ULTIMATE TASTE TEST STUDENTS RANK PIZZA FOR SCHOOL.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - While teachers held their authority in other classes at Stevenson Ranch Elementary on Wednesday, in one room, 12 adults nervously stood with arms crossed and serious looks.

They were totally at the mercy of 9- and 10-year-olds.

The Santa Clarita Valley School Food Services Agency, the central kitchen for school cafeterias in the valley, rounded up the owners and representatives of eight local pizza vendors, asking them to subject their product to the discriminating tastes of the children.

And based on how the youngsters voted, the vendors could end up signing contracts to serve pizza once a month to any of the 38 schools in the valley.

With such a contract on the line, the owners from vendors including Ameci, Pizza Hut and Domino's carefully watched the childrens' reactions and monitored their evaluations.

Two groups of students took the blind taste-test. The first group ranked the slices between one and four on a sheet placed in front of each unnamed pizza. The second group had their own scoring sheets and the vendors were allowed to reveal their product. To nobody's surprise, the students were excited to see the familiar names.

Nine-year-old Chassen Palmer's eyes opened wide and a barely perceptible ``oh'' escaped his lips when the Pizza Hut representative lifted the lid of the pizza box, much like Charlie looked when he first walked into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

But Anne Grandjean, director of food services, warned students not to eat full slices since they had to taste eight different pizzas.

The directive stunned the students, who found it difficult to throw away the slices after a bite or two.

Chassen was so perplexed he had to double-check.

``Can we eat the whole thing?'' he asked. When Grandjean responded with a firm ``no,'' he reluctantly threw away the rest of his slice. But he later polished off two slices when no one was looking. To him, all the pizzas ranked the best.

Some of the owners, however, were concerned with how the first group voted.

``When they don't have their own sheets where they can score in private, I'm afraid they're influencing each other when they see how other kids are scoring,'' said Russ Hiltermann, owner of The Pizza Place Acton.

When the first group finished rating the pizzas, the different vendors told them where they were from, leading to a gasp of surprise from the students.

``Without knowing the name, it tasted different,'' said Brookes Miller, 11. ``They tasted better.''

Others were amazed to find out that the pizzas they liked the best were not the ones they normally eat.

Suzi Rasson, owner of Saugus Ameci, was more at ease with the second group because she was able to show students her business' name.

``Kids like Ameci,'' she said. ``They know what they're getting.''

The potential of signing profitable contracts explained part of the tension.

``It will help financially. It will help the rent,'' said Rasson, estimating that a contract with 11 schools would bring in somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000.

But for the larger chains like Pizza Hut and Domino's, the contract is coveted more for the publicity it brings than the extra income each month.

``A lot of school contracts are for recognition,'' said David Goldy, a sales coordinator for Pizza Hut.

The food services agency will offer contracts to vendors by taking into consideration their prices, the schools they choose and the students' scores.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Students at Stevenson Ranch School line up to sample pizzas that may be served in the district next year.

(2 -- color) Maria Alba, 10, reacts to a pizza sample. Kids' opinions will help school officials pick a vendor.

(3 -- color) Stephen Silver, 12, takes a bite of pizza. Students ranked several vendors' food according to taste.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer