 Any e-mail tip from Ali Velshi tends to be the most interesting thing in my inbox, and today was no exception. As he'll be discussing on today's CNN Newsroom, Monica Eng and Joel Hood of the Chicago Tribune report that a school on the city's West Side is prohibiting its students from bringing home-prepared lunches to school, unless they have a medical excuse or an allergy. Instead, the children at Little Village Academy, must either purchase lunch from the school's cafeteria, or opt to skip lunch entirely. Unsurprisingly, students and parents alike are unhappy with the blanket policy, and are speaking out. But Principal Elsa Carmona stands by the ban she set six years ago after seeing students pack "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" for school field trips. Carmont touts the health benefits of the cafeteria's offerings - especially after the Chicago school system tightened its nutritional standards last year to include a greater offering of fiber, whole grains, more dark green and orange vegetables and reduce fat and sugar content. The Chicago public school systems serves approximately 280,000 lunches every day - 86 percent of those to students who qualify for free or reduced lunches. Students who do not qualify for that must pay $2.25 - which parents argue can easily exceed the cost of a homemade meal. As it happens, the school's caterer Chartwells-Thompson, not the district, receives a set fee for each lunch served. As I told Ali, I believe that while the administration seemingly has its heart in the right place, believing that children should be eating healthy foods, it rankles me deeply that the policy is mandatory. While not all parents make great decisions - and many cannot afford to purchase more nutritionally sound foods - the options should remain fully in their hands. These same systems should instead strive to subsidize better options. Once I build my personal utopian society, vegetables will cost $.03 at most and items containing high fructose corn syrup, mechanically separated chicken and "cheese food" will be $12.99 apiece. But until then, tell Ali and me what you think. More on the politics of school lunch |
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Yay for paranoia? Kids can't bring treats to school unless they're store-bought, and now THIS crap?? Eff this. I'm movin' to Canada.
And sometimes, school lunch makes kids sick. Just sayin'
thats just silly. It's the kids choice if they wanna bring lunch or not. That's not right.
OK, one more post and I am moving on. So, many on this board are worried about how parents are not good enough for their kids and they are not doing right by them in the nutrition department. First, I would like each of you that thinks the schools are doing better (short of no lunch at all) and eat that food. My daughter can not eat the food at school without coming home sick.
So let us just say the government moves in, takes control, and now they are large and in charge of lunches for these kids because parents are too stupid to know what to feed their kids. (like they will stop at lunches if they get that far! Some schools have a breakfast program. That could be required too.)
So let us say that M-F they have breakfast and lunch covered. You are trusting them to feed your kids. (Why did you have kids? So the government could raise them? Just checking...)
Now let us think about this a moment. The GOVERNMENT is the one with the power behind this to give the schools authority to do this? Have you been satisfied with how the government has handled other big issues in our country. Hurricane Katrina, there are still some people trying to gain the footing and the government still botched that one up.
BP Oil spill, it is not in the news all that much however, the Gulf of Mexico is certainly not the same and all the while, there were no real firm stands against the oil spill issues.
Oh here is one, how long are we staying in Iraq? It is for the good of the mis-guided people. Who are we to say what is good for them?
Seriously, look at how the government can not even do much in the department of health care for everyone. I mean, think about all the kids that parents do not or cannot take them to the doctors.
There will never be a perfect parent and when we see there is someone that needs help, give a hand up rather than beat them down and get an entity involved who cannot even wipe their own backside without making some sort of issue out of it.
Offer parenting classes, that is what saved me! I took them because I wanted to and I cared enough that I felt there was so much more to learn. But seriously, feed a man a fish and he will eat for a day. TEACH him to fish and he can eat for a lifetime. Do you want to babysit all these parents all the time? People get sick of WELFARE, isn't this similar?
TEACH THEM, do not try to CONTROL THEM.
As a prior teacher in the private sector, I understand the school wanting control of the lunches and what is served. This does prevent trash food from making its way into the classrooms. It also prevents one student from bringing in food that shows their "social status" compared to those who could not afford much. So our policy was, we provided lunches, end of story. I didn't agree.
We could not always account for food allergies and not to mention, I had also worked in the kitchen and I know for a fact that although the meals that were being prepared were considered a balanced meal, the "substance" used was not the quality food that I would feed my neighbor. I didn't like my neighbor.
So what to do? You simply map out what foods are appropriate and make it clear that if things like sodas and bagged chips come in the class, they will not be eaten there. Moreover, if the entire lunch does not fall within the guidelines, the student will be provided with a school lunch and the parent will be billed for it. This contract would be clear upon enrollment. The guidelines would be reasonable and if there was a special diet needed that could go into the file so it could be noted what the students needs were.
Does that mean the school has control? To a point. But it would be more of an agreement between parents and the school prior to enrollment.
Most parents have not a clue how nutrition affects children. It is so important that kids should not be allowed to bring lunches to school and should eat the healthy meals that are served there. Allowing children to opt out is what causes resentment against the school and the parents who want a better life for their kids.
Can we skip all of this and go straight to the iv food or all pills. We see it in all the sci fi movies and right now the people in Washington can't watch what they put in their own mouths so they have to blame everyone else for being fat. After all its not our fault for being fat slobs who don't exercise and pig out 8 meals a day. We don't live in a free country anymore, its been voted out one law at a time.
For years and years the school lunches were just junk food. Corn dogs, cheese burgers, fries, hot dogs, etc. was what they served. Suddenly they're so concerned about healthy meals that they think they have to control the contents of home lunches. GMAB!
Depending on what school campus you go to, you may find the same ole' school food we had when we were kids. The only thing I recall being healthy was the chef's salad. Sadly, one day one of the girls who worked in the lunch prep crew got the food borne hepatitis and it was being spread through the salad because she was not properly washing her hands and using gloves. The entire school had to go through lines to get a shot to "prevent" us from getting it. It ruined the salad option for me.
So sometimes even the healthiest of foods from food service can be scary. ;-) But to be fair, I guess it is better than no food at all, right?
Ahh the government parent which is the most absentee and neglectful in history telling the rest of us parents we are wrong.
I am not the government – I am the father of two children who would like my children to grow up healthy. That is nearly impossible when they live half time with the other clueless spouse who consistently feeds them junk. Most kids are getting junk via their parents. If the schools don't provide good nutrition and teach children how to eat, most of the kids will grow up to be fat and unhealthy adults. I am surprised at all the idiots posting here that look around and are blind to what is happening. You are all brainwashed by the marketers. Fools.
I am sorry Bob that you didn't choose well for a partner when you had children. I know that can not always be helped. What you need to really look at is just how much government do you want in your life. You seem to believe they are on your side right now because they provide a good meal once, maybe twice a day, however, what if they decided what you were serving was not good enough. Or the sleeping schedule you have for your kids are inadequate so they will bring them to a "sleeping station" (which I don't believe exists right now) and you are free to pick up your children during certain hours. If they deem a nap is necessary, you will be required to bring your child back, on time, to ensure their sleep schedule is government approved.
Believe me, I am all about wanting what is best for the kids; however, there comes a point that people are going to have to grow up. When I was young we used to have to go to the pond not far from my house and pray that we could catch fish or it would be bologna sandwiches and water for that night. How balanced is that? But I was grateful to have food and I have survived. Do you really want to support a world full of kids? Because that is what happens with every new law put up that tells a parent what they have to do to raise their child "right and healthy".
Less government please!
The school is there to educate the children no feed them. Who are they thinking that they can parent my child or decide what they will eat. The school is way overstepping here. make it an option by all means, some people will choose to pay for the service but to force the children to eath what the school provides... id protest.
The school system is just looking for a form of permanent cash flow forced on people through taxation with a "think of the children" label. The "healthy food" will last for about a year and then the cries of poverty will start and the taxing of the people will start going up in the name of "good health". Then we'll find out that the people in charge are getting $400K a year to "run" the program.
It's so sad that it's this obvious to me yet some people are actually in support of this. Why do I have a feeling that the supporters are not paying to feed their children to begin with...
Parents won't feed their kids right, someone has to do it. There needs to be a standard in the schools though, the food needs to be nutritional for the kids. If a parent is complaining about this and their 8 year old weighs as much as a 30 year old man, they need to take some responsibility.
What are you talking about? What parent? All parents? You are just learning to type and like to see the pretty words on the screen do we? What parents refuse to feed their kids "right"?
That's about as stupid as studies that start off with "As we all know".
No we don't and no they aren't.
Ken has it right – most parents don't have a clue. If the schools don't teach it the kids will not learn. End of story.
Wow, sounds like we want the schools and governments to raise our kids. Why did we become parents? Someone tells me I am not feeding my children properly may end up with issues. I had child protective services at my door because someone reported I was not feeding my children anything other than rice! They came in, saw I was well stocked on food and it was perfect timing because I was cooking dinner and had a perfect meal going on. I had no clue they were coming. I had covered the meat, vegetables, bread/fiber, and dairy. I explained on the nights we ate light was when we had karate and we would come home and eat something more. The lighter meal was because we did not want to practice with a full stomach and fill ill. So really the kids got two evening meals on those nights and they were two light meals and those were the nights that were vegetarian with protein. My kids were not under nor over weight and they were perfectly healthy.
I don't need some government idiot telling me how to prepare my meals and threatening me if I am not doing it right. They can't even balance a budget, what makes you believe they can figure out a balanced meal?
I wonder if the principal gets a kickback from the company that supplies the lunches.
So parents that make just enough to not qualify for free or reduced lunches are screwed? I'd be picking my kids up from school everyday and take them to the park for lunch or home for lunch. Or get a note from the doctor that says "starving can be hazardous to this student's health". There's your excuse.
AMEN!
yea,,,,,totally
I suspect that the school lunch photo is a stock photo, not an actual lunch served by this school. The caption should be edited to reflect as much. Still, I find it hard to believe that a good, nutritious lunch can be obtained for 2.25, not to mention the fact that each student will have different caloric requirements, so this mandatory "one sized fits all" lunch doesn't work.
As others have mentioned, maybe the school should invest in a program that EDUCATES both the children and parents on proper nutrition. That's where it begins, folks. Oh, and we Americans should DEMAND that the government END federal subsidies to the people and corporations who produce the unhealthy, chemical-laced "food product" that lines our grocery aisles. Or maybe the school could sponsor a vegetable garden on its property and somehow work it into the science curriculum. EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE but don't mandate!
Check out Waldorf schools! When my children were going there, we didn't have a school lunch provided, we sent lunches to school. There were parents that also supplied the "kitchen" with foods for students that either forgot their lunches or parents couldn't always afford to send a nutritious lunch. Because this was donated, the children were cared for and the parent could know their child didn't go hungry. We had guidelines on what could be donated to ensure the food was healthy.
What was great is that we would have days that we would cook in the class with some of the students. Each student was to bring something to put in the soup. We never knew what kind of soup we were going to end up with but it always came out good.
We also had a garden, a compost pile and the students learned from hands on experience how to grow a garden themselves. Some of our regular public schools have gardens too. Unfortunately, they are not really big enough to be a part of a food program at the schools.
Are you kidding? The only reason we have school lunches is because some parents aren't able (or willing) to provide good, well-balanced lunches for their kids, no? Ideally, every student would bring his or her own lunch from home because ideally, students' families would be able to put good whole foods on the table! That's obviously not the case, though. It's heart-breaking that for some kids, the only "decent" meal they get is a free (or paid) lunch at school. Schools–and the local community (volunteer organizations, local chefs, etc.)–should work diligently to provide healthy lunches (free or paid) for students who choose to eat at school, but a school should NOT be able to ban home-packed lunches. I was a picky eater, but I had no allergies (besides an allergy to artificial food dyes like Red #40, Yellow #5 & #6, etc., that I've since outgrown). My parents, thankfully, always had the money and time to pack me a good lunch, and that right shouldn't be taken away. But for those who aren't as furtunate, provide healthy foods at school. Take out the vending machines, and serve local veggies. Move the fryers, and bake chicken and other foods. Parents are responsible for their children and their children's eating habits; however, a school should STEP IN only when necessary and should NEVER assume the role of "parent."
Parents are responsible? No, they are irresponsible. Most parents have TV. TV is one of the most destructive things you can do to a child – besides spanking and letting them cry it out at night. So, don't give me this garbage that parents are responsible. If you really cared about kids you would be working to ban TV
All I have to say as much of a pain in the butt it is, I'm relieved that my son has celiac, and that he can bring his own lunch to school. I don't know about my daughter though. I would support it if it wasn't the fast food, nutrient deficient crap they served in the picture.
One thing to remember is that the federal hot lunch program is run by the Department of Agriculture, and while many individual schools or school systems are making giant strides in serving healthy food, Dof A policies are always going to feature subsidized commodities such as corn products, mass-produced dairy, and giant feeding operation meats. Any school that will not permit any parents to feed their children healthier, or more culturally familiar foods, or accomodate vegetarian or vegan diets, etc. is the epitomy of the nanny state. Instead of such draconian measures, maybe they could find a way to make healthy snacks like veggies or fruit available to all students, maybe at non-lunch times, to bolster the nutrition of kids whose parents can't or won't give them healthy meals. Having said that, I have absolutely no problem with our schools OR government trying to educate kids or adults in healthy living, as long as profit and politics are not involved.
