Chicago school bans home-packed lunches

[Recursion]

Source: UPI

A Chicago school's controversial policy of banning pupils from bringing lunches from home is aimed at encouraging healthy eating, the principal said.

Elsa Carmona of the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Little Village Academy said pupils must eat the lunch served in the cafeteria unless they have a medical reason to bring their own food, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

"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 . It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."

A spokeswoman for Chicago Public Schools said there is no "formal policy" about the issue and the decision of banning homemade lunches is left up to the principals.




Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/04/11/Chicago-school-bans-home-packed-lunches/UPI-96921302542391/

[Kceres]

1. Oh, this is going to go over well.

:popcorn:

[Recursion]

3. Did you bring that popcorn from home!?!?!

Heretic!

[Roland99]

2. And just who has the contract to provide food for school cafeterias???

[KansDem]

22. The lowest bidder?

:shrug:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. The proper question.

Next question: Who holds the controlling and secondary interest in the answer to the first question.

[Roland99]

52. "Follow the money"

these corporate-whores are so transparent it ain't funny.

[WatsonT]

73. Likely someone who helped pass this measure

or multiple someones.

Or it's a cousin running the business.

But you're right, if we follow the money the whole scheme will likely be as corrupt as hell.

[Scout]

4. nope, sorry, this goes way too far n/t

[Bake]

5. Are they going to give the kids lunch free?

Otherwise, that's just not right. Or fair.

Bake

[Auggie]

6. I'm for children eating healthier, but this isn't the way to do it

[librechik]

7. what a buncha crap

and cow's milk isn't good for the kiddies. Get over it.

[goobergoober01]

18. newspaper today reports "girls maturing (period) at 7-10... milk growth hormones?

[WatsonT]

74. Obesity

Increase percentage body fat is linked with earlier puberty in girls.

Likewise if you cut it down below a certain point you can delay the onset of puberty.

Bovine growth hormones have no effect on people. Hormones are very specific, they have to be just right to work. And people are a completely different species.

[Recursion]

39. Only the unpasteurized stuff is healthy (nt)

[tblue37]

41. FYI, famous author Franz Kafka died from TB contracted from drinking

unpasteurized milk. He was a health nut, and he drank unpasteurized milk every morning because he believed it to offer great health benefits.

[Recursion]

45. People die from spinach, too

My point was that there's all kinds of stuff people believe because currently nutrition is more like astrology than science.

[harmonicon]

68. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Oh, you're funny!!

[WatsonT]

75. Well, for doctors

and funeral directors, casket makers, companies that print condolence cards, etc.

[Recursion]

76. *shrug*

I love being able to buy it when I go to California. Unlike pasteurized milk you can tell when it's gone bad.

[WatsonT]

79. You *can't* tell when regular milk has gone bad?

I think you may need to see a doctor.

And pasteurization was one of the most successful disease prevention methods in our entire history.

[Recursion]

81. Not all the time, no

It can be dangerous but still smell/taste fine, unlike raw milk

And pasteurization was one of the most successful disease prevention methods in our entire history

Not even close. Try indoor plumbing.

[WatsonT]

82. "It can be dangerous but still smell/taste fine, unlike raw milk"

Wow, that is a lot of irony there.

"Not even close. Try indoor plumbing."

I take it english is not your native language. "One of the" does not mean "the only" or even "the top".

For instance: Bill Gates is one of the worlds richest people. That does not mean he is the richest or the only wealthy person.

[Recursion]

83. Right, but pasteurizing milk isn't even up there

Pasteurization makes milk cheaper to transport, not safer.

[WatsonT]

84. Notice I said "pasteurization"

it can be used for other things, you know that right?

And it most certainly does make milk safer.

Do you know what pasteurization is?

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm079516.htm

[Recursion]

85. It was invented for wine

"Do I know what pasteurization is"... sigh

Let's just quit now, shall we? If you're curious you might look at the outbreak incidence and compare raw and pasteurized milk, and be surprised. (Pasteurized milk is safer than raw milk of equal freshness, but it gets transported farther over longer periods of time, which is why raw milk is marginally safer in reality.)

[WatsonT]

86. I suggest you research it a bit more

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19737059

Raw milk is not safer. Cows do carry diseases that we can catch.

With your own life you have the right to do as you please. But I would advise you against giving any to children or the elderly or to others who are unaware of your proclivities.

[Recursion]

87. Yes, lack of research is my problem here

:eyes:

I'm currently working as a food safety data analyst. Feel free to grab the last word

[WatsonT]

89. Please quit

and find a new line of work.

[Mz Pip]

8. This really bothers me.

My experience has been that school lunches are usually high in fat. Maybe things have changed but most of the little pre packaged lunches I remember from when I taught school didn't seem all that healthy to me.

[Recursion]

10. And then other parents will say they need more fat of a different kind

And others will complain about HFCS, and others about polyunsaturateds, and others...

Until nutrition is more like a science and less like astrology, we need to let people make their own damn decisions...

[boppers]

64. Nutrition is more like a science now.

But just like with astronomy and astrology, people still believe some completely bizarre things, and entire industries exist to prop up the scams and flim-flam.

[EFerrari]

11. I'm sure they're healthy for the vendor's wallet. n/t

[Mz Pip]

15. Yep

Makes you wonder who has the lunch contract and what kind of political clout they have.

[plumbob]

48. They are! They sweep up all the shit on the floor of the factory, squash it

together, call it "processed" and sell it to the schools, cause it's so cheap (but makes more money than throwing it away).

School lunch nutritional guidelines don't include fat, so you can get what we got today:
Processed "steak" fingers with gravy
Instant mashed potatoes with the same gravy
2 rolls
raw carrot sticks with ranch dressing
tea


Tomorrow:
"Cutlet" with white gravy
Instant mashed potatoes with the same gravy
2 rolls
raw carrot sticks with ranch dressing
tea


I insist on eating it every day because my free and reduced lunch kids (85% of my students) have no other options. So I eat what they eat every day, no matter how crappy.

What's in a wrangler burger? Star steak? Quesarritos? Anyone? Anyone at all? Bueller? Bueller?

[EFerrari]

51. The world turned upside down.

When I was in grade school, we couldn't afford for me to buy a hot lunch at school and in those days, it was still mostly food.

:(

[newblewtoo]

61. You weren't the

only one. It was hard enough for my folks to come up with the twenty five cents a week for milk sometimes. Lots of kids in my school couldn't even afford that, some of them carried a thermos, others drank water. Sometimes I had hot soup in my thermos and crackers. I always had some kind of fruit. Cookies were homemade, store bought Twinkies were an infrequent treat.

Hot lunch was for the rich kids, doctors kids, lawyers kids, the car dealers kids. Working family kids took cheese, egg salad, bologna, ham, tuna fish, pbj. There may have been a very few who got 'free' lunch but most folk would do anything to avoid the stigma of needing a free lunch. Of course that was the same era when if you smarted off in class you got whacked by the teacher then whacked again when you got home. I only needed that lesson once.

[Angry Dragon]

13. When I went to school they made the food right there

They really had cooks

25 cents in grade school
35 cents in junior high
65 cents in high school I think

[ehrnst]

40. And the food turned my stomach at my school - pizza and green beans - overcooked and oversalted. (nt

[Angry Dragon]

44. I guess you and I did not go to the same school

I thought the food was good.......

The food was fresh and tasty

[Mz Pip]

49. My high school

had really good food. Best coconut creme pies anywhere. It had other good food too. But this was in the 60s. Back then half the food was not edible plastic, or mystery meat.

[bitchkitty]

56. Mine was AWESOME!!

La Quinta High in Santa Ana - had milkshakes, burgers, sandwiches, pizza, burritos - everything under the sun, and way cheap too!

