Free Lunch at School

Every year, I spend a few days in DC lobbying our state (CO) legislators for their support for funding of school lunch programs. I know, I know, school lunch sucks, blah, blah. But if you had to get 600 kids through a lunch line at 13 seconds each on $2.00 in funding - well, let me know if you have any better ideas. And yes, we've already cut the fat to 30% of total calories - no fryers in our schools, no soda machines, no foods of minimal nutritional value sold on site, etc. etc. We're pretty progressive, so I can't answer for other places.

At any rate, I didn't go to DC this year. I just couldn't go and beat my head against the wall one more time, just to see our state's RW whackos slam the door in my face again . . . or, worse yet, get palmed off to some barely-shaving staffer who looks past me the whole time, wondering when he's going to be able to get to the bar.

So, here's my question. Is serving food to school students a task worthy of the federal government? Or should we just scrap the whole thing and have all kids brown bag it every day? (I won't give the option of bringing in Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, as our schools aren't large enough to support those companies). Further, should the feds reimburse the total cost of free lunch-qualified kids, or only part of the cost?

Of course, your explanatory comments are welcome and appreciated.

They're compelled to be there by law, and they should be fed.

It's sad that the government had to be shamed by the Black Panthers into creating the program in the first place.

I wish they would just give free lunches. Some kids are poor and can't always aford a lunch so what are they supposed to do?

but free breakfast too. You'd be surprised how many kids come to school hungry.

Not sure about other states, but I would imagine they all do.

in MO. And we have seen a big change in kids since we started feeding them breakfast.

state or even city?

the kids in the areas who need the free or reduced lunches the most would get it the least. Their areas are already strapped as it is.

Maybe I'm being naive. I can see why in a dodgey city that would be the case.

OMG!!!

You really haven't seen the "hidden America",...have you.

I,...just do not know where to begin,...other than to suggest getting off "the set", on the ground,...to the trenches that are hidden from view,...chased away to maintain a false sense of reality.

DAMN!!!

it might be useful.

Thanks.

Obviously, you haven't,...so you don't!!!

DAMN!!!

What country are you living in? Which part?

Ahhhh,....it must be the "media" stream of America.

I'm sorry. It's not that I intend to demean you, personally,...but DAMN,...where the hell do you live and how do you live?

to a few tens of thousands of low income and uninsured people, so I don't have time to play Johnny Apppleseed and tour the byways of the United States.

You may consider taking a lesson from the OP who, when questioned, could provide reasoned and factual responses to help make his case.

I don't give a damn. I LIVE IN IT,...you sell it via a NPO "insurance" program.

If you don't have time to view it,...you don't have the experience or heart to know about it let alone pretend like you can "contribute" to our kids.

If you oppose federally funded school lunches, you're not an advocate for American kids, period.

know what I'm talking about.

And when did I OPPOSE any program? I asked a question about it.

I thought it was only fundies who thought questions were opposition.

at our neighborhood school, most of the food goes directly into the trash cans. I bet if you weighed it or measured it by volume 75% of it goes into the trash. there are dozens of milk cartons tossed unopened. the milk is a federal welfare scam for dairies and the kids HAVE to take a carton.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

Yes, the kids have to take a milk for the meal to count as reimburseable. They audit us on it. No milk; we have to eat the cost. We would love to see that requirement lifted, but no luck so far.

As far as food thrown away, we don't have that much at all. We watch regularly, as that's one sure-fire way to know if we're serving something they'll eat or not. One problem is that we have to get our meals to come out to 30% fat from calories over the course of a week (federal requirement). It is not easy. One day's baked chicken nuggets takes up a portion of another day's allotment.

And remember the 13-second rule. We can't serve anything that takes too long to put on a plate. We have 13 seconds to get a kid from the beginning of the serving line through the register. Most schools have a total of 30 minutes for lunch, including waiting in line. I can't even talk about what habits THAT builds into kids.

everywhere, nation-wide.

Plus, some of the poorer states could never afford to affectively fund the Free and Reduced lunch program.

They use the National School Lunch Program to utilyze some of the excess foodstuffs produced by farmers (cheese, beef, grains, etc.) Not sure a city could get that kind of pricing (free). But they certainly could partner with us. For instance, a job program that provided additional no-cost workers in conjunction with a jobs training program would go a long way to reducing our labor costs, and help us produce better food (baking, for one).

compelling reason I've yet read to go federal on this.

We could start with WHERE all that "excess" (we're not talking local farmers") is being shipped/stored/wasted for SANCTION purposes.

YUP. We could start a whole separate thread on that corporatic ABUSE!!!

Go for it.

Or . . .

The locals arent' wasting.

Whole different thread from school lunch programs.

I volunteer enough at my kids' public school to know that for some of those kids, it's their only decent (if not ONLY) meal of the day.

It's hard to learn when you're hungry.

breakfast and lunch (to one poster on this thread, they do have breakfast in many states, and we have it here in Texas), they wouldn't eat.

The breakfast and lunch at school (either free or reduced) was often the only food they ate all day.

