A mandated state review of the Tamaqua Area School District school lunch program will begin next week.

The review will include a one-week nutritional analysis and is part of a regular, three-year review cycle.It comes just as the district is exploring possibilities for administration of the program.On Tuesday, Lyle Kerrick of Danville, consultant with The Nutrition Group, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, presented an overview of the National Nutrition Lunch Program during a committee meeting of the school board held in the All-Purpose Room of Tamaqua Area Middle School.Kerrick's group has been providing services to the district since the beginning of the year."The background of the program is that it was filed by President Truman in the 1940s," he said.Kerrick said there is an emphasis on calorie count and certain food groups that must be offered to be eligible for reimbursements.For instance, he said, a high school student is subject to a lunch of 750 to 850 calories."(A meal containing) milk, fruit and vegetables is a reimbursable meal," he said.In a related matter, Carol Makuta, superintendent, walked the group through results of recent surveys conducted among cafeteria employees at various schools in the district.The survey focused on workers' thoughts regarding students' perception of the current lunch program.The survey results varied.For example, cafeteria workers in the middle school felt there has been an improvement in sanitation under the current program, such as fruit cups, which are now covered and sandwiches individually wrapped.In more than one cafeteria, employees felt more staffing is needed to handle the work load.The district will study the survey results and continue to weigh options in administration of the school lunch program.In other matters, the finance committee agreed to present to the board a five-year contract with Service Electric Telephone Company beginning July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2020, at a monthly cost of $1,037.The committee also will recommend the board ratify a five-year contract with PenTeleData for the same term at $6,811.For both contracts, the district actually pays only 30 percent of the stated amount due to provisions of the E-Rate program.At the start of the meeting, board members congratulated students of the month, including: Emma Elko, Serena Jones, Isabel Nallon and Chloe Jones.