"Trying to educate" is completely different from mandating. I have no problem with trying to educate either, but have a major problem with mandating. And prefer the trying to educate part be kept very general because what's healthful to one person is not necessarily to another. You listed a group of diets that should be respected. Should a lo-carb, hi-protein diet be on the list, too? Will the food monitors treat it with the same moral equivalence of a vegan diet? Politics and ideology have a way of inserting themselves whether we want them to or not, which is why value-laden life guidance should be kept out of public schools who have enough to do focusing on academics.
I sympathize with the students. I have been out of elementary school for over 50 years and still remember how lousy the food was.
When a child brings inappropraite things to school, it is the school's right to remove it from the chid's possession. We do this with cell phones, toys, etc. Simply make a list of inappropriate foods, publish it, and follow it to the letter. #1 on the list should be soft drinks that are high in sugar and caffene. #2 on the list should be candy and foods excessively high in fat and sugar. These consumables inhibit a child's ability to learn, and have no place in a school setting.
I agree. Start small with items that most people can agree are detrimental.
It is the school's right only to the extent that the forbidden item is or could be dangerous, is illegal, or is excessively disruptive to the classroom setting. It's also the school's right to limit what it sells. But when you extend the notion of "dangerous" to something that could harm any aspect of long-term physical or emotional health or learning, you quickly cross the line into infringing upon individual liberties. What happens if I don't agree with your list? What happens if I think it's perfectly fine for my kid to have fruit for dessert on some days and cookies on others? I'm not allowed the authority to make that decision because someone else disagrees? Are you KIDDING me??
@KQ: What does "start small" mean–what happens after the "start?" What is the longer-term agenda? This is the problem with the big government nanny state. There's always a hidden larger agenda behind what is presented as just a simple thing we can all agree upon. It's a foot in the door to something we do NOT all agree upon.
Let's not forget the children that don't have a medical "food" issue – but do have sensory issues. My son wouldn't be able to eat half of that crap. He has oral sensory issues. He'd be just as likely to throw that stuff up all over everyone as to swallow any of it.
My child knows what his body needs on a daily basis. Some days it means packing extra fruit, sometimes something a little more salty.
They're called GUIDELINES for a reason. You can't use a cookie-cutter meal and expect everyone to be able to survive on it.
I think that if this isallowed then others may say "Let's make the parents eat healthier too. We will ban unhealthy food in our neighborhood markets." Where does the control of personal tastes end? My family chooses to eat what they feel appropriate for them. Sometimes it is not the healthiest, but for the most part the choices are very healthy. If you tell a child they cannot have something (the same for the parents) then it becomes a mission to find a way to have it. Lazy parents and teachers let someone else make choices for them rather than teaching kids about nutrition.
OK, so I do and do not dissagree with this. I completely agree that students should be required to eat the schools lunches with the exception of medical or alergies. BUT, only if the school provides a prepared that day, fresh, natural, homemade meal. It comes back to what Jamie Oliver is trying to do and comend him for this. If a school can provide a healthy all natural meal daily, then yes, kids should not be able to bring their lunches. I have seen what parents send their kids in with the eat... lunchables, chips, cookies, fruit snacks... never a veggie, never a fresh fruit and never a healthy protein.
If the school can not provide nutrition, fresh and healthy, then what does it really matter.
they cant seem to provide a education either, yet they keep their jobs........
People need to stop complaining about "bad teachers". YES... there are bad teachers, just as their are bad doctors and drivers and engineer... get over it. There are also some GREAT teachers out there. You have two options to get around this though, either be a very involved parent and go to the PTA meetings, meet with your kids teachers, participat in the school activities and work with your kids on their school assignments... or home school.
Parents sending in Lunchables is so offensive that they should lose the right to determine what their children eat? How about teachers drinking sugared coffees and eating donuts or muffins? Why stop with the kids? Why not ban all outside food and make the teachers eat school lunch, too?
I would agree with this! If a school can provide that pyramid of nutrition that they post everywhere of fresh, nutrious food, then yes, require the staff to eat it too. Personally, I would never serve anyone anything I would not eat myself, and most of the crap these kids get right now is just that... crap and I would not eat it.
I don't give a cat's meow if what I send in for lunch is or is not nutritionally more or less valuable than what the government determines children should eat. If I want to send PB&J on Wonder Bread with a juice box, a Fruit Roll-up and Oreos, that's MY business. It's not just my choice when I "behave" according to government standards; it's my choice ALWAYS. They are MY children, and it is 100% MY decision as a parent what my child will eat. Period. Any interference in my parental authority, short of feeding my kids rat poison, is absolutely no business of the government, or any of its agents (like the public schools), or any of the rest of society whatsoever. I have ZERO problem with a bag of chips, and, in fact a bag of Lay's regular chips is substantially less processed (look at the ingredient list) and contains much less sugar than a "healthy" chewy Granola bar that our schools hand out.
In practice, I have kids who are competitive swimmers and require substantially more carbs than the average bear due to the number of calories they burn daily, as well as one with a growth problem who not only needs whole milk, but needs high-calorie instant breakfast mixes added to it, as well as one with a gluten intolerance, and twins who, between them are Epi-pen allergic to strawberries, peanuts, honey, and milk protein. Your "healthy" wheat-based crackers are poison to my children; potato chips or rice cakes are not. You say there are medical exceptions allowed? I say I should not have to explain myself to hope that some school official will approve my exception. Nor should I need my doctor to sign off so that a medical opinion is taken by the school but a parental one is not. These individual differences should not in ANY way be managed, or judged, or evaluated by the government or the school. They belong to the parents in their entirety.
um, did you not get the "unless due to medical or allergy issues"?
Umm, did you not get that I addressed that directly in my post? It's not enough to me to make exceptions for allergies or medical issues. An exception still means that you're allowing someone else to determine whether or not parents can make their own decisions for their kids, or requires doctors to tell the school what children can eat instead of parents telling the school. I believe that parents should retain their authority to feed their kids whatever the heck they want. It is about who makes the decision. What right does the government or the school have to monitor food selections and determine whether or not they find them acceptable? Because my choices might not be choices you would make, you don't get to ban me from making my own decisions.
Schools have the right to dictate what they sell and what is on their menus, but they have no right whatsoever to dictate what choices parents make.
Because all of us taxpayers share the financial burden of unhealthy, obese, and sick adults that children who do not get a nutritious diet when they are older and did not learn how to eat for their parents let them eat "whatever the health they want".
For all you people who willingly desire to have government decide what you or our children eat. You must be completely uneducated. A simple willingness to see the problems in government, the constant reversals of what is considered nutritious, and politicians bent on only controlling others should be a huge warning cry and should cause great alarm that any school would suggest that home lunches be prohibited is an outrage. If my childrens schools did this, I would consider it an act of war of government against its own people. Truly, government has far greater things to worry about than what I eat.
I think it is an excellent idea, however, looking at the pictured lunch they show...this is not a nutritious, nor a balanced lunch. If the lunches they are going to provide the kids are well-balanced with fiber, protein, sodium, sugar and fat then it is a good idea. The lunch above does have protein in the chicken, but the fact that it is fried adds fat to the meal. The corn is a starchy vegetable that doesn't have any real nutritional value, and the biscuit is processed carbohydrates instead of whole grain healthy carbs. I would want to see a sample menu of what my child would be eating, if I was not happy I would like the schools to offer a chance for parents to fill out a waiver of some sort outlining the nutrition of the lunches they would pack for their child and if the guidelines in the waiver were not adhered to then there should be some sort of financial penalty on the parent or revocation of the waiver.
Lovely. I'm sorry, but when lunch costs $2.55 a day and you have two kids... Who wouldn't want to pack lunches? I can pack a nutritious lunch with a treat like pudding, cookies or whatever for dessert – for less than $1.50 each. And then there is breakfast – which can be another $2 a day. I insist the kids eat before they leave home, and don't put much money in their accounts – they do get a little for every now and then.
And for the record, my average spending on my own lunch is about $1.00-$1.50.
Children should be allowed to bring their own lunches. Parents who pack sodas and chips for lunch should be prosecuted for child abuse and sentenced to parenting classes.
at least they are eating, too much of anything is a bad idea, a once a day candy bar and soda wont do any harm.
"a once a day candy bar and soda wont do any harm." You're kidding, right?
Sounds like the current government take on health care. Required to buy a third party (catered) product at more than most families can afford. I can pack my three girls lunches at home with healthy foods for less than it costs for one of their lunches. The lunch I eat most often (also healthy) can be added to the cost of their lunches and only go over the price of one of their lunches by about $.30. Our lunches include fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. If they want to make rules about no soda or candy on campus, go ahead...that doesn't affect people's pocket books. But requiring families to burden themselves further financially to buy a product from a for-profit catering business is ridiculous. Why doesn't the school district use a small amount of funds to bring in a professional frugal nutritionist to teach families how to pack a healthy lunch on a dime. – Just a note for those who think I am just here to complain – I have been in desperate straits before and have not been able to give my family much more than peanut butter sandwiches for months, I have gone hungry so they wouldn't have to, yet my income was not considered in the poverty level and I didn't get public assistance or reduced priced lunches. It would have meant a decision between a place to live or catered school lunches. You are sending a very bad message to the children under your care if you require that they go 7-8 hours without food, because their parents may need to make rent or other financial needs. They very ones you are supposedly trying to protect are the ones you will be hurting the most. I am very glad I do not live in that school district. By the way, how many of those green and orange vegetables do you think are eaten versus being scraped in the trash receptacle. It is better to offer choices than to dictate. That's all I'm saying.
I could definitely see a private school mandating "no outside food or drink" as policy (similar to school uniforms), but a public school? I wonder if the rest of the schools in the district have their lunches catered. What makes this school special?
Many years ago, I was a public school (latchkey) kid. My parent's worked full time and couldn't get involved with school except to sign my report card and attend school plays. I had excellent teachers who taught well and we learned. Enough to go to college and to graduate with honors.
Many teachers today need parents'help because they can't do the job by themselves. They get the paren'ts involved in every class project, activity, class parent etc. etc., and have the collossal nerve to blame the parent when the child doesn't learn.
Now they want the right to dictate where the kids eat?
Well here's a novel idea.....
Quit meddling in poeople's personal lives. Why not let parents feed their kids which is after all, the parent's responsibility. Why not have the teachers teach our kids, which is the teacher's responsibility. Educators....Spend all that energy figuring out why our kids aren't learning. That's what school taxes are for!
I was in high about 6 years ago and I remember the lunches were DISGUSTING. Pizza and fries everyday; if not pizza, then a breaded, processed chicken patty on a white flour bun. I never saw anyone eat any kind of vegetables from the school cafeteria (not that it would matter, they cook all the nutrients out). And I went to an excellent high school in a wealthy area (not sure that even makes a difference though). Even if they offered healthier choices (which they didn't really), no one would buy them anyway. I opted to take classes during my lunch period my junior and senior years and ate a small snack in between classes (though looking back, it probably wasn't the best decision).
Also, it's funny that people mention that school food is like prison food. In reality, school food literally IS prison food. Aramark, Sysco – these names that are branded on the packages of school lunch foods are literally the same companies that supply prisons across the nation.
It's REALLY laughable that school officials would purport that school lunches as they stand are remotely healthy. Absolutely inane. If school lunches are healthy, then I have absolutely no idea what healthy is.
Can we please, PLEASE stop using schools to fight our political ideological battles? Yes, playing "food cop" over other people is an ideological-bs battle.
I want my kids to receive an eduction, not an indoctrination. And frankly, I don't even care if I happen to agree with whatever notion they're currently pushing. Last I checked, people still have rights. That happens to include the right to make decisions which even a strong majority happens to disagree with as long as you cause no harm (real harm, not imagined BS) to others. If we don't start sticking up for the rights of others (ESPECIALLY when we disagree with them), it's just a matter of time before we lose our own.
The schools need to run the schools not the families. Parents are the ones responsible for their kids. Since they want to control what they eat then, they should also provide the medical care and any other expenses to raise the children.
Is no one else disturbed by the fact that 86% of the kids in this district qualify for free or reduced lunch?!
its probly higher than that in others with today's economy.
lunch policy for the kids or because a relative works at Chartwells-Thompson ??????
I don't have a problem with a school saying they have to eat school lunches....as long as the school pays for it. I pack my son's lunch because he gets more food that he needs to grow, and more food he will eat. What is the use of giving them a lunch tray full of food they wont eat when you can pack them a healthy lunch they will.
Where is the school getting the money? Oh that's right you the tax payer. SO if they are covering the costs and you are making lunch for your kid you are paying twice.
I do not feel that this is a good idea, It does not take into account the vegitarians, or the lactos intalerant, or the children that have beliefs that dont eat certain things on certain days. By the school doing this they are telling parents that they are failing as parents to be trusted to provide their children with a healthy lunch. Also, what about those parents that cant afford the school lunch's but does not qualify for free or reduced lunchs.
nice photo op picture!!!! Would be nice to see a real picture of the lunch severed.