And it REALLY sucks for them over school vacations. I had a student last year that we knew his mom was so broke, we put together a box of Thanksgiving food items for them. We KNEW he and his brother would hardly eat otherwise.

Over the summer the city is able to feed kids lunch at the rec centers, free of charge (and that's to ANY kid who shows up) but their money for that is slipping away and I fear this summer will be the one they have to end it. If they do, we are going to see child malnutrition rates around here rise like it's no one's business.

What kind of heartless bastards are we in this country, anyway?

your school has to have over 50% free lunch qualified. It's a good program, and fairly easy to implement. But we have other schools just short of the 50% mark and it's just not available at all.

for them. Totally sucks. Fortunately or unfortunately, in my district most schools easily hit the 50% mark. But we have a few that do and the kids in those schools who do qualify are up a creek because their school doesn't get it.

I honestly don't know what those kids or their parents do. It'd be interesting to find out.

We had free lunch in my school growing up and no way were 50% of my school on that program. I collected lunch money back then and remember that nearly everyone paid.

The National School Lunch Program provides reimbursement for free-lunch qualified students, partial reimbursement for "reduced" qualified students, and a small reimbursement for all meals served. We were talking about the summer food service program where ANY child walking in the building during the summer can receive a free lunch - no questions asked. To qualify for THAT program, the school has to have more than 50% total free-lunch qualified kids.

We only had that one year at my school so that makes more sense (we had an economic disaster in the early 1980's). Come to think of it I think that school still has it which shows what a disaster Ohio is.

that the first programs that get cut when repukelicans take control are the ones that feed the poor and nurse the sick?

but really got cemented in on that position last year. I worked for a district which cut its food program to the bare bones. The food in our elementary schools was just terrible. Yet, in schools with lots of poor kids nearly everyone got a lunch (around 90% free) and they ate that food. It is one thing to know your students are poor, but quite another to see it so starkly. This food was just awful.

Especially when it was the only meal they'd eat all day. They were VERY happy to eat it and told me often that it was "good." Glad they thought so. At least they were eating.

but these meals were truely pathetic. Even in MS my students ate better than this. My district here does a pretty good job over all. The bread and cookie maker in particular is out of this world. My current school is probably around 70% free or reduced, maybe a little more.

being in the public school and the food always sucked. High school food was a little better and now in college it's a lot better. I remember in junior high school the food there was the worst! The rolls that you'd get would be very hard. Only thing I really remember eating was baked potatoe's and nacho's.

. . . serving food that sucks. That's our motto, in fact: Our Food Sucks! Now Eat It and STFU.

:sarcasm:

There's no reason a child should go hungry in this country. I'm certain for many the school lunch is the only good meal they get in a day.

I cannot even fucking BELIEVE this post!!!

((((((THUD))))))

You would be surprised at the comments I get from legislators. Bob Beauprez, for example, launches into the same story every year, about how his mother sent lunches to school for him and his seventeen brothers (OK, so I'm exagerating just a little), so if she could do it, why can't everybody else? Senator Allard has never spoken with me face-to-face, but once as I was arriving for our appointment, he was glad-handing some Air Force general who bragged about how the Senator was supporting his new fleet of aircraft - one of which would allay the entire cost of eliminating the "reduced" lunch category in the NSLP.

Hence, the post.

Disrepectful ass of any life other than his own. I'll bet he was the one who learned how to kiss ass and appease to glorify himself and his empty identity, empty self-worth, empty character. Animals have better qualities.

alternative power source....they are our future!

I am all for the program.

They aren't now and schools are forced to find other ways to pay the bills. Hence, pop machines in cafeterias. So for all of you who oppose selling junk food to kids at school, we could stop this practice if the feds would give us enough to pay for feeding the kids who come from low income families.

to attend and pass school these days, giving them a free lunch is not asking much (also, free lunches for teachers too).

It can cost easily $500-$1000 to go to public school:
-calculator (at least $60 there)
-other supplies
-clothes (school can be rough on your threads)
-book bags (they do not last long)
-transportation (buses dont go everywhere)
-school projects (I ended up having to spend ALOT on those)
-webassign (yes, they charge for you to do homework nowadays) :grr:
etc...

all children should be fed lunch in the u.s., and it should be nutritious food, not driven by corporate greed.

hungry children can't learn.

Personally, I'd rather expand eligibility for the food stamp program and increase benefits so kids can eat all day, all year. The food given out at schools usually isn't very good, in terms of nutrition or taste. Also, it seems like more kids have food allergies these days, so it would be better to let thier families pick something appropriate for them.

I'd also like to see microwaves and refrigerators availible to students,
so families have more options to send with thier kids, since so many foods aren't safe or tasty or safe at room temperature. Sending last night's leftovers and a rubbermaid container of juice isn't expensive, and it's a lot better for a kid than a lunchable or balogna sandwich on white.

I'd be perfectly happy to see a program with healthy food prepared on site, produce grown in a school garden, etc. Several schools have had good sucess putting in salad bars with veggies grown on site or at local farms. I know of programs like that in Davis and Oakland, and I think I saw something similar in Salinas on PBS.