[XemaSab]

21. I remember them being little sodium bombs

:o

[Paper Roses]

24. Here in MA, there is a problem with school lunches made

with out of date frozen food. We all know that you can stretch an expiration date but if I make this decision at home, that would be one thing. I can read the label, note the date and make a determination. I don't want a cafeteria worker deciding for me.

I would strongly reject the school making the decision as to whether my tuna salad sandwich is better than their pizza.

This is a step too far.

[abelenkpe]

9. O puleeze

The lunches I pack for my kids are more healthy than anything they would get from a cafeteria. And probably less expensive.

Sounds like a way to make parents buy something they wouldn't otherwise.

[zogofzorkon]

36. Right on both counts and much tastier to.

We have six kids, when they were in school they wouldn't eat the crap school's call lunch. If my wife hadn't made them lunches they would have gone hungry rather than eat cafeteria food.

[rucky]

12. eff that. the lunches I pack my daughter a fresh & healthy

and waaaay better tasting.

[Auntie Bush]

14. Palin wil have a ball with one.

Why feed that lady/creature with more fodder?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

16. Parents can provide healthier fresher lunches. Probably cheaper too.

[leftynyc]

17. Wretched idea

For starters, unless they're offering free lunch, families are no doubt saving money sending lunch to school. I know anything my mother packed for me was waaay healthier than what was available behind a counter. Nanny state gone wild on steroids.

[Sixty_cycle_humm]

23. There's no such thing as a free lunch, we all pay for them

At the cost of school lunches now you can pack a kid's lunch a lot cheaper than buying it, I have 2 kids in school and my budget is pulled as thin as it gets.

This will force a lot of the kids to sign up for free lunches, which means the school will get reimbursed for every day the kid goes to school, not every day the kid eats.

The food service provider makes more money, the school makes more because a portion of each lunch goes to them, and a whole lot of picky eaters refuse to eat the stuff and it goes straight in the trash as waste.

[leftynyc]

53. I wouldn't mind seeing

who was providing these lunches are just how closely they're alligned with the people making this decision.

[goobergoober01]

19. talk about f'ing RIGHT WING BIG GOVERNMENT....

get your stinking hands outta my kids lunchbox

let parents be parents..... EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT

[Sienna86]

20. A little checking is in order...

Has the principal received anything of value from this food contrator? A nice vacation perhaps under the guise of a nutrition conference...

Yes, some parents may send an unhealthy item in their kids' lunch, but more likely, parents are able to pack an overall healthy lunch which their kid will eat.

[roxiejules]

26. Could it be this is one of those 'turnaround' schools?

It appears that some of the other Little Village schools have been firing all the teachers....

http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2010/08/teacher-purge-begins-in-chicagos-little.html

Patricia Gonzalez, the new principal at MAS, fired everyone. All but 4 have reported that they were notified, most by voicemail...She fired tenured founding teachers with superior evals.

[barbtries]

27. and make the parent's pay for it?

that's my question. when i was raising my children there were definitely times when i could not afford school lunches and made their lunches.

[sarcasmo]

28. Forced payment in a way, and forced to buy what the school system pushes.

[LisaM]

29. I presume this is a charter school

They get federal money but don't have to abide by any rules but their own.

[grilled onions]

30. The Ding Dong Detective

Will kiddies get suspension for having that illegal Twinkie? Nuts to this idea.

[AngryAmish]

31. When I say Chicago Public Schools are a shithole people don't believe me...

You should see the collection of shitheads that work in the Chicago Public Schools. And yes, you need to be a shithead to think banning homemade lunches is a good idea.

Looks like catholic schools for the little ones.

[Maat]

32. See, this is why I homeschool.

My teen's diet, by and large, consists of USDA-certified organic, hormone-free, non-GMO food, and not what Big Agribusiness advocates. Like Heck I'd allow a district employee to dictate that my kid eat GMO- and hormone-laden crap.

[Arctic Dave]

33. Good! And force those fat asses to exercise too!

Middle finger to your twinkies and video games.





:evilgrin:

[damntexdem]

34. No home chewing for the non-home-schooled?

What an excellent way to cause school children to hate good nutrition.