Exactly! NEVER ONCE have I seen anything in public school look that good ESPECIALLY one that picks up the tab for over 80% of the kids eating it.
Healthful foods actually cost LESS than junk food. The school could instead spend time educating parents in the cost of lunches and what kinds of things are good to pack...PB and J on wheat, banana, and a yogart on a per lunch basis would cost much less than $2. I'm always trying to think of healthful things to pack. our school sends home the menu for the month and I get ideas from that.
Sorry, but peanut-butter sandwiches are in my opinion, NOT healthy in the least. Please, please, please look at the amount of fat per serving on your average brand and decide for your self. (I still don't understand why WIC supports it as a healthy protein when you actually look at the protein to fat ratios.) Just my thought...
It really depends on the brand of peanut butter.
Plus, to be frank, people with certain metabolisms don't need to be concerned with the fats present in peanut butter while others do.
There are many body types/metabolisms out there. Even having 3-4 options wouldn't even begin to address every child's needs. That is where parents are supposed to come in!
need to check and see if the Principal Elsa Carmona has financial ties ( if any) to the caterer Chartwells-Thompson. seeing that they receive a set fee for each meal served they would benefit greatly from this policy.
In my state, our school actually MAKES money on free/reduced lunches so I'd say that's the incentive...
Meaning that if the kids that qualify for free/reduced lunch are brown bagging it either out of preference or parental pride, the school is loosing out on revenue and probably trying to regain it this way. (That said, those students rarely have school supplies or parental assistance at home–so I'm sure the school is spending the money on them one way or the other, but their probably just taking from Peter to pay Paul.) I'd say the school is just trying to make more eligible people utilize the lunch resource so that the school can fund the other things for these impoverished kids that they also desperately need. I DO NOT agree with the decision at all, just trying to make more sense of it.
Hello people. 86% don't pay or pay a reduced amount.
They want the tax payers to cover the bill cause they are covering it for 86% of the kids anyway. Might as well take ti to the next level.
This is it folks. We have the insurance companies telling us how to live or they won't cover us when we are sick. What's the healthy way of living? Please see tonight's news broadcast so you can be told.
We have schools telling us how to eat even though they are known for serving horrible food.
And we are forced to pay for this via taxes.
That's getting very close to communism my friends. Very scary.
Welcome to the George Orwell School District! I hope the kids revolt and a massive food fight ensues.
So what about children who are on special diets? Is the school peanut free? I suppose this school has no children with special needs. My daughter has profound special needs and is on a special medical diet and I must weigh her food according to a specific diet to treat her seizures (the Ketogenic diet). This is under strict doctors supervision. Other kids in my daughter's class are tube fed, or eat only pureed foods. So you mean to tell me these kids must eat the school lunch or none at all? yeah sure this would all go over well with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Um, no, Keri. The article clearly states that children with a doctor's note can be exempted. I sure hope they don't let you out on Halloween. Watching you pitchfork all of the kids dressed as Frankenstein would be disturbing.
Kids on special diets were exempt from this rule–but–they need a doctor's note to be exempt. How would the rule impact kids who are vegetarian or vegan by choice, or kids who do not eat certain foods because their religion forbids it–fake doctor's notes, because a parent's word's not good enough for the school? Nothing to stop a hungry bigger kid from strong-arming a smaller kid out of part of their lunch either, I can see the "good" food being used as playground currency, that happened at my school decades ago.
My "other" response: I would support this policy if and only if lunches were free for all students.
Take the monetary concerns out of the equation, and I have no problems with the policy. But to enact an $11/week tax on the parents of each student isn't proper.
(Yes, I know, the $11/week buys the lunches. But if the parents are having the money taken from them unwillingly, for all intents and purposes, it is a tax.)
I must concur with the notion of pricing junks foods off the shelf – but on a runaway capitalist train? Yeah right. Try stopping some of that greasy chicken money from reaching capitol hill. There needs to be set limits on what kinds of crap they are allowed to bring to market. Why not simply restrict junk food until a person is of a certain age, like we do with other legal but equally unhealthy/worthless items like cigarettes and tobacco? Or apply an excise tax to a bag of Doritos, like we do with gasoline.
I would love to understand how it is that health-nuts think Doritos are unhealthy but list openly on their healthy snack suggestions tortilla chips with a black bean salsa. Doritos are nothing more than seasoned tortilla chips. Or how Doritos are bad but another "healthy" snack, granola bars, are good. Granola bars are LOADED with sugar. Those who follow a lo-fat diet aren't overly concerned about sugar; those who follow a lo-carb diet aren't overly concerned about fat. Those who eat lo-carb and lo-fat follow a diet that's incredibly strict and not always kid-friendly.
When my tax dollars are funding school meals, I believe I have a right, as a taxpayer, to insist on a certain degree of nutritional value in the meals I'm buying for the 3 million plus children whose families can't afford to feed them. But for them to turn around and tell ME how to feed my kids? Absolutely not. If I'm not buying government food, my diet or my child's diet is no business of anyone but me.
Several things are going on here. Kids are required to attend school for six hours a day, so they have to eat. Parents should be able to choose what their kids eat, being the parents and all. Furthermore, the kids have to pay for this required lunch. That's complete BS. I saw in other articles several parents that said they can feed their kid from home for less than 2.25 a day. This is a waste of money for many people in a city where people shouldn't be wasting money.
The schools do have an obligation to ensure foods that endanger another students life are not allowed in school. And the school obviously should offer students a choice of very healthy foods at lunch (if the lunch can be afforded by students) because a lot of PARENTS don't give their kids the healthy foods they really need. But to tell kids they have buy lunch from the school is nothing but a MONEY grab by the school...again GREED is at the root of such behaviours by the school.....to me this tells me how much the school really CARES about the kids...They DON'T...it's all about PROFIT! Disgusting!!
While I'm completely against this, I have to ask if people are responding because they want to see their words on the internet or because they actually took the time to read the article and then develop a well thought out reply. I'm guessing the latter is the case here, since the article noted that any profit goes to the catering company, NOT the school district.
you really think they would let it be known that the school is getting a percentage? i think that would be a better kept secret than the pedophiles that are in the bleachers.
that's ridiculous we have to pay $2 for a slice of pizza at my school. our lunches are horrible. the options around here are drive home as fast as you can to eat or put a couple bucks in a vending machine!
One additional take on the argument aside from health is homogeneity. Why must all kids have the same lunch? We never have fried chicken at home- mostly because I’m not a big fan of it- but the above meal doesn’t really fit into our eating “style.” My wife is Peruvian, and she’s looking forward to sending our kids off to school with some staples from her childhood. Although it’s not the biggest part their culture, it’s just another example of chipping away at what makes them unique.
My child is actually underweight so I have to give him high-calorie, high quality foods for lunch. It's already hard enough with no nuts allowed but this is ridiculous! Just like all the kids clothes at walmart are now made for husky kids, a one-size-fits-all policy doesn't work. What about Vegan kids, or kids that need gluten free diets etc? Do they have to starve now?
just do not allow chips or sodas into the school and fried foods should be thrown out our school lunch systems are not always rite but in so many ways
This is why our students are failing to learn and China & the rest of the world is passing us by. Teachers & school administrators are more worried about what a kid eats than what they are learning. How about fixing the 50%+ drop out rates in many of these schools before worrying if a kid is eating refined sugar or corn syrup.
I ate nothing but junk food all through school, drank pop, ate candy & chips out of the school vending machine for lunch, I'm not fat, I did well in school, probably I have a MS in Computer Engineering. My kids success in life is not dependent on some school bureaucrat determining what is or is not a healthy lunch.
What would be better than mandatory school lunches? MANDATORY EDUCATION in schools!
I would happily pack my child's lunch everyday AND volunteer to pack one needy child's lunch, if the school system would take all the money invested into school cafeteria budgets and re-direct it into teachers' salaries, educational programs & school supplies.
It should be both mandatory AND optional. How? Every parent receives a pamphlet describing the nutritional value, origin, and cooking method for the school lunches (there should be no mechanically processed/separated meat, or not freshly made food in schools). The parents will have the chance to meet or exceed the quality of food offered by the school in their lunches. Any student wishing to bring a lunch must have it inspected for adequetness, and if it doesn't pass the student brings the lunch back home and must either not eat, or have the school prepared lunch.
Parents should have a choice, but not if it's less healthy than what the school is giving.
Yes, Dan, and you should have a choice in your lifestyle, but NOT if it's less healthy than the lifestyle your neighbor chooses. Go back to 1970s Russia where your mentality belongs.
The lunch in my county (in TN) is SOOOOOO UNHEALTHY! I am a teacher and bring my lunch every day. If school lunch were healthy, I would consider eating at school. Most students eat because it is free and the lunches at home are not any healthier.
I'm the mother of 3 boys, and send my boys to school with homemade lunches because I remember going to school and eating that horrible food. High in Salt and fat.
Ok this looks like high Sodium canned Green beans(which the kids will throw away) DEEP fried Chicken(?Really?) Bleach White Biscuit(frozen not fresh), Frozen Corn(which the kids will throw away) and milk. Lets think about this for just a second. Fresh is always better then frozen(or Canned) and broiled is better then fried, whole wheat is better then bleached white.
The school system needs to rethink abit and I understand if this is stemming from the Jamie Oliver "Food Revolution" which is helping our American Families see how healthy we can eat for very little. I fully support the Food Revolution, I send my children to school with one fruit(Pear, Apple or Strawberries as examples), a sandwich(Whole Wheat bread turkey with lettuce and mayo again as an example), a snack(Gold fish or pretzels), a 100% juice and everything is in a reusable container no baggies(helping the environment).
I really dont think the schools can top that, they don't have compost at the school which would help the environment and they are going bout the lunches ALL wrong.
There is too much junk in your lunch. Goldfish, fruit juice – all empty calories, mayo contains unhealthy fats. Turkey is most likely processed. On a such diet your boys would require brasses and provide a lot of work for their dentist.
Who in the (bleep) does this Carmona woman think she is? She is WAY out of line and beyond her authority.
Jdizzle McHammerpants> Thank you for the quotes. That took some time and effort, I appreciate the work you did on it.
I LOVE great quotes. They're excellent and I thank you, again. You're awesome.
Here's a simple lunch for schools 1.) Small salad, baked chicken, banana, oatmeal raisin bar, skim milk.
2) Fresh broccoli, baked pork chop, apple, lemon bar, skim milk
The possibilities are endless. Vegetarians opt out for meat and have baked tofu or soy patty.
3.) Grilled cheese sandwich, raw carrots, a plum, oatmeal chocolate chip bar, skim milk
Somehow...we all managed to make it to adulthood without stringent rules governing our diets. Our parents were responsible for what we shoved in our mouths and with far more outdoor play than kids to day get, we managed to stay trim and healthy. Side note...as the emphasis toward vegetarian and organic diets has increased among school-aged kids, so too, as absenteeism due to illness. I have to wonder whether there's a link.
Vegetarianism doesn't provide necessary nutrients for healthy brain and body development. Standard American Diet even better. I eat neither.
I am sorry, the article states that 86 % of the children who attend the school quality for free or reduced lunches. When I wrote it, I thought I hit 86, but clearly I did not. My apologies for the confusion.
Please don't vote for Donald Trump. After he recently attacked Bill Cosby, I no longer like him, and I once liked Trump.
According to the article, this is one school district on the West side of Chicago. The article also states that 62% of the children who attend the school qualify for free or reduced lunch. We are discussing a poverty stricken area school in Chicago. Is the school lunch pictured above an average lunch, is it an authentic lunch they are serving? Well, it does have a high amount of carbs, starch and calories. Over cooked vegetables and an empty calorie bun. First of all, those kids are probably very hungry. However, this could lead to obesity, if this type of high fat, low enzyme meal is served everyday. Skim milk, which I love, should be served instead of the 2 percent. Also, if this is a low income district, I would think it might present a hardship for those who are not getting free lunches, seriously, it really could make some kids do without, instead of getting something brought in from home. Maybe they should have just banned soda pop instead of banning every single brown bag home lunch. Every school cafeteria has odd people ruling over the kids, the stranger you are, the more likely you will be the lunch lady or the lunch supervisory person. Not all lunches are this bad, but realistically, this school district mentioned is at poverty level and still the children need food. Can it be of higher quality?
The fact, in short, is that freedom, to be meaningful in an organized society must consist of an amalgam of hierarchy of freedoms and restraints. ~Samuel Hendel
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~Thomas Paine
History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads. ~Charles de Gaulle
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Liberty is the possibility of doubting, of making a mistake,... of searching and experimenting,... of saying No to any authority – literary, artistic, philosophical, religious, social, and even political. ~Ignazio Silone, The God That Failed, 1950
Liberty: One of Imagination's most precious possessions. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. ~Thomas Campbell
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. ~Napoleon Bonaparte
Here is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered expression. ~Gerard K. O'Neill, 2081
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln
I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom. ~Simone de Beauvoir
My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. ~Adlai Stevenson, speech, Detroit, 1952
It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~Author unknown, sometimes attributed to M. Grundler
We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~Robert J. McCracken
You have freedom when you're easy in your harness. ~Robert Frost
For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine
In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
We have to call it "freedom": who'd want to die for "a lesser tyranny"? ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. ~Moshe Dayan
There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought. ~Charles Kingsley
No one is free when others are oppressed. ~Author Unknown
Nations grown corrupt
Love bondage more than liberty;
Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty.
