Eating healthy can be hard. And, as officials in Norwin School District are realizing, doing so can come with some unexpected costs.

At the heart of the matter is the lowly french fry. Beloved by children and a staple of school lunches for years, the deep-fried potato treat has come under fire in recent years as a possible contributor to increasing rates of childhood obesity and weight problems.

During a discussion of the food service budget for the coming year, several Norwin school board members added their voice to the anti-fry chorus. While no firm decision was made, the sentiment toward reducing or even eliminating fries at some point in the future was clear.

Unfortunately, getting rid of fries will be harder than simply taking them off the menu. At Norwin high and middle schools, fries are an a la carte item, and that means each batch of fries sold brings in an additional batch of revenue.

"The one thing we know is kids like fries," Superintendent John Boylan said. "There's a good bit of revenue that comes from french fries. And that gives us a bit of a dilemma."

Norwin's food service is self-funded, so unless the school officials decided to divert money from the general fund, any fall in food sales would have to be made up, either by introducing a substitution or raising other food prices, Boylan said.

Food services director Rod Stewart estimates fry sales alone bring in about 3 percent of total revenue.

"The schools out there that have gotten rid of french fries are really hurting in their budgets," Stewart said.

One option tried by some districts is substituting baked fries, which are healthier. Last year, Franklin Regional School District switched to baked fries, and Penn-Trafford School District exclusively serves baked fries at its elementary schools.

At Penn-Trafford's middle and high schools, the cafeteria serves baked fries rather than fried ones once a week. Food services director Kelly Patterson said that might increase in coming years.

Patterson said the district already had the equipment to make the baked fries, so the switch has not cost any additional money. She said students seem to eat the baked fries at the same rate as the ones fried in oil.

Stewart, however, said baked fries probably wouldn't work at Norwin. While, like Penn-Trafford, the district already exclusively serves baked fries at the elementary schools and Hillcrest Intermediate School, the middle school and high school do not have the equipment to make enough baked fries.

"That poses the need for additional double-deck ovens, which are extremely expensive," Stewart said.

He also said new warmers would be needed, as well as protective coverings for workers because baking fries is more likely to cause burns.

The added expense comes with a less popular product. Stewart said students prefer regular fries because the oil keeps them crisp and warm long after they're made. Baked fries rapidly cool and become soggy, Stewart said.

"It really doesn't make sense to serve a product that the kids aren't going to like as much anyway," Stewart said.

"You're not going to be able to substitute it with a baked french fry," he said. "The only way to stop them is just to stop them."

Going cold turkey on fries however, brings up problems of its own. Getting rid of fries provokes a student reaction, which, Stewart said, he experienced at districts where he previously worked.

"The typical reaction is you hear people say, 'I'm not overweight, this isn't fair to me.'"

Students have organized petitions and taken their frustrations to the school board itself when fries were cut, Stewart said. He hopes to avoid some of the potential backlash at Norwin by taking advantage of younger students who haven't had daily access to fries at school.

"They don't see it every day," Stewart said. "They don't ask questions about it."

If the district decided to eliminate fries, Stewart said he first would cut them at the middle school at the beginning of the year. Because the new seventh-graders would have spent their entire school life without regular access to fries, opposition would come from only one-half of students.

Then, two years later when those seventh-graders entered the high school, the cafeteria would stop serving fries. While Stewart said he would expect opposition from the upperclassmen, the underclassmen would accept the idea.

Stewart said he already has had discussions with students about new items that could be introduced to at least partially replace fries. Ideas have included fresh fruit, as well as familiar vegetable and fruit dishes presented in new ways.

Even if student resistance is overcome, said Stewart, the district still would have to deal with the loss of revenue from fries. He said no substitute would completely make up the financial gap. To balance the budget Stewart said he would be forced to raise prices on meals.

"Those french fries are actually keeping down the cost of lunch. That's just the plain reality of the business."

Stewart presented these issues to the school board, and he said he will work to implement whatever decision the board makes. Any decision won't take place for a least another year, Boylan said.

The 2008-2009 school year will see fries at the high school and middle school, although at a slightly higher price. To increase the number of cafeteria workers at the high school, the board approved an increase in the price of fries from $1 to $1.25.