Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home

[MNeagle]

Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home


http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2011-04/60805905.jpg
A Little Village Academy student cringes at an enchilada dish served at his school. Many students throw away their entrees uneaten and say they would rather bring food from home. The school, though, does not allow students to bring in their own lunches, unless they have a medical condition or a food allergy.


Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school.

"Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.

Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!"

Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?"

At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

"Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."

Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.

A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals.

"While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments," Monique Bond wrote in an email. "In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom."

Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district's food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.

At Little Village, most students must take the meals served in the cafeteria or go hungry or both. During a recent visit to the school, dozens of students took the lunch but threw most of it in the garbage uneaten. Though CPS has improved the nutritional quality of its meals this year, it also has seen a drop-off in meal participation among students, many of whom say the food tastes bad.

"Some of the kids don't like the food they give at our school for lunch or breakfast," said Little Village parent Erica Martinez. "So it would be a good idea if they could bring their lunch so they could at least eat something."

"(My grandson) is really picky about what he eats," said Anna Torrez, who was picking up the boy from school. "I think they should be able to bring their lunch. Other schools let them. But at this school, they don't."

But parent Miguel Medina said he thinks the "no home lunch policy" is a good one. "The school food is very healthy," he said, "and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food."

At Claremont Academy Elementary School on the South Side, officials allow packed lunches but confiscate any snacks loaded with sugar or salt. (They often are returned after school.) Principal Rebecca Stinson said that though students may not like it, she has yet to hear a parent complain.

"The kids may have money or earn money and (buy junk food) without their parents' knowledge," Stinson said, adding that most parents expect that the school will look out for their children.

Such discussions over school lunches and healthy eating echo a larger national debate about the role government should play in individual food choices.

"This is such a fundamental infringement on parental responsibility," said J. Justin Wilson, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Consumer Freedom, which is partially funded by the food industry.

"Would the school balk if the parent wanted to prepare a healthier meal?" Wilson said. "This is the perfect illustration of how the government's one-size-fits-all mandate on nutrition fails time and time again. Some parents may want to pack a gluten-free meal for a child, and others may have no problem with a child enjoying soda."

For many CPS parents, the idea of forbidding home-packed lunches would be unthinkable. If their children do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, such a policy would require them to pay $2.25 a day for food they don't necessarily like.

"We don't spend anywhere close to that on my son's daily intake of a sandwich (lovingly cut into the shape of a Star Wars ship), Goldfish crackers and milk," education policy professor Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach wrote in an email. Her son attends Nettelhorst Elementary School in Lakeview. "Not only would mandatory school lunches worsen the dietary quality of most kids' lunches at Nettelhorst, but it would also cost more out of pocket to most parents! There is no chance the parents would stand for that."

Many Little Village students claim that, given the opportunity, they would make sound choices.

"They're afraid that we'll all bring in greasy food instead of healthy food and it won't be as good as what they give us at school," said student Yesenia Gutierrez. "It's really lame. If we could bring in our own lunches, everyone knows what they'd bring. For example, the vegetarians could bring in their own veggie food."

"I would bring a sandwich or a Subway and maybe a juice," said seventh-grader Ashley Valdez.

Second-grader Gerardo Ramos said, "I would bring a banana, orange and some grapes."

"I would bring a juice and like a sandwich," said fourth-grader Eric Sanchez.

"Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," second-grader Julian Ruiz said, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410,0,4567867.story?page=1

[Low Pan]

Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district's food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.


...and there it is.

[Ponce]

Kids will be kids and will eat what their bodies tell them to eat........all my life I eat what I wanted and my parents were very worried about me (you already know what I did when I wanted to join the US army) but as I grew up my weight went up... my waist just to be size 27 and now it is a 36.........what people don't realise is that I just to run all the time, even when coming back to the sugar mill from seeing my girl friend in the big town.
Nothing like running on a clear night with a full moon and with no traffic and the smell of sugar cane all around me......by the way, in basic trainning I wall the only one to do 18 pullups....did 21.......maybe it was because of my weight? 118 lbs.