~John Milton
Just, harmonious, temperate as is the spirit of liberty, there is in the name and mere notion of it a vagueness so opposite to the definite clearness of the moral law.... ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Freedom means choosing your burden. ~Hephzibah Menuhin
Most people want security in this world, not liberty. ~H.L. Mencken, Minority Report, 1956
We feel free when we escape – even if it be but from the frying pan into the fire. ~Eric Hoffer
Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves. ~Author Unknown
Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond. ~Jeffrey Borenstein
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick
Freedom is not enough. ~Lyndon B. Johnson
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. ~Woodrow Wilson
The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. ~Adlai Stevenson, speech, New York City, 28 August 1952
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. ~William Faulkner
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Everywhere the human soul stands between a hemisphere of light and another of darkness on the confines of two everlasting hostile empires, – Necessity and Free Will. ~Thomas Carlyle, Essays, "The Opera"
We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights. ~Felix Frankfurter
O Liberty...! is it well
To leave the gates unguarded?
~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. ~Frederick Douglass, speech, Civil Rights Mass Meeting, Washington, D.C., 1883
Let freedom never perish in your hands. ~Joseph Addison
Who speaks of liberty while the human mind is in chains? ~Francis Wright, 1828
Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. ~George Washington
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ~James Madison, speech, Virginia Convention, 1788
Liberty doesn't work as well in practice as it does in speeches. ~Will Rogers
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. ~Mahatma Gandhi
Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. ~Theodore Roosevelt
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. ~Edward R. Murrow
Freedom has a thousand charms to show,
That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
~William Cowper
Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort which it brings. ~Walter Lippmann, A Preface to Morals, 1929
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. ~Daniel Webster
Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. ~Albert Camus
Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves. ~D.H. Lawrence, Classical American Literature, 1922
I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery. ~Author Unknown
Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves. ~Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 1888
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~Louis D. Brandeis
When the People contend for their liberty, they seldom get anything for their Victory but new Masters. ~George Savile
Without freedom, no one really has a name. ~Milton Acorda
A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century. ~Baron de Montesquieu
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. ~George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, "Maxims: Liberty and Equality," 1905
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. ~Edmund Burke
We anarchists do not want to emancipate the people; we want the people to emancipate themselves. ~Errico Malatesta, l'Agitazione, 18 June 1897
Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown
Looks like the tinfoil is not working anymore. Did you go off your meds again?
Other people in other countries are reading the headlines and laughing at us. They laugh because we say we are free, when in reality we are not. I would not be surprised if the Feds weren't reading some of these post. Paranoid? You bet I am. They more I think about it the more I wished Donald Trump would run. Yeah, I went there. Deal with it. I may just be crazy and paranoid enough to vote for him should he run. Then I could be classified as one of those crazy mentally challenged dopes who voted for the wrong guy should he run, win and FUBAR everything.
"Fubar? It's German."
Wrong one... but nice try.
Oh, yeah. Must have been the Band Off Brothers marathon I watched a couple weeks ago.
*of
i say its bullsh!t, my school district has some rule about peanut products and soda, so just to see if they would say anything, i went to school one day to eat lunch with my daughter, i had a bag of peanut m&m's and a can of pepsi. no one had the balls to bother me about it. id pull my kid(s) from that school right away!
That has to be the most irresponsible thing I've heard from "an adult" in a long time.
... hmm, yep, your an @ss.
And I bet it makes you feel really cool when the neighbor kids are really impressed by your collection of unsecured loaded guns.
my loaded gun is secured, right by my left side. the more i think about it, the more it makes sence that the schools are getting a kickback from their lunch providors, cant get a levy passed? well, we'll mandate you buy our lunch!
OF COURSE right after you ate those peanut products you promptly put the bag inside another plastic bag to throw out, washed your hands thoroughly with soap and water, brushed your teeth (and lips) and rinsed your mouth with mouthwash, used a heavy cleaning product on the table you'd touched and anything else you'd touched before you washed your hands, right?
If not, congratulations, you just exposed any child at that school with a violent anaphylactic reaction to peanuts to a severe allergen that is one of the most likely to kill them. Big, bad, adult you are. The peanut ban is in place for a reason.
I went to a school where we were served lunch every day. We were never allowed to bring in our lunch. The only kids who could were allowed for religious reasons on at certain times of the year. Did I love every meal? No. Did I turn out ok and healthy. Yes. My kids attend a school where they restrict what we can bring for lunch. For example, no chips, no fast food leftovers, no sugary treats. HOWEVER, we are allowed to bring any of those things to the kids when it is their birthday. Sugared snacks for special occasions. Just as it should be. This head of school has her head in the right place. I just hope their parents come on board.
You will make an excellent drone.....
great so now we need lunch police in order to enforce the policy!!! I may be out of line here with this but when school systems are scrambling for money don't you think that hiring a lunch policy enforcer is wise? even if this is an additional job of a paid teacher or administrator don't you think that there time could be spent more wisely then checking for sugary treats in a lunch bag?????
What about vegetarian kids? Vegan kids? They may not have allergies or a medical excuse, but there are parents who don't want their kids to eat animal products for health, environmental, and spiritual reasons. If I had a kid in this school, I'd find a way to pull them out. This is a total violation of basic parental freedoms.
The parents imposing a special diet on their children because of laughable "spiritual" reasons is a violation of the child's rights. The half-baked environmental and health concerns are also tools used to impose autocratic will.
There's a reason why, until the age of 18, children are considered MINORS and are legally controlled by their parents. GOOD parents allow children to make certain decisions for themselves. A 2-year old can decide if they want Elmo or Big Bird pajamas. A 4-year old can decide if he wants to play on the swings or in the sandbox. A six-year old can decide if he wants a turkey sandwich or spaghetti for lunch (but not fried chicken). There need to be limits set by the parents until children learn to make good decisions.
So... are you going to dictate to every parent in the country which limits they can and can't set? Tell the parents what they can and can't feed their kids? I don't have kids, but if I did, you can bet your backside that they'd never see the inside of a McDonald's. Would that make me an "evil parent," taking away my kid's "rights" to eat horrible food? Give me a break!
There are limits to what a parent can and can't do in terms of restricting a child, but raising a kid vegetarian is not prohibited, as long as the child does not show signs of malnutrition.
Anyone watch the "news piece" on the famous satire news site about the idea of "School Homing" as educators are infinitely more qualified to raise children than parents ::rolleyes:: Another step in that direction.
If the school told me my lunches weren't appropriate we would have words. My kids eat healthier than most people I know. When my 8 year old packs a lunch for himself it's usually a sandwich (pb&j on whole wheat) and a handful of cookies or candy. I know it's not super healthy or even remotely balanced but I also know he won't throw it away. I control what they eat for breakfast and supper. I make everything from scratch at home... lots of veggies and fruit, whole grains... I am also realistic about what kids want to eat. If I know he's getting two really good meals then I say eat what you want for the third.
Yes! And school should enforce children to eat everything that was given on the tray and clean up around them afterwards.
Perhaps we should bring back REAL recess and full hours of PE that may help any weight problems.
I would be absolutely livid if this policy were in place in our school district. Aside from the fact that my daughter is an exceptionally picky eater and refuses to eat most of the items served in her school's cafeteria, the lunches that I send from home are infinitely more healthy than anything her school serves.
This is ridiculous. I'm ok with schools being required to serve healthy foods, but they have no business dictating what can be in a bag lunch. The school has a duty to provide education, and a portion of that education ought to include healthy eating habits, but it is not the school's job to force those habits.
I think schools ought to teach more about household finances and money management too, but likewise it would be ridiculous for them to actively control any income and spending of the students.
"But Principal Elsa Carmona stands by the ban she set six years ago after seeing students pack "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" for school field trips."
No, then you should only ban certain prohibited items. If it's tough to enforce, then you accept and like the difficulty in enforcing it
Blanket banning ALL brought lunches is unacceptable.
I think kids should be allowed to bring their own food to school for many reasons. Not the least of which is what I've seen that actually passes the USDA nutritional requirements being served in schools as a healthy lunch. Nutrition and cooking should be required classes in school. It's been shown when you get kids involved in preparing healthy food they eat healthier foods generally.
I think it's amazing the stock people put into the department that is always dropping the ball on stuff.
It's impossible for schools to offer food to all their students without the quality becoming crappy. I know – I'm in grade 11 and have been eating my school's icky food for the last ten years... Sometimes it's so bad, I go without lunch. Parents have no idea.
Oh, absolutely, Demara. No parent in the history of this country has ever attended a school or eaten a crappy school lunch. By your logic, having allegedly received a bit o' book learnin', you will never have children. At least that's a good thing, given your ignorance and inability to reason.
This is EXACTLY the problem: if the food is lousy and substandard, no matter how "nutritional" it is, the kids will go hungry. How is that good for them in any way? That will just encourage their body to go into a starvation mode. Then, when they get home, they'll eat a ton of junk food to make up for the lost calories because they're terribly hungry and want something quick and fast. In the article mentioned in the above commentary, the reporter watched most of the children buy the lunch and walk straight over to the trash can. What a wonderful waste.
Schools should be required by law (and appropriately funded by their states and municipalities) to offer healthy lunches for students, with caps on calories, salt, and unhealthy fats. Outside vendors should not be allowed, unless it's a place like Subway that can offer only healthy options to kids.
However, schools should not force students to all eat the school lunch, private boarding schools notwithstanding. If parents want to stuff their kids' faces with junk, that's their right. Let parents turn their kids into porkers, and offer nutritious options for children of conscientious parents.
metabolism plays a big part in things, my wife is extremly overweight and barely eats, i am very thin and eat all kinds of stuff i shouldnt, i go through 4-6 cans of regular soda daily. maybe the schools should fire all the fat-a$$ teachers, their not setting a good example- im kidding, but thats about as logical as banning bag lunches and dictating what the kids choose to eat.
You both need to visit your physician for obvious reasons. And if what you say about your wife is true, I'm sure she would be proud of your comment. I smell a divorce coming your way.
Nice husband. What an @ss.
to "snowbunny":saying i have a larger than average wife makes me a @ss? she is, i didnt say she was fat or any one of many unflattering terms. it is what it is. she even laughed at my joke about "well, in bowling, 300 is a good thing" she was big when i met her and i actually prefer a larger woman, im sure someday my high metabolism will grind to a halt and i'll need to toss out clothes ive had since high school the bottom line is that it should be my decesion and the schools should worry about what their supposed to be there for.
"maybe the schools should fire all the fat-a$$ teachers" is what you posted. You also posted "my wife is extremly overweight". I just thought the negative comment about the teachers was mean considering you said your wife was extremely overweight.
I used to manage a Subway restaurant. Out of the number of different sandwiches into the teens, only a handful are actually as nutritious as you claim. Chicken breast – chopped and formed, ham – full of sodium, the chips you bought – half of your recommended fat for the day. Better than McDonalds? Definitly. Should we eat there every day of our life? No.
http://www.subway.com/applications/NutritionInfo/index.aspx
And if you read carefully, these are stripped down sandwich numbers. Throw cheese and mayo on it, these numbers are far higher.
God, I love #winning
I am currently in high school and I would get so beyond ticked off if they made buying lunch mandatory. I personally pack lunch everyday, although I include healthy things: a fruit or vegtable, some ham on wheat bread, a water bottle, and a healthy snack (such as a granola bar). Packing my lunch is cheaper than the $6.00 school lunches, and it's better for me. I do understand that some kids are packing absolute crap for lunch, but what about the kids who pack good lunches? At my school, the lunches are fatty/unhealthy and the kids who do eat them everyday are clearly gaining wieght. School lunch is gross, expensive, and repulsive. Bad foods are cheaper, and if bad foods are being sent for lunch...do those kids really have the money to buy a school lunch everyday? If school lunch is mandatory, at least don't charge for it. All in all, this is the most stupid idea I have ever heard and the idea better not spread.
Agreed, I am also in high school, and I pack my own lunches too. The lunches at my school are dripping in grease, have oversized portions, and lack variety. They just aren't appealing. I completely agree with you.
i dont know what school u go to but my school has undersized portions, processed food, and tastes like crap, then again i think this whole thing is completely ridiculous
Well our school offers the kids frozen crappy food, it is all processed and barely fresh for $2.85 a day. School may set limits on no soda, no glass container and such things. But banning a child from eating lunch at all has to be against the law. Shoot even in a daycare setting in NJ if your kids are present a certain time you have to feed them.
I think there is a level of hypocracy on the principals arguement. I agree that schools should do a better job of providing healthy lunches to combat childhood obesity. But NO lunch is not a healthy option. I think you can ban sodas and candy from being brought to school. But allow the children to eat.
So right!!
Yes, how is no lunch healthy? If a parent denied their child a meal it would be abuse, but the school can do it and it's good?
