U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan serves up lunch at Hess Elementary

To celebrate "School Lunch Hero Day," which is Friday, U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, visited Joseph Hess Elementary School Thursday where he served food to students alongside the school's food service staff.

"I'm really here encouraging and bringing recognition to them and to what they do for the community," Mrvan said, referring to the food service staff. "I grew up in Hessville. This is a newer school, but it's great to be home where I grew up, and its great to see the enthusiasm of the kids and the administration."

One thing the congressman was particularly struck by was how long employees had worked there. He worked alongside staff that had been at the school 22 and 10 years respectively.

"There's a lot of longevity," he said. "And they do it for the love of the kids."

Christine Clarahan, director of food and nutrition services at School City of Hammond, said it was great to have a congressman visit the school. While Mrvan was there, she took the opportunity to plug a piece of legislation, the School Meals Expansion Act, she hopes Congress passes.

"We get to feed all of our students for free, which is awesome," Clarahan said. "We never turn a kid away. We never have to worry about unpaid meal debt."

This is because the school gets reimbursed by the federal government 96% for each student meal that qualifies at the free level and 4% for those that don't. If this legislation becomes law, Hammond, and any district with more than 40% of students qualifying for free meals, will be reimbursed 100% for each student that qualifies at the free level.

Clarahan was confident this is the type of legislation Mrvan would want to cosponsor and support. In turn, Mrvan was very receptive. He said the legislation is "absolutely" something he'd like to pursue.

"Nutrition is such a vital part of learning," he said. "And so now, as a member of congress we want to make sure that we find ways to fund that."

He's happy to hear such direct feedback from community leaders like Clarahan.

"It is important for them to advocate," he said. "But it's more important for me to listen and go back and fight and prioritize making sure there's funding for school lunches."

Mrvan has supported similar legislation in the past. He was a co-sponsor on the House version of the Keep the Kids Fed Act, which increased the rate the federal government would reimburse school districts for lunches by 40 cents and for breakfasts by 15 cents. Clarahan said that legislation, "kept us afloat."

Mrvan's visit comes a week after Hess Elementary garnered national attention in a ProPublica report that detailed Hammond children dangerously crawling between trains blocking their paths to school for hours on end.

Superintendent Scott Miller told Mrvan he was meeting with city and Federal Railroad Administration officials on Friday to discuss the situation and asked for his support in dealing with it. Miller stressed to him that any solution would have to come at the federal level as local and state government has no jurisdiction over the railroad companies. Mrvan said this had been an issue for 40 years, including back when he attended Morton High School.

"We need our federal leaders like Frank Mrvan to assist us in finding solutions," Miller said. "Whether it's helping move the trains along or it's to provide some kind of workaround like an overpass so we can keep kids safe."

Miller said starting Monday, the district will add a bus route to take walking students at Hess Elementary, Scott Middle and Morton High schools around any train blockages. Still, he'd like a more permanent, sustainable solution.

"Everybody who's in this community wants to see improvement," he said. "The train companies, in my opinion, it's not a priority for them. If it's not a priority for the train companies we can all be upset about it, rightfully so, but if they're not willing to move — and there's no legal compulsion to get them to move, so it'd have to be something that they just think is the right thing to do, and they don't. They don't think it's the right thing to do. They think their business sense is more important than addressing this."

Miller said it would be a "missed opportunity" if he didn't put a bug in the congressman's ear about the situation and about other needs of the district.

"He and I see things the same way," Miller said. "And we know that this community needs resources and needs support." 

"It's always a pleasure to have Congressman Mrvan in our schools," Miller said. "He's a Hammond Morton graduate, so I think he takes special interest in our schools and what happens in this community."

"He's always been a real advocate for public schools and I'm always happy to see him," Miller said.