[Olmstein]

Well, you can't just have kids dragging in random food from god knows where. Right?

[mick silver]

plus there could be a bomb in that brown bag ............... there kidding right

[madfranks]

It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom)

Those "enchiladas" in the picture look like puke.

[ximmy]

The amount of behavior-controlling-substances through school lunches is regulated for the kitties... this establishment must not be altered...

[Shami-Amourae]

Maybe the kids can start smuggling stuff up their...

...Oh I'm not going there.

[vacuum]

WTF!!?!?

Who do these people think they are that they can dictate what goes in your body? Way over the line.

[Shorty Harris]

Really, whats the friggen difference. Its not like the Shit brought from home by the out of work, welfare queens & baby Daddies would be nutritionally better or worse then the slop tossed around in the lunch room.

Its not the states responsibility to have to regulate what kind of crap it is that lil "Pedro's" parent want to shove down his throat.

[Book]

http://nutritionunplugged.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/is-it-kosher-1583306161-l1.jpg

[Cobalt]

It is regulations such as these that has put this once great country into a free fall into oblivion.

[vacuum]

Me: So I can pack her lunch for her tomorrow then finally ?????

Teacher: Ohhh NOOOO , That's the policy we have to adhere to. We just thought she was refusing to eat we didn't know she was a vegetarian.
Isn't that generally considered child abuse?

[Cobalt]

One time at our school they had this 2 week program at school & the kids weren't allowed to bring in their lunches,
they had to eat the garbage at the school............I got a call about my child not following the rules.
I said WHAT ? You're kidding right ?? I almost laughed cuz what could it possibly be.
Cuz my kid listens to authority at school. And if she didn't, it had to be some survival thing........

Anyways, the teacher said........"She keeps refusing to eat,
everyday this week she has not eaten anything for lunch"

I said, well yeah, you people won't allow her to take a crumb to school and she will keep making herself go hungry because she's a vegetarian
and you keep trying to serve her tacos & hamburgers & chicken nuggets.

Teacher: OHhhhhh I see, Mrs old Herb Lady.......that would explain everything.

Me: So I can pack her lunch for her tomorrow then finally ?????

Teacher: Ohhh NOOOO , That's the policy we have to adhere to. We just thought she was refusing to eat we didn't know she was a vegetarian.

Grrrrrrrr

Now she's a packer everyday & the school allows it.


We spend Millions of dollars everyday providing lunches under the lie that kids will go hungry and we can't have hungry kids but they are willing to let your kid go hungry ???

[vacuum]

One time at our school they had this 2 week program at school & the kids weren't allowed to bring in their lunches,

Actually OHL, this statement is very interesting. If you stop and think about it, why would they have this 2 week "pilot program"? Most likely schools are getting 'recommendations' for certain policies from the higher ups, and they wanted to test it out to see how it would work. A principal doesn't just wake up one day with an idea to stop kids from bringing in their own lunches.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

I have an allergy to not watching my own food be prepared. I would break that rule so fast. Fuck everything about this rule.

[madfranks]

This thread brings back memories of when I was in school. My parents would fix me whole wheat pasta in a tupperware dish along with an apple or banana. I'd get made fun of so bad because I was one of the few who didn't eat the school "hot" lunches. There was nowhere in the cafeteria where I could wash out my dishes and it was embarrassing to have to rinse them out in the bathroom and put them back in my backpack. I still remember the burnt, stale, 10 day old looking "pizzas" they'd serve everyone else. *shiver*

[Hatha Sunahara]

You all should watch a 2010 movie about public schools called Waiting for Superman.

Schools are the porticos of hell. All, I mean ALL their incentives are bad for our kids, and good for the people who are making money. or increasing their control over us. The whole public school establishment should be tried by military tribunals and marched off to the guillotines, and their bodies used for fertilizer.