When I was in school, my parents worked for the district and would NOT allow me to have the school provided lunch, because they felt they could provide something better. Parents always believe they have the best intentions and most due, but I will say this, more kids eat school provided lunch today, than they did 10 years ago. That says something about the parents in todays world. A school has no right to say what a child can and cannot eat unless that child is having the school lunch provided. Have a dress code, tell them what to study and read, but dont tell them what to eat.
And I am in no way saying anything bad about parents, me being one myself. I make my kids lunches because its easier to deal with and they know and like what they are getting.
The food displayed at the top of this article displays a typical school lunch: 4 acidic, inflammation-forming foods and one alkaline food. Eating at school would be wonderful for the health of students, IF healthy, high-quality, nutrient-rich, non-GMO, organic foods were served.
Parents should be able to choose what food they want to send their children to school with. If they want their kids to eat the schools food then fine. BUT, its their choise. not the schools and certainly not our stupid governments.
When I was growing up the school lunch left a lot to b e desired! I remember the fried burritos with cheese sauce and God forbid, potato boats are 2 lunches that stick out in my mind! Healthy, definitely NOT but I grew up to be a healthy adult who now makes what I think are mostly good food choices in spite of what the school fed me!! I personally believe that most parents that qualify for free or reduced lunches for their children, will let them eat that without a second thought, because most of this country has turned into a what can I get for free mentality and sure aren't going to take away from their cigarette, beer or drug money and time to care what their kid is eating! For those who do care, then by all means please allow them to feed their child what they want!! Obesity IS an epidemic in this country, but mostly because no one gets off their butts to do anything except walk to the computer and have no will power when it comes to portion control! One cheeseburger once in awhile never killed anyone, but 3-4 several times a week will eventually! Schools need to do their best to provide a nutritious meal, but something IS better than nothing for a lot of kids and the others parents should be allowed to feed them what they want! But they should also get these kids off their butts and outside!! OFF of the computers and video games! My parents used to send me outside when we got home and said "Be home at dark" No cell phones to check on me, the rules were just followed and if they needed me there was about a 10 block radius they could find me in!! Nutrition is great, but paired with laziness, it really serves no positive purpose!!
Maybe I'm the exception to the rule but I'd like to think I'm not. With my present income, my daughter would (unfortunately) easily qualify for free lunches. However, due to the lack of quality, nutritious lunches I've never even bothered to fill out the application. I pack my daughter's lunches and they are comprised of the foods that she likes best...fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurt, cheese, almonds, water, etc. These are the same foods she eats when she is at home. I may not have a lot of money but I care very much about what my daughter eats and making sure she has high quality, healthy foods available at all times is a priority.
If I want my kid to bring in a bucket of flaming hot chips, that is none of this biotch's business. She needs to stick to educating the children and keep her commie nose out of my business.
If this lunch had baked chicken, a green salad, an apple and a whole wheat muffin I'd consider it edible. that DOES look gross. Then I MIGHT pay for it..... I would refuse to pay for something I didn't consider wholesome. Even a turkey sandwhich on whole wheat, carrot sticks and a banana in a brown bag would be better than that.....
Unbelievable! A public school should have absolutely no right to do this. Are we teaching those kids nutrition or fascism? Parents have already lost enough of their rights over the past 3 decades. Where does it end? You can't pack your own kid's lunch? Absolutely ludicrous!
I agree with you 100%.
Lets see 5 meals @11.25 that are well balanced have you been to the grocery store lately and 86 % at reduced or free seems like this might be in the best interest of the children and more could be spent on the meals at home even though i personally would handle it a little different instead of forcing it i would be prmoting it
I don't buy your logic.
For $15 a week, I can buy meat, bread, veggies, fruit and a snack – enough to make 2 lunches for adults for 5 days. That's $7.5 per adult per week, or $1.5 per day. So I don't get where your numbers come from.
If the school makes it mandatory, the school should pay for it.
Best post.
Du vill eat vhat ve tell du and du vill eat it now!
LOL. Sad, but true.
I don't agree with this at all. I cannot afford to pay the $2.25 for school lunch, and according the the school I make too much money to qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. So since I can't pack my son a lunch for him to eat at school, he has to go hungry. Please, tell me what is wrong with my son having milk, PB&J or ham & cheese on wheat, carrot sticks, string cheese, and one cookie for lunch?
@Michele, Nothing wrong with that at all!
Sorry, Meant MICHELLE
If you even think that this picture is what they feed kids in schools then you are terribly shut out of the loop. The lunches generally cost $3+ for very little and un-appetizing food. This food generally consist of a main dish disguised as a slice of pizza when it is on a unrealistically thin slice of crust, contains little to no sauce, so little that the crust is remotely unchanged my it, with 10 shreds of cheese, and small carton of milk, and like 8-10 green beans. Chicken as depicted above is never served at all, corn as served above is never like that. It's unreal. I'm glad I;m out of a location that served that excuse for food.
By the Way what about the kids who are thin and are trying to gain weight? What are they supposed to do. My friends and I were skin and bone and we had to deal with that, I mean it's awful.
I thought that picture looked better than the school food I got too
your post sounds spot on
The alternative is "skipping lunch altogether?" How's that a healthy option? Seems to me like the school system is attempting to raise revenue by forcing parents to buy the school lunches for their children (I'd hate to be a parent with several children in school in that district). If I were forced to pay for a lunch, I would want to know exactly how it was prepared and the ingredients used. Is the school providing that detailed information to the parents?
A Russian exchange student staying with us (fluent in English, Spanish and studying Chinese) believes a piece of chocolate and tea are a perfectly good breakfast. Good thing she's never been anywhere hear this school district.
In my classroom of preschoolers, we had a giant poster of the food pyramid and "Chef Combo" a puppet that "talked" about it. The children in my class (barring allergies of course) knew there was a certain order the food in their lunch boxes could be eaten, there were no “bad foods” but foods that were better for us and made our body’s healthy and strong: they would eat their sandwich or soup, then fruit and yogurt and then anything left over, after that anything they did not eat at lunch they could eat during afternoon snack. Soda and candy was not permitted and a (Dixie cup) of milk was consumed before any sugary juice boxes, this was done in part to encourage good food choices and two the kids napped immediately after lunch.
The parents were in agreement and the kids knew it was the routine, no one was deprived and the kids were taught how to make good choices. Win-Win if you ask me, (oh and these were 2.5 to 5 year old kids and I was a teacher alone with 10 kids, so I don’t want to hear its not possible)
Give the kids the tools to make good choices and they will, there is no need for a school to demand you eat their lunchs only JMHO
A NOTE ABOUT THE PHOTO: This is a stock "school lunch photo" and is NOT what is actually served at this school.
A different website had a photo of a real lunch from this school and it looked AWFUL. It was all pre-prepared stuff, packed in little sealed containers, ready to be reheated in a microwave at the school. It certainly did not look edible though I suppose it might have been "healthy" before the microwave destroyed many of the nutrients.
I think kids should be allowed to bring their own lunches. To make a child skip lunch is a cruel idea. As a child, I preferred the lunches my mom packed and rarely, if ever would I eat a school lunch. I preferred meatless meals at a very young age, and became full-fledged vegetarian when I was 15, still in school (my own decision). As a parent-to-be, I would be appalled if this goes on with my child's school.
If it is not the school that makes the choice than it is the parents. It should be up to the consumers of the lunch who ultimately get to choose.
The principal noticed what the kids were bringing on field trips? I brought my lunch nearly every day from 1st through 8th grade. For the most part, either I or my mom packed reasonably healthy lunches. Field trips, however, were deemed special occasions for little treats such as soda or those processed lunch kits. They certainly weren't the norm. Even if they were, last time I checked, it was my parents who were raising me; not the school district.
I think the target audience (students from this school district) for these rules may not have the same thoughts about healthy food that your family did
The target audience is parents. Fail.
The problem here is not the food or the people eating it. The problem is the government trying to control yet another portion of our lives. You can have my butter, lard and unpasteurized milk when you pry them from my cold dead hands!!!
I don't know what the big deal is, omg the end of the world our schools are serving healthier food!!! Please spare me, you don't want your kids eating school lunch then don't have them eat it. Fill their little lunch boxes with crap and have them eat that, DUH!!!!! If the school doesn't allow obvious bad stuff like coke etc. then to bad, eat the junk when you get home. Get over it all ready, I am so sick and tired of the whining going on in this country. Oh what a bad bad country that has it's schools forcing healthy foods on our kids schools.
Did you look at the image of the "healthy" lunch? As an adult, I wouldn't even eat that. There is no way I'd let a child eat that!
It looks remarkably like the lunch they served today in the prison where I work – except that instead of corn, they had wallpaper paste masquerading as mashed potatoes. Dessert was half a grapefruit – THAT looked good.
too bad you can't post a picture of what your 'ideal' food is... I thought it looked ok and am now interested to see what I am missing, describe the meal that is so much better than this...
and one that the kid will actually eat, I volunteer at the school, no kid eats very much
It's not that schools are getting healthier foods, it's that they've simultaneously decided not to allow you to pack your own kid's lunch. So say you aren't poor enough to receive free or reduced lunches, you are paying $2.25 per day. That's $45 a month, and $450 a year, give and take. That's a lot of money, considering that you could probably pack a sandwich, piece of fruit and/or vegetable, a drink, and sometimes a treat for about half that. Some parents don't make the official cut, but still can't afford $45 a month for school lunches.
Also, think about if your kid has dietary restrictions – for instance they are vegan or eat kosher. Do you really think the schools are going to get foods for each circumstance? No. They'll still have the same basic selections, and your child will have to suffer.
Bottom line is no one really argues when a school wants to ban soda machines or such. But you, as a parent, should have the right to send your kid to school with whatever you want him to eat.
Yikes... sounds like you could use a stiff one... and I don't mean a drink!
LMAO@ Snowbunny
You shouldn't have canceled that remedial reading comprehension class, dear.
Not everyone decides to pack their kids' lunches with crap, hon, ok? Some of us, you know, put thought into it and make good quality nutritious meals for our kids. Nice to know you're fine with the idea of your children eating soggy canned beans and fried chicken for lunch.
Win
These parents should find a cooperative physician that would sign a form letter that excuses any student from eating the school 'lunch' (I use that term very very loosely). If the school was inundated by these excuses, the policy would be rendered 'null and void'. Problem solved. When I was in school in the 60's-70's catsup was considered a vegetable by the government in counting nutritional values (I doubt this has changed much). That looks to be the most unappetizing meal I have had the displeasure of having seen. Our homeless shelter does a better job downtown! Makes me wonder what the teachers/administrators eat? I bet things would change if they had to eat the same! Again, the, 'Do as I say, not as I do' philosophy in government. Besides, that meal is neither 'kosher' nor 'halal'.
Excellent point. Will the teachers and admins also be required to eat the school lunch? If not, why not?
My son is 5 and attends a private pre-k. They offer a catered lunch for 3 dollars a day or you can pack a lunch. Their policy is that if you do pack a lunch there are no treats allowed. If they see a soda or candy or a cookie or other sweet treat, it is taken away (and not returned). We were told this upfront and agreed to it and we support this rule! The school does allow holiday and birthday parties and the kids do get treats as a group during those times and we feel that is plenty.
Kay
Honestly, they won't let a 5-year-old have an occasional cookie? Yeesh.
One of the problems with these kinds of rules is that they reinforce the idea that there are "good" foods and "bad" foods. It teaches the kids nothing about moderation or making reasonable choices.
There's no reason a person – adult or child – can't enjoy an occasional treat. That's what's "balanced" about a balanced diet. I say let your kid have his Oreo once in a while after his tofu sandwich on whole grain, and I'll enjoy my salad and a scotch!
Has it occurred to any of these geniuses that a lot of the childhood obesity issues could be curtailed if kids were allowed to actually play, both during recess, PE and after school???
I was raised on a daily school lunch, and have never had weight issues. Then again, I played outside most days as well. It seems that in our attempt to bubble-wrap today's youth, we have invoked some unintended consequences.
recess with lunch is twenty minutes, it will not add to anything meaningful (they cannot work up their heart rate in that time – or eat) If they actually play during the recess/play time and don't eat they come out of school very grumpy so I can only image how grumpy they get as the school day goes on
after school play is the best and actually eating their food during the twenty minutes would help them be happier and pay better attention instead of thinking about food (unless the school wants to redesign the day – good chance with that thought)
Not everyone is as sunny as you without a lunch break, or any break at all. You have to keep kids minds moving, or it detracts to something else. I take it you never got recess, some of the best memories of my childhood, and also when I learned to ice skate. Have kids? Ever take them ice skating?
The pictured lunch with this article would not be healthy to many kids. My family required our kids to eat a little of everything served at dinner and to this day (30 years later) my son will still not eat most vegetables. What you serve children does not create good eating habits in some cases. Above, the kids would eat the fried chicken (probably greasy), but would not eat the beans nor the corn. some would just go hungry.
While I agree most kids wouldn't eat the "veggies", my nieces would. They probably would skip the chicken, eat the corn, beans, and biscuit. That's not a very balanced lunch either.
