<p>When my DS was in elementary school in Berkeley, his and other schools had gardens at the schools and they opened salad bars. They also gave kids vegetable snacks from their own crops. It worked very well in our school, where many of the kids qualified for free or reduced lunch. I know the offerings were not as bountiful in the salad bars in junior high, but most food was ala carte.
I doubt it would work here in the Midwest with long winters, but it did help reduce food costs and increase participation in the garden during recess.</p>
<p>*all food is a la carte at the HS, so there is no waste. *</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Since when is there no waste with “a la carte”???</p>
<p>When food is free, people will take a variety even if they’re not sure if they’ll like/eat it all. </p>
<p>I know that at my kids’ dining halls at college (all you can eat with one swipe…and everything is a la carte) they got rid of trays …not only to have less to wash, but because kids would take less with each trip up to the food areas.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with a cheap breakfast offering of cereal, milk, OJ, and maybe something else for those who are lactose/gluten sensitive? </p>
<p>Most of America’s kids are eating cereal at home for breakfast and a cold sandwich for lunch…why should the taxpayers be providing a hot meal for others when their own kids don’t get that???</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree, and not just because that is what the non-free-lunch kids are eating. It seems like some people are either way over thinking school breakfasts and lunches, or there are too many special interests involved. Good nutrition does not need to be complicated or hot. And certainly does not include chocolate milk and desserts.</p>
<p>I bet we could come up with some easy cold meal selections that provide nutrition for lower costs.</p>
<p>fruit
veggies…cut up broccoli, carrots, etc.
cereal…including some GF selections like Rice Chex and Corn Chex.
milk
OJ
V8 juice
yogurt
cheese
cold sandwiches…PB&J with low sugar jam…ham/cheese…tuna…turkey
lettuce salads topped with chix or turkey</p>
<p>School meal programs are challenging on so many fronts. When my kids were growing up, there was never any discussion of who received free lunch/breakfast, though they were well aware of the fact that some people did because the paperwork for it came home with them annually.</p>
<p>While my kids often brought their own lunch, I felt that if they were eating the school food that we should be paying full price for it and not receive the benefit of state or federal funding. My preference would be for those $ to go to students in need. I know this is impractical in the current system, but it reflects my values-especially in these days of fiscal constraints. There should also be ways to minimize shame, just as “food stamps” have become more discreet. I understand how keeping it all uniform in some districts might ultimately create efficiencies that could save money. Just hate the complex interweaving of federal money and big processed food companies. The health of students does not appear to be the top priority.</p>
<p>My school had meals and a la carte, and they served breakfast and lunch to everybody-- cash or punch card. I have no idea if you could get subsidized breakfast, I never saw anyone with a punch card, but I saw that only very rarely at lunch time either even though I KNOW there were lots of kids that had them-- you can’t really see the people standing at the cash register from where you’re standing in line. So who knows. </p>
<p>But I loved our set up in terms of options. We had staples you could get every day, like hamburgers, pizza, deli wraps, salad, etc, or you could choose some sort of entree that changed every day (lasagna, burritos, grilled chicken, spaghetti, are the things I remember). Entrees came with fruit juice and milk, and a fruit or veggie-- and you HAD to take one whether you’d eat it or not. There was also a sandwich line you could opt for for hot and cold sandwiches, plus an a la carte line. I had a bagel with spread and cereal at breakfast every day because I couldn’t eat first thing in the morning without getting sick, but by the time I’d ridden the bus and got to school I could have something. Then at lunch I’d try to get the special entree but if it wasn’t something I’d eat, I could get a sandwich that day. No big deal. And the price was about the same regardless of what meal you took. If you wanted to eat a bunch of fat unhealthy stuff you could, but there was also ample healthy choices that weren’t more expensive. Maybe it’s just me but I’d rather have the kids eat SOMETHING at lunch and not be disruptive the rest of the day because theyre hungry than ONLY serve things that they just plain refuse to eat.</p>
<p>This is a subject that drives me nuts. While I don’t want hungry children, I see many whose parents could afford to pack a lunch qualify for a free or reduced one. A good lunch from home is not very expensive. When I would see kids coming from homes in the $180,000 plus range getting free lunch, well, in my mind, something is wrong. There seems to be many people manipulating the system. </p>
<p>Kids in our district are not differentiated from their peers. It is all done on a swipe card and yes, much of the food is wasted.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>That’s why I’d like to see cigarettes taxed even MORE…because many parents of free lunch recipients still manage to find the money to buy cigs. Ugh. So, add another $5 a pack tax to go to the free meal program…then they will have to pay for their kids free meals. lol</p>
<p>The program is being funded by grants - I can assure you Detroit does not have the money to fund this program. They don’t have enough money to provide a decent classroom experience, let alone provide free lunch for students whose families can afford to buy them lunch.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no reason for anyone to know who gets free/reduced lunch & who pays — I subbed in a public district, and the program was set up in such a way that students had no clue who paid & who did not.</p>
<p>Frankly, the way things are going in the Detroit schools, it wouldn’t surprise me if it doesn’t cost that much to provide lunches for those who wouldn’t ordinarily qualify for free/reduced lunch. Students are leaving the system in droves, and those whose parents can afford to move, drive them to other schools, or pay for private schools are doing so. I would like to see more attention paid to the actual classroom experience … it is utterly failing these kids.</p>
<p>*A good lunch from home is not very expensive. When I would see kids coming from homes in the $180,000 plus range getting free lunch, well, in my mind, something is wrong. There seems to be many people manipulating the system. *</p>
<p>I don’t think that is true.