Waiting for Superman takes some cheap shots at teacher's unions, but it is informative about how the people who manage the education systems in the US think.

The school lunch program is the food processing industry's contribution to destroying our kids health while the school system enslaves their minds.

I bet you didn't know you were dealing with the devil when you sent your vegetarian daughter to them, did you, OHL?


Hatha

[dys]

Presumption in one its most sickening forms.
Elsa Carmona is getting a personal phone call from me tomorrow. I hope I'm not the only one on this forum that makes this call, I urge everyone to make it.

dys

ps- The day this happens to my kid is the day I drive down to district court and file lawsuits against all of the criminals masquerading as educators. This thread is revolting.

[Neuro]

Another reason not to send your children to school! Parents who would send an unhealthy packed lunch with their child, would only hurt their own off spring. I don't have a problem with that!

[Glass]

This is absolutely not a word:
unhealthful. It's newspeak gobldegook just like the whole thought process of the school. Of course we know the hidden motivator is not healthful foods but corruption and kick backs.

[dys]

We had to starve them in order to sustain them.

dys

[madfranks]

Presumption in one its most sickening forms.
Elsa Carmona is getting a personal phone call from me tomorrow. I hope I'm not the only one on this forum that makes this call, I urge everyone to make it.



Let us know how your phone call goes.

[Hatha Sunahara]

Here's a much broader indictment of the entire education system in the US:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_united_states_is_destroying_her_education_ system_20110410/

Making the kids eat the slop the Agro-Industrial system feeds them in their school lunches is the crowning touch to this corrupt morass. Los Angeles barred Jamie Oliver from their school lunchrooms because he might teach the kids a thing or two about proper nutrition, which they are not supposed to learn by bureaucratic order.


Hatha

[zap]

I will not eat white bread or bolonga to this day cause of the Icky lunches my mom packed, wonder bread smeared with mayo and a nasty piece of bologna, a piece of fruit that off gassed in my luchbox so everything smelled like that and a ho ho or a ding dong :D gross gross gross, I would much rather have had a hot lunch from the school. ;D

[lapis]

This thread brings back memories of when I was in school. My parents would fix me whole wheat pasta in a tupperware dish along with an apple or banana. I'd get made fun of so bad because I was one of the few who didn't eat the school "hot" lunches.

I'm this close to yanking my daughter out of public school, and this is one of the reasons. It seems like her "friends" have to comment on her homemade lunch that I make from scratch every day. I am so sick of them, and their already well-developed Groupthink hive mind.

[lapis]

I will not eat white bread or bolonga to this day cause of the Icky lunches my mom packed, wonder bread smeared with mayo and a nasty piece of bologna, a piece of fruit that off gassed in my luchbox so everything smelled like that and a ho ho or a ding dong :D gross gross gross, I would much rather have had a hot lunch from the school. ;D

Haha! My mother also made me lunches growing up; she made me a sandwich with Wonder Bread (won't every touch the stuff again). They were pretty good, and she would hand-slice the pickles in them herself.

It came with a piece of fruit and a dessert, usually a Ho Ho or a Ding Dong like yours! But as bad as this was, it still was much better than the cafeteria food. Limp french fries. Plastic-y gravy on weird mashed "potatoes." Bleck!

[lapis]

You all should watch a 2010 movie about public schools called Waiting for Superman.

If the movie piques your interest, I posted a review of it by a homeschooling mom (who also is on the same page as us as far as DOOOM! subjects go).

Homeschooler's review of the "Waiting for Superman" movie (http://gold-silver.us/forum/general-discussion/homeschooler's-review-of-the-'waiting-for-superman'-movie/)

[Tronn]

We never ate the food in the school cafeteria, we brown bagged it and typically by lunchtime I couldn't wait to dive in, they were always good; roast beef sands, corned beef, cold chicken and a thermos of hot soup/stew or sometimes even a rice medley like brocc & cheese. I was always suspicious of da school kitchen help too

[BrewTech]

My mom ALWAYS made my lunch... I can remember maybe 3 times all the way through elementary school I ate what was coming out of the cafeteria. Burritos or frozen pizzas or corn dogs, IIRC.