Oh. Well, now. So they like it? What about tomorrow?
I end up going for what ever I can get them to eat and its a constant battle
some kids bring simply bad food from home and of course my kid wants that
some success with the fruits and bread if it is tasty, it cannot simply be health (whole grain) but must have something tasty about it, nuts, yogurt go over well and some sandwiches
it might help if the school (the lunch monitor) did what they do in France which is to compell the kids to each their lunch
it becomes a fast eat with emphasis on getting to social/game time
This poll pretty much reflects politics in this country – 5% support this kind of policy – i.e. special interest – yet that 5% is setting and guiding policy for all of us.
It sickens me that J Crew suggestions my son can choose between being a boy or a girl, but he cannot choose a coke or a milk at lunch. America is doomed.
Matt: J Crew? Last time I checked, he is talking about neither of those things
Let me first say that I don't have children,that I know of, and the world is a better place because of it. We gave up so many of our "legal rights" when we allowed the Patriot Act to be passed in Congress and now this. If I did have a child,I would be the first parent in line with their sack lunch in my hand and the first person at this school who would try to take it away would receive a very nice and shiny Granny Smith apple shoved up their bung hole. Of course I would be prepared and have a juicy red McIntosh apple as a replacement. Digest that with your school policy!
WIN!
Amen!
I think the school is within its rights to forbid certain foods, such as peanuts and peanut butter, that can cause other students to suffer allergic reactions. Forbidding a child to bring unhealthy foods or even soda is iffier. Requiring all children without special dietary requirements to eat school lunch or starve is beyond the pale.
Is this school in question an open public school, a charter school, or a private school? If it is charter or private, the school gets more leeway because the parent agrees to the school's requirements. A regular public school? NO WAY!
What the...okay, my school (and what's soon to be my daughter's school) always had a policy that we weren't allowed to bring in fast food lunches or pack soda with our lunch if we brought it. That policy has been in place since at least 1986. It's the same policy there today. The one time I saw someone (once, in NINE YEARS, K-8) bring soda, it was confiscated by the teacher, and given back to the student at the end of the day with a note to the parents not to send it again. Why is that so hard? That approach obviously works for some schools. We had no policy on things like chips, cookies, and treats being in our lunch. There's still no policy like that now. I'm perfectly free to send a small treat with my child when I pack her lunch, if I choose to.
It would be a cold day in hell before I'd be told my child had to eat the lunch the school was providing every single day. My daughter's a picky eater on her own, I would rather send her with food I know she'll eat than send her and risk her not eating lunch at all (that would be the most likely outcome). Then she'd be hungry and cranky the rest of the day and not pay attention well during afternoon classes, and that would seep into our time at home and throw off dinner.
I don't know much about political science, but I know enough to know that calling this communism is just plain stupid. It's something else, I'm just not sure what, since I can't think of anything that's stupid enough to control food in this way. Anyway, a few thoughts on this...
It doesn't have a chance of standing. I don't need a medical/allergy reason. I may have Kosher, Halal and vegetarian reasons. So, congratulations to the Principal for riling up the volatile crowd. And, since this is inhibiting one's ability to freely practice/abide a religion... Well, congrats for taking a shot at the first amendment.
Second, if you do something like this, you need solid data. You can't say "Oh, I saw kids with junk food..." You need very good data like the health/weight of kids who brownbag compared to those that don't and so on.
Finally, the obvious. Financial motivations. I'd take a really close look at the ties the Principal (and those close) have with the food contractor.
On an unrelated topic: Isn't it better to mechanically separate chicken than to throw away useable meat?
It stood for 6 years. What makes you think it will change now?
Clearly the parents of students attending this school didn't have the backbone to stand up to the principal/school district.
So now it's mandatory to eat school prepared hormone-filled drug injected factory food for school children?
Eat your hormones boy, they'll make a woMAN of you!
Seriously, factory food(the cheapest thing available, and thus what schools buy) is filled with all sorts of neurotoxic and neuroactive substances. This is a government attempt to drug the population in a permanent manner by affecting how their brains develop.
Wow. Paranoid much?
Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!!!!
Yup! That's not paranoid, it's a fact!
"This is a government attempt to drug the population" If the government did that then there wouldn't be anyone left for Uncle Sam to tax into oblivion.
Forcing children to eat a vegetarian diet should be considered abuse and the parents or school officials should be locked up. Children need a balanced diet, and yes, that includes meat. Deal with it!
Nope.
Get real.
Obviously, you've never tried to "force" a child to do anything. If you had, you would know it's not going to work.
You can forcde them Mare – just gotta find the right motivation. I get my Fraternity paddle out and that gets them to do what I want!
Ah, no, it includes PROTEIN. That can come from many sources, one of which is meat. It's not the only one.
If you google VEGAN BABY DEATH or VEGETARIAN CHILDREN RISK you will find pages of information about dangers of vegetarianism. Unfortunately in is considered nowadays a legitimate religious believe. Just recently vegan couple was arrested in France because their 11 month baby got dead because of lack of vit B12 in mother's milk.: French vegans in dock over baby's death.
I think that a healthy hot lunch option shouldn't be a great idea, it is how it always should have been. I think for the kids who need it its great. However I can feed my child healthier food that he likes for cheaper. Maybe they need the parents who can afford it, to offset the cost of feeding the children who can't healthier. Maybe instead of government stompping all over our parental rights to feed our children politicans need to "grow a pair" and stop allowing the food industry from putting crap in the food they make in the first place.Now there is an Idea!!!!
Anything produced in a school cafeteria is going to be heavily processed, much like prison food that must be produced cheaply and cleanly while being transported a lot. This is a fact of life everywhere food is mass produced. That means there will be no fresh ingredients and it will be very high in salt, fat, artificial sweeteners, and starch. It will also contain lots of cheap "filler" foods such as corn. This is not healthy for a human being.
If the meal in the picture is considered "healthy" it's no wonder the majority of adults in our nation are obese. 2% milk is far too fatty for anything but an elite athlete, assuming you can digest cow's milk at all and a lot of people cannot. Don't even get me started on the deep-fried chicken. The beans have been processed to the point where any nutritional content they had has been lost, the biscuit is basically white flour, sugar, and grease, and the corn is cheap filler that has most likely been cooked in heavily salted water, but unlike any other item on that plate it is potentially edible by a human being. I wouldn't feed slop like that to my animals because the high salt and fat content would make them very sick. Forcing a child to eat it or go hungry should constitute abuse. Every parent ought to pull his or her child out of a school that would push slop like that on the kids instead of a nice apple or banana and a sandwich from home.
Fried chicken, corn, a white biscuit, and soggy-looking green beans. Not only will this not win any nutritional prizes, but the simple fact is that not every child is going to like the meal that is presented on any given day. By all means, make good school lunches, and send the menus home with the kids (I guess nowadays they just need to put them on the school website). But making the meals mandatory? Yeah, I can see that happening with MY grandsons. "Eew, I don't like corn. I don't like cooked green beans." That would leave them with the fried chicken and the biscuit. Where's the healthy meal?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a bag lunch – a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a drink can be prepared easily, tailored to the child's tastes, and can be made for a lot less than $2.25 per meal. Even without refrigeration, a sandwich can keep for a couple of hours – I certainly never got food poisoning – or, use an insulated lunch bag. Carrot sticks, celery with peanut butter, raisins – the list is endless. How dare the school take that decision away from the parents? - for fried food, no less?
Besides – one of the nicest things I remember about opening up that brown paper bag was seeing the occasional cute note from my mom tucked inside. "Have a good day!" "Good luck on your math test!" and a little smiley face can really mean a lot. You can't get that in the cafeteria.
The USDA actually has programs that provide tons of fresh fruits and vegetables to schools each month, as well as meats and whole grains. Your federal tax dollars do put healthy foods in schools. The problem is that many schools do stuggle to put forth an affordable meal with a healthy menu. Free and Reduced lunch programs do reduce the amount of money the school takes in per meal, so it reduces the options for variety.
This is unfortunate. However, why should those of us that are fortunate enough to provide what IS good have to feed our kids this shit? Your argument lacks this option.
I am a parent and I tend to lean left-of-center.
This school's policy is absolutely ridiculous!
Even if the school district provides free school lunch (they probably do, by the way) to those who cannot afford it, there still should be an option for parents who wish to pack lunches for their children.
We all know the reasons why this principal is taking such an authoritarian approach. She is worried about the ridiculously remote chance that a child will suffer a catastrophic allergic reaction from a lunch brought in from outside the cafeteria. Either that or she gets kickbacks from a distributor who provides food for the school district.
It's Chicago so she probably is getting kickbacks.
It seems like a chump change way to get kickbacks. AFAIK this is the only Chicago school that forces kids to eat school lunches
I'm assuming that this new rule is because 'they' see kids packing soft drinks and candy bars instead of nutritious foods. In the inner-city schools (where my knowledge is limited to heresay and news), I would guess these low nutrient lunches to be a high percentage of the students with very few packing healthy. I would also venture to guess that the teachers and workers are saddened by this and are trying to fix it, within their power/means of doing so. As unfortunate as this is, I do not believe anyone has the right to regulate lunches (or lives) to this degree. The sad truth (at least in my mind) is that these kids need parents who don't neglect them, and you can not fix that with 'rules'. All they should be allowed to do is try to educate the students...including healthy lifestyles.
Were are the parents on this? This is the problem in this nanny country. Kids can't find Washington DC or their state capital a map and some dumb a$$ school administrator is worried about what they're eating. I had a similar problem when my daughter was in school. She is allergic to milk and I told the school in writing she could only drink juice. Some dumb a$$ school administrator told her "milk is healthy" and gave her some. She came home sick and the next day I created a HUGE scene in the principals office. It was kind of funny how they react to a strong parent. From then on when my daughter had problems with teachers, administrator's, etc all she had to say was "I'm tell my dad about this" and they would back down quickly.
That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, Willis.
Prohibiting kids from bringing their own lunches is draconian and steps well beyond the schools' authority. I also find it very arrogant since they're dictating to the parents that they can't choose what they want their own children to eat; that would instantly get me to fly the BIRD high at any school that tried to pull that with me.
How much do you want to bet that the principal is getting a kickback from the catering company?
This is ridiculous. Since when is this soviet russia? I was under the impression America was the land of the free? Little billy can have his cola and flaming hot cheetos once in a while if he wants to.
In soviet Russia, flaming hot Cheetos eat little Billy
^Win.
Surprised that didn't occur to me earlier.
I was born in Soviet Russia and got my education there. Nobody intervened in parents and children food choices back then America left behind socialistic society in that regard. Here is your freedom. Some nutritionally ignorant or corrupt school principal is arrogant enough to deside what your child would eat. Eat that!
I don't think schools should have a say in who brings or buys their lunch. So long as a child is eating irregardless of whether it is brought from home or bought should be good enough. Kids learn better when when they are not hungry.
Another issue is money alot of single parents or single income families can not afford to buy school lunches. There is another issue that schools will not admit to having, there are so many kids coming thru the lunch lines entering their lunch number that the staff can not keep up with who is buying what. I know as my son came home mad one day as he was told to put his lunch back as he didnt have any money in his acct. When I went up to the school the next morniing he had $25.00 in his lunch account and the only explanation they could give me was that the person in front probably didn't have any money in their account and when he went by they thought it was him. There is no telling how many lunches I have paid for that my kids did not get. I have since told my kids to tell them to recheck their computers.
Students should be allowed to bring in lunches. I think that that there should be some education about what is good to bring and what isn't. The parents should also be taught what is good and what isn't for a child's lunch.
Honestly, in an area where most kids qualify for reduced lunches, this may be the best way for them to get nutrition. Making a blanket policy is obviously going to affect people who a) have made other choices (nutritionally, religiously, etc) for their families b) have allergies c) people who are either picky eaters or prefer home lunches. as a parent, i would be upset by a policy like this, but as an educator, i can see that they are trying to do the best they can by children. there would a whole other debate if they made everyone on reduced lunches eat only school lunches, including on field trips. then we would be talking about profiling. when really the question is the best health of the children.
also, there are very few parents who could send a nutritionally sound lunch to school with their child for less than $2.25. that's an impressively low school lunch rate.
Schools think that they have total control and that they can do anything they want. They try to violate the childrens and parents rights constantly because most parents dont have the money to hire lawyers. A child was suspended because his hair was considered too long (I am referring to the kindergartner boy whose hair almost touched his shoulder), Another child was suspened because she had her hair died two colors (blond streaks mixed with brown hair... I saw the picture and it looked tasteful), Another child was strip searched. I could go on but most of you have probably heard or read the horrible stories. This has got to stop!!!
I don't want to be told what to feed my children. That's not up to the school, it's up tp me. We have the school's menu up on the fridge and my kids pick and choose the days they want to eat based on what they are serving. I like to pack my kids their lunches. Also, my kids only get 20 minutes for lunch and when they take "hot lunch" they stand in line for at least 10 minutes, so they get only 10 minutes to eat.
My kindergartener is a vegetarian (HIS choice), and school lunch does NOT offer him enough options. So, he takes his lunch to school every day. Be glad students have enough to eat and then educate them on what is healthy so those students who have to pack their own lunches know what is best. Besides, federal law prohibits soft drinks in all secondary school cafeterias already.
