reduced-lunch program, the district incurs that debt.
The Dunklin district provides free breakfast for all students, Lichtenstein said.
Both Stratton and Freeman said they plan to implement traditional dieting strategies.
“I’ll do it with diet and will try to get more exercise, more walking,” Stratton said.
“Part of it will be food alteration, more exercise and quit eating snacks at night,” Freeman said.
Lichenstein said others members of the Dunklin staff and community have decided to help with the effort.
“We’ve had a lot of staff say they will sponsor the superintendents, but others are going to join them to lose weight and get their own sponsors,” Lichtenstein said.
The average price of a student lunch is $2.73, “so every dollar counts,” Lichtenstein said.
Stratton and Freeman said while they realize dropping weight can be difficult, they are happy to diet to benefit students.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Freeman said.
To donate, visit the district website at www.dunklin.k12.mo.us or drop off or mail donations to the R-5 Central Office, 497 Joachim Ave., Herculaneum, 63048.