I had a paper bag with my name and room # written on it. Peanut butter and honey sandwich (honey soaked through the bread by lunchtime), thermos of soup (always Campbell's), thermos of milk... maybe some carrot sticks, an apple or banana (bruised by the time I ate it... no worries).

These days Mrs. Brewtech makes my lunch... yes I'm still brown-bagging it (sort of). ;D I RARELY eat out, and NEVER fast-food. Kids at my work think that 7-11 across the street is a good source for meals. Yes, I have seen them with a bag of chips and a coke for lunch, so the principal in the OP ain't too far off.

I loved this kid's comment...

"Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," second-grader Julian Ruiz said, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables."

Nice to see one second-grader that knows that Lunchables are poison... good on him!

[madfranks]

Haha! My mother also made me lunches growing up; she made me a sandwich with Wonder Bread (won't every touch the stuff again). They were pretty good, and she would hand-slice the pickles in them herself.

It came with a piece of fruit and a dessert, usually a Ho Ho or a Ding Dong like yours! But as bad as this was, it still was much better than the cafeteria food. Limp french fries. Plastic-y gravy on weird mashed "potatoes." Bleck!


There was a cartoon I saw one time where the cafeteria was serving your choice of "brown lumps with gray sauce" or "gray lumps with brown sauce", and I thought that was pretty funny.

[drafter]

Personally I loved school lunches, but that was in the 70's. I see the choices my kids have now and it's all kinda gross looking. Only one of my three kids will touch the stuff and I guess I can't blame them. Another thing is how many fat kids did we have in the 70's compared to now. something definitely isnt right.

[Mouse]

They must be putting something in the food. It was just lunch when I was a kid. Now it's breakfast, lunch, and in some place dinner and take home for the weekend.

Seriously - think about it. Why do they insist that the kids must eat the food. I can see just simple corp. kickback scheme but I think it's something they want the kids to ingest, very, very badly want the kids to ingest.

Not to mention it gets us closer to 1984 and accepting gruel and victory gin as normal.

[Book]

Let's remember that one in seven American families are now on food stamps.

[MrCottonsParrot]

I can't believe we've come to the point that parents just roll over and let the state do what they want with their kids... It's disgusting.

[lapis]

They must be putting something in the food.

Believe it or not, the school lunches, especially the snacks like cookies, still contain trans-fats.

The manufacturers are getting away with this because if their packaged "food" has less than 500 mg. per serving, they can claim it has "zero grams of trans-fats" on the label.

Also, the cafeteria "milk" contains cornstarch, at least here in CA.

[Mouse]

I am thinking much more nefarious than you are Lapis.

Think about it. A whole generation of kids on mind control SSRI's drugs. Put it in their food. They eat at least one meal a day there. You can add the gmo crap on top of that and the corp kickbacks.

Nobody would ever tolerate this....would they?

The little old lady in the shit-food line has NO IDEA what's in the commisary food buckets that they heat up for the kids. I don't know what it is now but I would suspect that the food is all prepped on a gov contract and the school just heats it and serves it. They can put any drugs they want in that stuff.

Ymmmm.

[dys]

I have been unsuccessfully trying to reach Ms. Carmona all morning. http://www.lva.cps.k12.il.us/lva/ADMINISTRATION.html
(773-534-1880)
No one answers the phone at any extension. I tried the lunchroom, no one home. I tried the main office, no one home and mailbox full. I did call Chartwells-Thompson, here is a sample menu they sent me:

 Print (PDF)Choose One
28
Chicken Patty Sandwich on a Whole
Wheat Bun

Fish Taco w/ Cheddar, Romaine, &
Salsa (meatless)

Mediterranean Salad w/Garbanzos,
Cheese & Pita Bread (meatless)