Kindergarten is usually 6 year olds, isn't it? How did it come about that you let your child make that dietary decision for himself?
[Soooo not judging; just asking out of ignorance.]
My then-five year old found out the burger was cow and pork was pig. He didn't eat them for a while. He still (age 7) freaks out about chicken with skin on it... It is a kid thing.
Children offered the choice of vegetarian and non-vegetarian complete and balanced meals will often pick the vegetarian or vegan option because it TASTES BETTER. I've seen this happen with children as young as 18 months, when one parent or grandparent is veg and the other isn't. They go to the adults with the veg food for their handouts and what kind of meal the child would prefer to share. No big deal, no explanations or arguments, just, "do you want this one or that one?" They just like it better. So might you, if you tried it. Unfortunately, few people know how to cook this kind of cuisine, and therefore think it's just a bunch of processed food side dishes. Nothing could be further from the truth.
What world do you live in? What is the "non-vegetarian" option? Cat or dog?
When presented with a choice of a vegetable or chicken nuggets, the majority of the children I know go for the nuggets. I'm with JDizz: what world to you live in?
Really? I'd love to hear the story behind that.
When these 'great' school administrators and these teachers pay for MY CHILD'S lunch, MY CHILD'S expenses, and learn how to teach MY CHILD appropriately(which I spend time each day with my children over assignments, textbook reading, etc & meetings with teachers, some of who don't know what the word 'English' means), THEN they can be dictators on WHAT, WHEN, and HOW my child eats or doesn't eat. Until then, teachers, administrators, and other idiotic police patrols at schools need to leave nutrition decisions to the parents and children!!! Parents – if they do this, then its time to make our voices heard in one word: LAWSUITS!!! If lawsuits doesn't work, then I would advise either switching schools (if financially possible) or in my opinion: HOMESCHOOL!!! Its time to bring these tyrranical, dictatorial, money-grubbing, phonies DOWN by any and all means possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wholeheartedly encourage and invite anarchy, disorderly conduct, and revolt against school systems that try to control our kids lunches – after all, they control and bully our children enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am 6'1" tall and weigh 170 pounds, and I run marathons in my spare time. Consequently, I HATE unsolicited dietary advice. Were I a parent in this district, I would ask the administrators behind this to meet me at the high school track, so we can go for a little run. After all, if they are proponents of this particular diet, I am sure they are all in top physical condition, no?
ZING/BURN!
Ms. Dilly from 7th grade Algebra would monkey-stomp you on the track, Truth. 5'6" 298 lbs means faster, right?
I have actually had to use that challenge with a former friend who was pushing some acai berry MLM scheme and would not stfu about it. It's blunt, but it works...
I know what you're talking about. Had a few customers mention it to me.
You're in MY office, I am currently the salesman. Not you. LOL
Hold on Michelle, PLEASE don't lump all teachers together or with administrators for that matter. (Most of us have ZERO SAY in any of our building's/district's policies or decisions.) And, while I understand how very passionate parents are about this–I'm one two–the problem is with your post is twofold. To start with, most of us teachers do not go into teaching because we want to make money. We go into teaching because we want to make a difference in a child's life. Over the last decade or so I've seen teachers become more and more vilified by parents and the media and you know what–it's not helping your children. How is it hurting them you may ask? Well, what kind of a person today do you really think goes into a profession that is looked so badly upon? Many people that would have chosen teaching are now going into other fields because they don't want people to look down upon them. Secondly, maybe if parents/the nation weren't so "sue happy" we COULD have common sense in our schools. I am so sick and tired of our schools' zero tolerance policies that I could scream, but I as a teacher have to follow them for liability reasons because of that small percentage of parents that want to scream lawsuit just to get their way. So, the next time one of us has to send your child to the office for something completely ridiculous, remember that you were the one that instigated it by talking legal action rather than communication.
This is true. So true. I would like to teach as well, but have avoided getting into that field with all this ruckus lately about how "rich" teachers are and they are "slackers" cause they want the summer off, etc, etc, etc.
I shouldn't let that stop me, though, since I hate my current job anyway. Strike that, employer.
Feeling is mutual Jdizz. Why don't you just quit and give us all some relief?
You wish I were your employee. You have no clue. Most people are bad judges of character and motivation. I managed 14 employees for two years. None ever quit and we were the highest grossing store in the state. Zero turnover in a "fast food" industry in 2 years is unheard of.
How can this be America "Land of the Free" when one by one they keep trying to take our FREEDOMS away??
i think it is so ironic that the new idea in a free country is to control and standardize what individuals eat. As a parent of a student with special meal needs i feel that is an idea that was not fully thought out. A small female may have different needs than a large framed male student that may have been held back twice. Each individual solves thier own dietary needs for a more smoothly running lunch. Who will micromanage each students needs and consumption. this idea has so many reasons why it is wrong. Each person is free to eat what they like and allergic students and medical problems should be solved seperately. simple dont mess with lunch or should i say our freedom to choose what we and our child eats.
That was my problem with school lunches. For not being fat or even close to chubby, I can really put away the food. School lunches were gross to me anyway, but I found I was never really satisfied or full and would be hungry shortly thereafter.
I won't be having my kid eat less at lunch because of a new budget cut or something. She will be fed and fed correctly.
What the blue-peepin' he!! is wrong with Flamin' hot potato chips packed in my child's lunch? Is it any worse nutritionally than the biscuit pictured above?
Speaking of the picture above, the coating on the chicken, the corn & the biscuit are WAY too many carbs in that lunch. You don't need corn & the biscuit in that meal. How 'bout some fruit instead?
I love Flaming Hot Cheetos. Problem is, one little bag is about 45% of my daily fat intake. =o
I keep that to a minimum.
I love flaming anything.
Were you fortunate enough to try the black bag flaming hots when they were out? X-tra hot for a limited time a year or two ago. They were delicious!
(Also, they have a wild habenero and lime flavor that is also quite delicious.)
Nope. Must have missed that. Dang!
Speaking of school lunches, does anyone at CNN-Land shake down Poers Morgan for his lunch money?
I would imagine he is a pretty lucrative target...
I would be very upset due tot he fact that my chidlren do not eat any processed foods or factory farmed meat. I am a teacher and I know what they feed them.
I'm sorry, but the pictured lunch looks horrible. I wouldn't eat it, let alone expect a child to. Where's the raw veggies? not "grey beans"... Deep fried chicken and biscuit – really healthy... and don't get me started on the corn.
If schools want to mandate what a child eats, then they should prepare good, healthy foods.
The job of a school isn't to police every aspect of parenting. While I think it should be mandatory that school SERVE a healthy lunch, they shouldn't require brownbaggers to adhere. I know I'd be pretty mad if someone didn't let me eat the brownie my mom packed me.
Actually, I'd probably snatch it and swallow it whole like @Truth, Temporary Bachelor.
Hey your "Pizzert: Dessert for Breakfast" post is very interesting. Thank you.
Schools and teachers were not designed to "parent" the children of society, but more and more parents expect schools and teachers to act in a "parenting" role and teach children all the rights and wrongs of how to act in society, rather than just teach how to think and learn and grow. When it is expected for schools and teachers to take a parenting role, they do and try and serve as best as they can, which is to say not everyone will be pleased because not every parent "parents" in the same way. A better compromise might be to suggest healthy choices for lunches brought from home. But the fact remains that the majority of parents sending their kids to public school expect the teachers and school to "parent" and teach more than just curriculum and thinking, but also how to behave, what to eat, etc.
State your source.
No @%$#%ing way!
I had a teacher in third grade twy to tell us all to chew our food twenty times, and my response was to swallow an apple slice whole. That pretty much sums up my views on being told how to live my personal life.
twy = try
I wholeheartedly agree.
Having not seen their menu, and hearing from my husband what our school district offers our kids for lunch, I would be most upset if my children were forbidden from bringing a meal that I prepared for them. I understand that with allergies being more prevelant, and other parents allowing not so great food to be brought, the schools are attempting to regulate the food within their walls, but I think this is an awful policy and I would be very vocal if such a policy were put into effect in our schools.
@ UM, I agree!
I fully agree that the options should remain in the hands of the parents. Too many variables to set a blanket policy like that. BTW, should that read "As it happens?"
Good catch. Thanks!
Welcome, and a good read, thank you. We gotta watch out for those nasty Grammar Nazis. They are so hateful about a minor correction.
"Gotta"?
"You're GONNA need a bigger boat"
I used "gotta" in jest.
I know Jerv. That was me. ;)
Speaking of school lunches, does anyone at CNN-Land shake down Piers Morgan for his lunch money?
I would imagine he would be quite the target.
Agreed. Especially since the experts haven't figured out what is really good yet.
First eggs are bad, then they're good. Butter was bad, wait, now it's good. What dietary recommendations will they reverse next?
Ah, yes. America continues it's descent into Communism.
Seriously.
Where's the whole grain? Looks like a bleached white flour biscut to me? Might as well add some gravy...
Seriously
woah at my school we get plastic trays a spork and one small chicken leg, my freind that buys lunch got milk with large chunks in it. if they make this nation wide everyone will wind up just sneaking food in
And by the way, school, the lunch in this picture is the last thing I'd consider better for my daughter than the things we pick out for her.
beans, corn, buscuit, milk and chicken
the milk is not organic and the chicken is breaded and fried and most probably not organic; other than that it looks ok by me
You're used to Southern cooking, aren't you? Troll.
I agree with you 100%! My daughter has to have multi or whole grain bread/rolls, veggie and a fruit and a protein. 2% milk or sugar free juice/kool-aid is acceptable thought. I follow the guidelines put out by her ped. & nutritionalist. But I suppose there are some parents out there that just go for the easy way out.
lets see, I voiced an a thought
immediately I am told as a parent that I am taking the easy way out and that I am a troll
you don't have a lot friends do you
I saw that. I've been reading grapes post. A very grumpy person, to say the least.
I felt that praising a carb loaded meal was trolling. Not grumpy. Wrong, maybe, but not grumpy.
Compared to nothing, that picture of meal with this article looks like a kings feast. Corn, green beans, biscuit and fried chicken with milk. Sometimes i wish the vending machines in my office had something like that.
I suspect that the school lunch photo is a stock photo, not an actual lunch served by this school. The caption should be edited to reflect as much. Still, I find it hard to believe that a good, nutritious lunch can be obtained for 2.25, not to mention the fact that each student will have different caloric requirements, so this mandatory "one sized fits all" lunch doesn't work.
If it had twice as many green beans, one piece of grilled chicken, and a piece of fruit instead of a biscuit, it wouldn't be too bad.
I love how CNN likes to look at a tiny spectrum of the problem and then asks correspondents on the show that try to analyze that small spectrum from a privileged standpoint point of view. (ie: parents should be educated, better habits at home, etc)
Well, unfortunately, the only people that are forced to be educated and have the time free of other financial responsibilities are children. The parents weren't all taught how to eat (raging obesity in america) so there is no way for a moron to teach someone else how not to be a moron.
I do believe and support the decision and that it should be mandatory, with one clause: If the lunch brought from home is nutritionally and substantially healthier than the option, then children should be allowed to have it instead. If it is not up to quality then it will be trashed and disposed off. This in turn will teach the parents, if only economically to pack better lunches or opt for the school option.
All this just to say that you think CNN sucks and you agree with the article?
Obviously you did not get the essence of my post. Re-read it, put your biased opinions aside and rationalize. Blanket policies are seldom a good idea. However, when tackling a large problem, it can serve the purpose to allow for a blanket with areas permissive for customization of such a policy.
If the lunch brought from home is nutritionally higher grade and in proportion in contrast to the school lunch, then any sensible school official would have no reason to negate such a logical solution
I read both your posts again.
"Blanket policies are seldom a good idea. However, when tackling a large problem, it can serve the purpose to allow for a blanket with areas permissive for customization of such a policy."
You're right, I don't get the "essence" of what you are saying.
Perhaps you don't realize that we live in America. In this country, parents get to choose what happens to their child, unless what they choose is illegal. Until the law makes it illegal for you to allow your child to eat poorly, then the school should not be able to reach beyond the bounds that the law has set.
That being said, I would surely encourage the students to eat the school lunches. My father has been managing school food service for years, and the nutritional value is substatially better than what most children receive at home.
@Well read
I appreciate your post. And I do agree that we live in America and that is the beautiful thing about our country, However the concept of America is constantly changing as history can show, Especially with us being a young nation, we must either choose to mature and make smart decisions or temper tantrums when we don't like things, especially if they can enrich our society.
However that is only a mere disagreement in our point of view, and thats ok. And was glad to read your post as it was coherent and rational. As opposed to others :)
And just WHO is suppose to decide which meal is better? School personnel do not have time to make those decisions. Too busy educating. Would not be practical to have anyone try to decide.
