School lunches...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
School lunches...
514
Thu, 12-02-2004 - 9:33am

This is being discussed rather heatedly on another board and I thought it might liven things up since we are soooooo sloooooow.


Are you allowed to eat with your kids? Can you bring in restaurant food? Any guidelines on what you can pack for your kids? Does the school have vendors? Is the school lunch program considered a necessary evil or a money maker for the school?


If there are guidelines on what you can pack, does this make you mad? Does it make you think they are taking

"I do not want to be a princess! I want to be myself"

Mallory (age 3)

      &nbs

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:21pm
There are many death certificates issued every day where "morbid obesity" is listed as causative or contributing to the death.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-18-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:23pm

So is it the root cause or the direct cause?


<<Obesity can cause death directly not just contribute to it.>>


Which is it?

Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.  Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:29pm
I gained about 10 pounds, but I chalked it up to starting to drink as well as the starch laden dorm food.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:38pm
If your children won't heed your warnings about the dangers of over consuming soda, do you think you have a prayer of keeping them from pot or beer or pre marital sex? You do the best you can preparing them and at some point you just hope they heard you.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:44pm
I wasn't aware there was any basis upon which to disagree with you when you said you agreed with me - it doesn't imply any reciprocity of me agreeing with your statements on anything.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:46pm
You know nothing about the town I live in, so I will try and explain. We live in a state that requires a 60% supermajority to pass a levy. My town is made up of about 63% retired people, people who no longer have children in school and are living on fixed incomes and are less likely to support a levy. All of our extracurriculars are run off of fundraising monies and we fundraise like crazy and are keeping our heads above water barely. Soda sales make up a fraction of what we need to provide our kids with a well-rounded education in a town that has been incredibly hard hit by the loss of logging jobs and timber revenues. I will absolutely choose a lesser evil for the greater good any time it is necessary. And for what it is worth, I really don't think your average twelve year old is saying to himself, "hmmm, the school district is selling out my health just so I can go on a band trip". Your average 12-year old just ain't that deep.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:48pm
When it comes to pot/beer/premarital sex, the school will back-up/reinforce the parents' warnings. But apparently some school systems are counting on this soda revenue for some of their programs so they have a vested interest in undermining the parents' warnings. If the kids don't buy lots of soda from the bending machines, the school loses a valuable source of revenue. There was the post about vending machine revenue being used to fund portions of one school's music program, for example. So the school's need to undermine the parents on this one, rather than reinforcing what the parents say (as they do with drugs etc.) When the school needs to undermine parents' messages in order to get enough funds, something is wrong.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:59pm
As there are many other ways to raise funds other than taxes and soda machines, this is not a situation where it is "necessary" to have a "lesser evil" even if you could determine that allowing marketing in the school IS a lesser evil than having the orchestra kids foot their own expenses to the contest. "I really don't think your average twelve year old is saying to himself, 'hmmm, the school district is selling out my health just so I can go on a band trip'." What better reason for an adult to do that thinking for him. Moreover, it's not even necessarily the band kids for whom the tradeoff is made. It's apt to be the kids of the least concerned and involved parents who blow their money to their detriment and for the benefit of the kids taking the cello lessons.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 1:59pm
"I will absolutely choose a lesser evil for the greater good any time it is necessary." I certainly hope that you don't mean that. There are certain things worth standing up for, even if soda isn't your cause. Many extra curriculars aren't paid for out of the school budget in my town, either. But if your kids have the money to spend on sodas, they have the money to spend to pay directly for the equipment/trips and could even do more without having to pay for the sodas to go in the machines in the first place. This isn't rocket science. What you are saying is that you can't educate your 12 year olds to stop buying sodas and start saving for the extra-curriculars that they want or that their parents think they should have. And that's a pretty pathetic view of education and 12 year olds.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2003
Tue, 12-07-2004 - 2:00pm
Okay, so how do you feel about some of our groups (4-H and our China exchange group come to mind) selling Krispy Kremes as a fundraiser? It is their main fundraiser of the year, yet I think we can all agree that Krispy Kremes are detrimental to our health. Is it the schools' place to put the kibosh on this fundraiser also? Oh wait, I forgot also our catalog sale which is the main fundraiser at the elementary level also has candies and chocolate offerings in it--better stop that too. The nutritional police can have a field day with my district.

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