Junior Italian Sub w/ Lettuce &
Tomato

Choose Two
Frozen Local Peas & Carrots
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Choose One
Turkey Gyro w/ Tzatziki Sauce

Whole Grain BBQ Chicken & Cheddar Whole Wheat Quesadilla w/ Cheese,
Wrap
Beans, & Carrot (meatless)
Western Chef Salad w/ Beans,
Tuna Chef Salad w/ Crackers
Cheddar & Whole Wheat Tortilla
(meatless)
(meatless)
Santa Fe Turkey & Cheddar Whole
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich on
Wheat Wrap
Whole Wheat Bread (contains nuts)
(meatless)
Choose Two

Choose Two
Tossed Spinach Salad
Frozen Local Squash
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

No Classes (Track E)
11
Choose One
Toasted Turkey Ham & Cheese
Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread

Turkey Hot Dog on a Whole Wheat
Bun

Garden Veggie Chef Salad w/
Cheese & Croutons (meatless)

Tuna Salad on a Whole Wheat Bun
(meatless)

Choose Two
Carrots
Oven Baked Potato Rounds
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Choose One
25 Choose One
26 Choose One
Sloppy Joe on a Whole Wheat Bun
Fish Sticks w/ Whole Wheat Cheesy Beef Ravioli w/ Toasted Whole
Macaroni (meatless)
Wheat Bun
Bean Burrito w/ Cheese & Salsa

(meatless)

Chicken Caesar Salad w/
Croutons

Southwest Corn & Black Bean
Whole Wheat Wrap (meatless)

Choose One
29 Choose One
30 Choose One
31
Glazed Turkey Ham w/ Whole Wheat Homestyle Meatloaf w/ Whole Wheat Whole Wheat Cheese Pizza (meatless) NO CLASSES (TRACK A & E)
Cheesy Mac
Roll
Cuban Turkey Sandwich on a Whole
STAFF ONLY DAY
Italian Meatball Sub
Toasted Cheese Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bun
Wheat Bread (meatless)
Cobb Chef Salad w/ Turkey, Cheese,
BBQ Chicken Salad w/ Crackers
and Hard Cooked Egg & Croutons
Turkey Ham & Cheese Chef Salad
Peanut Butter & Jelly on Whole
w/ Pita Bread
Turkey and Cheese Sandwich on a
Wheat Bread (contains nuts)
Whole Wheat Bun
Tuna Salad Sandwich on Whole
(meatless)
Wheat Bread (meatless)
Choose Two
Tossed Romaine Salad
Choose Two
Choose Two
Green Beans
Seasoned Broccoli
Mashed Potatoes
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit Frozen Local Mixed Veggies
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit Complimentary Lemon Pound Cake

4

Choose One
Whole Wheat Chili Macaroni

1

5

NO CLASSES (TRACK A & E)

REPORT CARD PICK UP

6

Choose One
7 Choose One
Honey BBQ Chicken Bites w/ White Whole Wheat Cheese Pizza
Rice
(meatless)

Cheese Pizza Bagels (meatless)

Garden Veggie Chef Salad w/
Cheese & Whole Wheat Roll
(meatless)

Turkey & Cheese Whole Wheat
Wrap

Choose Two
Frozen Local Corn & Carrots
Vegetarian Baked Beans
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

No Classes (Track E)
14
Choose One
Breaded Fish & Cheese on a Whole
Wheat Bun (meatless)

Baked Chicken Sticks w/ Whole
Wheat Roll

Chicken Caesar Salad w/ Croutons

Turkey & Cheese Whole Wheat
Wrap

Choose Two
Frozen Local Zucchini
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

8

Frozen Local Mixed Veggies
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Complimentary Carrot Bread
(may contain traces of nuts)