It's funny how morons never seem to realize they are morons. Does being uneducated make you a moron? Does having a culture where you eat a certain kind of diet or enjoy certain kinds of food make you a moron? Does being an affluent vegan allow you to escape the moniker? Or does just lumping a whole group of people that you don't know and haven't taken the time to understand make you a moron? My son gets free lunch at school. It is so disgusting that the teachers won't eat it.They all go out for lunch. I send a bagged lunch. Is it "healthier" than the school food? I don't know, but I know it can be identified and it isn't moldy. That works for me.
Nice... Let's have lunch police to check each child's lunch for 'healthiness'. Instead why don't we have a mandatory class each year for parents to teach them what constitutes and how to make a healthy meal for the child. Then we can't say the parents are 'uneducated' in the art of making a healthy meal. Such Draconian measures as this school has enacted only serves to reduce the obligation of the parents to raise and care for their children properly and places that obligation on the school and society. Why don't we take the children from the parents and place them into Creches to be raised by the State?
If I was a parent in this school district I would claim that my child must bring his lunch to school for health reasons and I'm sure I could get my Doctor to sign off on that. No school lunch in this United States is as healthy for my child as that which I could provide. Buy in bulk and that's what you get, inexpensive meats, breads, veggies, etc have less nutritional value than what I can buy at the supermarket. Even if the school buys nutritional products the preparation of the meal leaches out most of the nutritional value. For example the veggies are boiled, which leaches out the vitamins from them. The chicken is fried, which increases the fat content and I am sure that the fat is not trimmed and the skin is still on it...
What makes a teacher qualified to determine the nutritional content of a from-home lunch? They are not dietitians or nutritionists. If a student brings in a sandwich without a label how can they determine if the seemingly white bread is plain white bread or whole grain? And, not all families can afford the fee. Sometimes a peanut butter sandwich is more nutritional and tastes better than anything the schools can offer. Oh, wait – some schools want to ban peanuts altogether!!! Egads, people – the food police should just mind their own business. Send information home with the kids, give out nutritional info during parent-teacher conferences and at PTA meetings, but don't mandate this. George Orwell just had the year off by a few decades...
It is from the Tom Naughton blog citation from comments" from a timely article called “”Children, Parents and Obesity” in the journal National Affairs, Winter 2011:
“According to the USDA, during this school year, schools food authorities that serve less than 60% of their lunches at the free and reduced price rates receive reimbursements of $2.72 per free lunch; $2.32 per reduced price lunch, and 26 cents per fully paid lunch. Schools with higher poverty rates receive more per meal.”
“A recent study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Cardiovascular Center found that middle school children who regularly eat school lunches are more likely to be overweight or obese, to develop poor eating habits, and to have high levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol compared to those who bring lunches from home. Another study, published last year in the Journal of Human Resources, confirms that school lunches are contributing to childhood obesity: The authors studied data from more than 13,500 students, and found that children who participate in the school lunch program are more likely to become obese than those who don’t.”
The article goes on about fraud, waste and abuse in the school lunch program ..."
Are you serious? Did you get the part that said if the kids bring their lunch from home they will not be allowed to eat it. They brought it for a reason. They do not like what is being served!!! So they will not be "allowed" to eat their lunch and they won't eat the school lunch. So the school is okay with having a HUNGRY child and apparently so are you. IDIOTS!!!....The school not allowing the child to eat his lunch from home and knowing the child will not eat the school lunch is borderline child endangerment. Civil liberties/rights, take your pick the school is crossing the line.
As an illegal alien, Arturo, your opinions don't count as you don't pay taxes.
Mandatory "anything," should be left to significant national issues – such as paying taxes and not shooting people – mandatory fried chicken is a Mexican thing and you can get THAT (along with the MANDATORY dose of corruption & cocaine) across the border!
@ Peter Live!
I love how your first assumption is me being an illegal alien since I apparently disagree with whatever your opinion is: which you have not necessarily stated with your reply.
But to quell your ignorant remark, I am an American citizen, and am proud of my country. Just because we may differ in our point of view doesn't mean that I am "an illegal alien trying to change your way of life". I hope you are not this quick to make assumptions in every facet of your life. "Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." -TJ
"it will be trashed and disposed off" per you. I'll tell ya what.. the day the lunch patrol starts throwing out my childs lunch brought from home is the day my foot goes straight up their @ss!
Vegetarians and vegans need to be excused, as do the Kosher, the Halal, the Macrobiotic and other practitioners of healthy but not SAD (Standard American Diet, which is hardly healthy) eating methods.
I would take my child out of school before letting her eat a cruelly raised, hormone and antibiotic dosed dead bird, fried in oil that's probably all trans-fats, with non-organic and chemically and pesticide treated white flour biscuit, white flour breading, non-organic chemical and pesticide soaked corn, icky (and ditto) high sodium canned green beans and non-organic milk from hormone and antibiotic treated cows.
Yeah, it might be better than flamin'chips, but it sure isn't better than what we'd send from home.
Finally it is an occasion when I agree with a vegetarian. School lunches are bad. I follow a low-carb-style diet and and don't approve the use of vegetable oils, processed grains, low-fat milk products.
The right, responsibility, and authority to determine what sort of food a child will be fed belongs exclusively to that child's parents; not to the school, nor to any other government-based body. It's “SAD” that there are so many, like “Vegetarian” here, who are willing to recognize this right, responsibility, and authority only when those to whom it rightfully belongs choose to exercise it in the manner with which that “Vegetarian” agrees.
There are many people who grew up on this “Standard American Diet”, who have thrived on it to become quite strong and healthy; myself included. Surely I am stronger and healthier than I ever could have been if I had grown on the diet of tofu and bean sprouts that “Vegetarian” would have preferred that I be given.
Yes !!! These were my very first thoughs while reading the above as myself a kosher diet vegetarian. My 5 yr old son already cannot eat most lunches served by his school which offers 2 meal choices everyday. While he is not a vegetarian, he does eat kosher. His choices are usually pork or pork.
Yeah, this is just an attempt to force parents to buy the overpriced and tasteless crap they shovel onto kids' plates.
I agree. My kids hated school lunch and when I went in to see why, I wouldn't have fed that slop to my pigs. No greens, no fruit, only half cooked FDA approved mostly frozen chicken and tater tots were offered. This is yet another reason why my kids do not attend public school.
fr well read:
>...That being said, I would surely encourage the students to eat the school lunches. My father has been managing school food service for years, and the nutritional value is substatially better than what most children receive at home....<
When I was in junior high and then high school, our "food service" program was run by a low bidder who literally did not care if the food was decent or not. You could either bring a lunch, buy hot dogs, hamburgs or bologna/cheese sandwiches or single-serving cans of chili, canned spagbhetti, or cold sandwiches. YUCK.
Biscuit = sugar
Corn = sugar
Green beans = some sugar
Breading on chicken = more sugar
Between all that, the trans fats the chicken was fried in, and probably in the margarine on the biscuit and a few carbs from the milk:::
Yeah, ready to spike that blood sugar so they'll crash and be all sleepy for whatever they're supposed to be learning that afternoon.
Communism is a political philosophy, and has nothing to do with what children eat for lunch.
Part one: correct. Part two: a result of part one.
Firstly tTs has nothing to do with the Communist economic system. It's authoritarian
Communism?? Stupidity yes, but what on earth does this have to do with communism? Perhaps I'm just missing your sarcasm?
State run diet = Communism. That's how.
Big Brother is alive and well.
This seems more reminiscent to me of “Animal Farm”, where the usurping pigs ultimately take the other animals' children to be raised and educated in the way that the pigs deem appropriate, without regard to the parents' wishes.
We seem to have, here, a real life version of that, with the pigs subverting and usurping the rights and responsibilities of the parents.
Yap, has a nice ring to it too don't you think? Socialist Republic States of America. Now whom to put on our new quarter? Good grief people.
George Bush and the "Patriot Act" of 2001. Ooooooooo......sorry, a fellow Texan he was.
The picture in the article is hardly as nice as the 280,000 meals served everyday. Come on, anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of paying $1000 a day for a hospital bed and getting a meal served to them there knows the picture depicted with this article represents gourmet institution dining. The federal government was forced by lobbyists to declare ketchup a vegetable for school menus requirement for a balanced diet sake. As kids we have all have fond and milk squirting through the nose memories of school lunches.
Schools are more like prisons than institutions of learning. This is another example. Principal Elsa Carmona stands by the ban she set six years ago after seeing students pack "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" for school field trips. Come ON! A field trip! An exciting vacation from the class room, time for decedent pleasures! Bring on the chips sodas, bags of candy and grand times! This principle sounds like she was one of the catholic nuns that haunted George Carlin.
Peanut butter, sweet pickles and honey sandwiches with bananas and crunched up potato chips as toppings forever! Ahhh Field trips, mmmmmm
And don't call me Shirley.
I watched part of that show where the British guy goes in and tries to make healthier lunches for children in school. Educational to say the least. Burgers, meatloaf, and other ground beef products were made from the leftover CRAP that is usually sold for dog food. They put it into a centrifuge (a big spinny thing for those who don't know what that is), that separates the meat bits from the fat; they then put the mess into a pot and wash it with an ammonia – water mix to kill off any bacteria that may be in it. Then they grind it up to make 'hamburger'. This is what our children are eating at school. Yeah, there's little fat in it but it has intestines, pancreas, bladder, etc.... And you know what was so funny about the whole show? The school board superintendent told this person who was trying to make better, healthier lunches for the children that there was no way he would be allowed in the schools, they even pulled his permits to shoot the film! I wonder what type of kick-back this politician was getting from suppliers.
How is this communism? If fits behavior of governments who CLAIM to be communist. So, how is this communism?
As a kitchen manager for 8yrs. I get upset that we are constantly lumped together...like all lunch programs are created equally which is not true as in the case of the "blogging mom" these lunches come from a central kitchen that means they were made in a factory I would be mad too. Be proactive go to a school board meeting and get rid of your food service company. Then just for fun write a letter to your congressmen and ask why the food for school lunches is subpar. it comes from the USDA>
Here is yet another example of the majority having to adjust or conform for the minority. Rather than address the issue with the individual parents that send in such items as pop and chips lets target all parents. It is the same as what goes on in the classrooms in america. The PC culture has created and educational system in which character/social education that is needed for a few, is the priority in education. Rather than remove those that can't conform to social norms in the academic setting, we place character/social education before academics fro all students.
The school WILL NOT tell me what my child can and can not eat. She likes many of the things offered and when she doesn't she takes her lunch. If this happened in Texas I would be the first one sitting right by her while she eats her lunch frm home and see what the school will tell us! That is absurd! If they bring a lunch from home the school would let them go hungry! Parents need to get on the ball this should have never happened!
Okay, number one, I do not work in this district.
Number two, the district I do work in is my alma mater and a VERY, VERY small rural one with "lunch ladies" that have been here since I was a student in the early 80's.
Number three, I am one of the few teachers in my district to each our school's meals daily so I think I am qualified to make the following statement.
In the 80's and 90's our school meals were significantly better than they are today–remember, it's the same cooks–and I blame the government. Back then, our meals were primarily homemade and not pre-packaged. Our cooks would make things like cinnamon rolls, hot rolls, meatloaf, lasagna, spaghetti, tuna goulash, etc. from scratch. Today they use similar pre-packaged substitutes because it is actually cheaper for our school to buy things pre-made than hire our ladies to come in the extra hours to make the "real food." Our cooks do the best they can with what they're given, and most meals are still pretty good because they try so hard, but they only have so much say with administration and I'd hardly say that all ourl lunches are healthy and some are down-right horrid. On the other hand, most kids that bring their lunch here have a bologne sandwich on white bread with a bag of chips and a Little Debbie/candy bar with sugary non-fruit juice-like drink–so I'd hardly say most sack lunches are healthier...but it's still America, "land of the free," and it's still the parent's choice. If the school wants to ban certain foods, than fine, but they shouldn't have the right to mandate that a child has to eat their because that causes a monopoly situation.
Ignore the typos–I didn't eat a healthy breakfast today.
The layers of communism we find in America at the local level are in place to funnel money to corporations. So in fact, when you peel back the communism we discover it is in fact fascism. Germany lost WWII, fascism won. I am 29 and refuse to produce children that are owned by the State.
Welcome to the Nanny state. Unbelievable. Now the school is going to take away my right to feed my child what I deem necessary??? I think that I would be shopping for a new school.
Me, 4 children 3 still in public school. We should have a choice, that is what america is all about.
However, let each teacher, or say have a nutritionist assigned to each school and view what student are eating each day. If it is noticed that the same child is bringing in poor choices then send a note home to the parent and require a signature aknowledging that the school offers healthy choices at a reduced rate if needed.
The parent makes the choice!
BTW, I am a Jamie Oliver Food Revolutionairy!
ITS descent, not it's descent.
One more thing (always one more...), my children pack lunch beacuse it affords them significatly more time to eat. Most of the time they only get 10 min to consume if they go through the lunch line and buy lunch.
PS: Get rid of all flavored milk in schools.
Jamie Oliver is the man! (not to shabby for a lymie)
Just keep your children home from school a few days. The school won't get any revenue and will take this new rule out of the system. Trust me the schools want their revenue otherwise they don't have a job. I work for the County and YOUR STUDENTS ATTENDANCE means everything to them. Keep them HOME!!!