I also don’t think if their home is paid for or not to be material. are you saying that they need to be in subsidized housing to get subsidized meals?
FRL goes by income, I believe income for a family of 4 need to be below $40,000 to qualify.( could be lower)</p>
<p>The whole process is so wrong as it is. Making it free for all would just make it worse and more costly. Just think how long the lines will be if no one takes their lunches. </p>
<p>Maybe we should stop paying farmers to not farm and pay them to supply our kids with healthy food. I agree things should be a la carte so that the amount of waste is reduced.</p>
<p>When the pop machines were brought into my high school, the soda companies “partnered” with the schools. Though this partnership did provide money for good projects, it was funded by young people that I could tell were corroding their teeth and could ill afford the sugary sodas they were buying. I fussed about this with the principal often, and he/she would shrug and ignore me.</p>
<p>Thank God that a few years ago they were outlawed by Federal mandates.</p>
<p>Family of 4 needs to make less than $41,348 to qualify for reduced lunch, so free is less than that. That needs to be verified by tax records. Income requirement is waived if household is on food stamps (which has even stricter income requirements).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Apparently Illinois schools are exempt from this or something? They still have soda machines, Gatorade machines, etc.</p>
<p>Our schools used funds from machines to raise money for sports et al.
Without them it is much more difficult.
What do the other districts do?</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>My calculations:</p>
<p>878 calories</p>
<p>35 grams fat, 111 grams carbs, 26 grams protein, 6 grams fiber</p>
<p>That’s a huge number of calories for lunch, even for an adult but it would be small if it had to cover breakfast and dinner too. These are not items that I would choose for my kids for lunch and I could easily put together something better and cheaper - but it would require some labor. Tons of food ideas on the diet/exercise and weight loss threads.</p>
<p>I was a farm kid and we all brought our lunches in paper bags. The town kids got to have hot lunch. Silly me, I just thought that was the rule. I remember thinking that I was the queen of hot stuff when I got to ditch the brown bag for my new Barbie lunch box. I always had a sandwich (tuna, bologna or my moms favorite - a slice of cheese and Miracle Whip), an apple or banana, a small Saran Wrapped packet of chips and a cookie. Our school days were pretty long and there was no snack until we got home.</p>
<p>I also remember when I FINALLY got to take hot lunch. It was the most disgusting food I ever tasted - though I did like the concept of store bought versus homemade bread. The worst meal was the loose hamburger mixed with a pale gravy poured over mashed potatoes and served with mushy green beans and to complete the package… Jello with shredded carrots floating inside. Eeeew We had to eat all our food before we could go outside for recess.</p>
<p>I’m bumping this up because I found the responses shocking. It is hard to believe anyone would begrudge low income kids food. This program is to provide food for the whole class in which 40% already meet the poverty designation.</p>
<p>How hard is it to imagine that the rest of the class is just above that poverty line? Of course they are. </p>
<p>All of the excuses for withholding the food are petty and ridiculous. You people vote. Try
to educate yourselves before the next election and develop some compassion. </p>
<p>For more than 20 years I made three meals a day for my whole family, and it was of the highest quality. I still can justify providing junk food to starving kids, if that is all they will get.</p>
<p>Is it really a child’s fault if his parents smoke or drink up all the food money, are overworked and unable to make food, or just don’t know how to be an appropriate parent?</p>
<p>It takes a village to raise a child.</p>
<p>Parent1986, I’m all in favor of spending for public education. As I said in my first post in this thread, if the Detroit schools have money available for a decent teacher-student ratio, by which I meant if they can afford not to close schools and fire teachers and put the education of thousands of children in jeopardy, AND provide food for the entire student body whether or not it meets established low-income requirements, great. But if they can’t, then I think it’s more important to funnel the money into the education of all students and feed those students who are truly needy. There is not an unlimited supply of money. Even education has to prioritize. No one is talking about letting kids starve. The poorest kids are being fed.</p>
<p>I shared my daughter’s experience in post 20 to illustrate that even well-intentioned policies like “free breakfast for all” can result in less learning time, more responsibilities for over-burderned teachers, and sub-optimal nutrition. What if that money had been used to hire an extra 1st-grade teacher, so my d could have had 21 kids in her class instead of 28? Or to hire a second special ed teacher so that families didn’t have to jump through hoops to get their kids IEPs and services? Or repair aging school furnaces and roofs? Instead, an article like this gives ammunition to people who want to cut educational services because they see nothing but misguided, “feel good” programs.</p>
<p>Why not!..</p>