No Classes (Track E)
12 No Classes (Track E)
13
Choose One
Choose One
Beef/Chicken Nachos w/ Whole Grain Whole Wheat Spaghetti w/ Meatballs
Corn Chips & Salsa
Chicken Parm Sandwich on a Whole
Whole Grain Chicken Salsa Wrap
Wheat Bun
Poppin’ Shrimp Chef Salad w/
Western Chef Salad w/ Beans,
Crackers (meatless)
Cheddar & Whole Wheat Tortilla
(meatless)
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich on
Whole Wheat Bread (contains nuts)
Turkey Salad in a Pita
(meatless)
Choose Two
Seasoned Broccoli
Choose Two
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit
Frozen Local Mexicali Corn

Southwest Black Beans
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

April 18-22 NO CLASSES TRACK A & E. Spring Intersession.
27 Choose One
28

BBQ Chicken Cheddar Sandwich on
a Whole Wheat Bun

Southwest Whole Wheat Pasta
Salad w/ Veggies, Beans & Cheese
(meatless)

Turkey Ham & Cheese Sandwich on
a Whole Wheat Bun

Choose Two
Frozen Local Carrots
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Complimentary Carrot Bread
(may contain traces of nuts)

15

Complimentary Eat.Learn.Live. Chocolate
Chip Cookie (may contain traces of nuts)

Very Primo Vegetarian Whole
Wheat Pasta w/ Red Sauce &
Beans (meatless)

Chicken Caesar Salad w/ Croutons

Turkey & Cheese Sandwich on a
Whole Wheat Bun

Choose Two
Seasoned Collard Greens
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped
Fruit

No Classes (Track E)
Choose One
Whole Wheat Cheese Pizza
(meatless)

Turkey Ham & Cheese Whole
Wheat Bagel Melt

Buffalo Chicken Salad w/ Crackers

Turkey & Cheese Sandwich on a
Whole Wheat Bun

Choose Two
Tossed Spinach Salad
Frozen Local Squash
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

29

Choose Two
Oven Baked Crinkle Cut Fries
Frozen Local Mixed Vegetables
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Baked Chicken Nuggets w/ Whole
Wheat Roll

Garden Veggie Chef Salad w/
Cheese & Whole Wheat Roll
(meatless)

Santa Fe Turkey & Cheddar Whole
Wheat Wrap

Choose Two
Tossed Romaine Salad
Frozen Local Green Beans
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Crispy Oven Baked Breaded
Chicken

Whole Wheat Veggie Quesadilla
(meatless)

Cobb Chef Salad w/ Turkey,
Cheese, and Hard Cooked Egg &
Croutons

Peanut Butter & Jelly on Whole
Wheat Bread (contains nuts)
(meatless)

Choose Two
Seasoned Collard Greens
Sweet Potato Casserole
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

Choose One
Whole Wheat Cheese Pizza
(meatless)

Korean Beef Rib w/ Asian Brown
Rice

Tuna Chef Salad w/ Crackers
(meatless)

Junior Italian Sub w/ Lettuce &
Tomato

Choose Two
Marinated Three Bean Salad
Sweet Peas
Assorted Fresh Fruit & Cupped Fruit

dys

[madfranks]

They must be putting something in the food. It was just lunch when I was a kid. Now it's breakfast, lunch, and in some place dinner and take home for the weekend.

Seriously - think about it. Why do they insist that the kids must eat the food. I can see just simple corp. kickback scheme but I think it's something they want the kids to ingest, very, very badly want the kids to ingest.

Not to mention it gets us closer to 1984 and accepting gruel and victory gin as normal.


When I was living in south Texas, the wife of one of my co-workers was an elementary school teacher. The reason they feed kids breakfast, lunch, dinner and give them take home for the weekend is because the mexican families literally drop their kids off at the public school in the morning with nothing - they've had no breakfast, they have no backpack or school supplies, sometimes they don't even have shoes. They speak no english, so the school provides them food, supplies and everything else.

Since the whole public school system is nationalized and takes their commands from DC, they use the model of "abused kids whose parents don't feed them" and apply it to every school, so they must make all manner of meals available to all kids.