Worse than the serving of free cheese sandwiches is the amount

[mia]

of food that goes into the trash after each lunch period is over...apples, oranges, bananas, milk, chicken...

I'll bet the kids with the cheese sandwiches would enjoy what the other kids are throwing away.

With 10 minutes spent in the lunch line, the kids barely have time to eat their lunches anyway - especially the young ones and those who fill up on the ice cream and chips that the schools sell to make money. Such a waste. Such a crime. Visit any public school at lunch time - if they'll let you.




edit for spelling

[lutherj]

1. I recently found work with the local school district as a janitor, and I'm amazed

at how much food gets thrown out on a daily basis. I'm trying to organize a way to get the food to a food kitchen for the homeless.

[tbyg52]

3. Thank you for doing that! I hope you are successful.

:toast:

[mia]

6. Great idea, you'd have to fish it out of the garbage though.

I used to leave the fruit and milk in a pile on the cafeteria table so that it could be redistributed, but they said it needed to be thrown away for health reasons.

They won't let the fruit and milk that the children don't eat leave the cafeteria, either. I asked to let them take it so that the kids could save it for a snack later and they said "no". Plus then others might claim that we are taking food from the "mouths of babes" to take it home for ourselves.

I heard that cafeteria workers used to get to take this extra food home years ago.

[tbyg52]

14. I bet there's a lot wasted that never makes it to a kid's tray. nt

[lib2DaBone]

2. How can kids eat lunch with a 20 minute lunch period?

..I have found that the school administrators who make 6 figure salaries are more concerned with protecting their income rather than worrying about the welfare of the students.

[waiting for hope]

4. My son gets a half hour -

That's going to the cafeteria, waiting in line and then eating. The school system is so overloaded with everything they have to teach - so much so, there isn't enough time and that is one area they trimmed on. It sucks, I hope Obama puts the brakes on NCLB.

[Berry Cool]

5. It hasn't really changed much since Chuck Berry sang about it years ago.

"You're lucky if you can find a seat/You're fortunate if you have time to eat."

[mia]

7. Add to that the time it takes to clear the table, get in line and walk

back to the classroom in half an hour.

Fitting all of what is required by the NCLB into the school day would require at least an extra hour of school a day. Part of the problem with the short lunch time is the amount of students that need to be fed within a limited time. Kindergarten starts eating lunch at 9:50 AM. I call it brunch.

[waiting for hope]

8. My son who is in the second grade

has his lunch time at 10:30 - the second grades teachers have requesting snacks from the parents to give out around 1:00. My son is famished by the time he gets home. How can a child concentrate with a grumbling stomach?

[salin]

9. While the complaint is legit... I don't know that the reason is NCLB

(which I have complaints with.) I only had 30 minutes to eat lunch (and stand in line, etc.) more than 30 years ago. Point being that if the cause might not be NCLB, than changing NCLB will not likely change the amount of time for lunch. The two things (NCLB and time for lunch) may not be directly correlated. For example, many schools have directly cut non-reading/math related classes (esp co-curriculars like art and music), to great consternation - thus changes in NCLB might first relate to returning to having those classes before they relate to longer lunch periods.

[waiting for hope]

10. Well - as to what his teachers

are saying - NCLB is partly to blame here. He attends a magnet school, which does provide art, science, music, computer, math and PE .. they use to do 45 minutes before NCLB.

[havocmom]

11. went to a high school with 2600 students. All had lunch at one time; 35 minutes

Needless to say, I didn't have lunch for four years.

[1]

12. so we should turn the "poor" children loose on the dumpster after each lunch hour?

a free for all? to get what they can?

is that what you are suggesting?

[sakura]

13. My son's school has a "share" table

where kids can put the items they choose not to eat that day. It works out pretty well, especially for the kids who are able to eat their parents out of house and home.

My son's district is also 4.2 million dollars in the hole this year, due to state revenue shortfalls. There has been talk of shortening the school year, having teachers work without pay, and so on to make up the difference. (I'm in Oregon, and making teachers take the brunt of funding shortfalls has happened before.)

I find it ridiculous that the people complaining about the "cheese sandwich of shame" aren't mentioning a thing about how the district should pay for the meals parents refuse to pay. I'm not talking about those who can't pay-- the free lunch form is a lot easier to fill out than people think. One comes home in my son's homework packet every month or so. I'm talking about parents who choose not to pay. Where should the district find the funds to cover those lunches? From the toilet paper budget? From the copying paper budget? Or should they just ask teachers to work another day for no pay? I'd love to hear people's ideas. There's so much outrage on this issue, and a whole lot of name calling, but only vague statements about solving the problem. Yes, it would be great if the feds paid for lunch for every kid. Now show me how to make that happen. But until you do, please keep a rein on your outrage. School budgets are limited. If school money is going to subsidize lunches for kids whose parents can afford it, or who haven't bothered to fill out the paperwork, that money has to come from somewhere else in the budget. Teacher salaries, custodial staff, heating, paper, soap, etc.

And as for the "cheese sandwich of shame"? That exact sack lunch is what my son asks me to make for him every single day. He's a horribly picky eater and when he forgets his lunch it is as though the world has ended. He would be in heaven if the lunch ladies offered him a sack lunch. But they don't do that here. In this district, if you forget your lunch or are out of money, you get to go hungry-- unless you glean from the "extras" table. I fail to see how that is preferable.