[backtomn]

35. Is this Cheney's business??

Can we ask who profits from this?? I have to tell you.....this is completely ridiculous. It is time for the City of Chicago to mind its own damn business.

[Odin2005]

37. Right, because they processed shit they feed kids is so healthy!

:eyes:

[ehrnst]

38. There are financial as well as health reasons for packing a lunch.

And there are vegetarians - which is not an allergy or medical issue.

[yellowcanine]

42. Now that is stupid. Why not just offer free healthy supplements?

Like apples, carrots, green salads, etc. Only rule is that if you take it you have to eat it in the cafeteria. You could also do an incentive program which gives awards for nutritious food in a packed lunch and/or taking and eating nutritious selections which are offered. It is amazing what kids will do even for something like a simple colorful sticker.


People who make rules like this don't understand much about children.

[Travelman]

54. Now THAT'S a good idea!

You suddenly made me remember back to about the fourth grade. At our school, classes had to rotate when each got to eat lunch, just because of the relatively small lunch room compared to the total number of students in school. So, the school would have fun little "competitions" at the beginning of the year to determine who got to go to lunch when. Some classes got the ideal high noon time, others got 11:00, others as late as 1:30.

I'm pretty sure it was fourth grade year when my class sort of drew the short straw and wound up with a 1:00 lunch time. Growing children being what they are, our bellies were rumbling pretty well before 1:00, and we would all have a hard time paying attention. So they instituted a little "mini-break" at about 10:00. Everyone stayed in their seats, in the classroom, but they could have a single item out of their lunch box (if you didn't bring your lunch, then you were responsible for buying something in advance out of one of the vending machines) for five minutes. The catch: we could only eat something healthy during that time period. So, some mornings I would buy an apple out of the vending machine, or I would bring a banana, or sometimes there would be a nice-looking orange in the vending machine. Lots of people brought carrot sticks, sometimes cut-up celery sticks. No bags of potato chips, no greasy little packets of cheese and crackers, no candy of any sort, no sodas or kool-aid or whatever. It had to be solid food and it had to be healthy food, generally a whole food of some sort.

It worked very well. The kids got a short break in the middle of the morning, no more rumbling bellies in the early afternoon, and we had to eat stuff that's actually good for us. On top of that, because it was almost exclusively whole foods that were required, it kept the classroom clean; no cookie crumbs or anything like that to clean up (or attract mice and such). Attention levels went up, teachers had a moment to get re-organized for the rest of the morning's lessons, and everyone was generally happier all around. And all it took was five minutes out of the morning and a few basic ground rules. No need to be an iron-fisted dictator, commanding what every student will eat and telling them that they'll like it whether they like it or not.

"The beatings shall continue until morale improves" is just not a very good way to maintain classroom discipline, IMO.

[ChazII]

58. +1 n/t

[Sherman A1]

43. I feel a disturbance in the force....

perhaps that is a lawsuit about to happen????

[The Nexus]

46. Looks like another nanny town. nt

[Terry in Austin]

62. Careful

"nanny state" = right-wing code for "we don't need no steenkin public services for no steenkin public."

Particularly favored by the Libertarian branch of the right wing.

Welcome to DU -- hope your stay is a pleasant one. B-)

[Yo_Mama]

47. Just to shed light on this, an earlier article

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/02/21/Healthier-lunches-unpopular-with-students/UPI-17571298314341/?rel=96921302542391

The kids didn't like the new "healthier" menu, so participation in the school lunch program fell.

So now I guess they want to make it mandatory.

[KurtNYC]

71. I like broccoli..but would I trust a school cafeteria to cook it right?

For kids -- batter it, deep fry it, serve it with ketchup.

[AllTooEasy]

50. This will cost the district more money!

[Baclava]

55. Salisbury steak, macaroni & cheese and sloppy joe's for everybody!

[mwooldri]

57. Unless Jamie Oliver is overseeing this...

... then I trust school dinners there as much as I trusted George W Bush whilst he was in office.

There are healthy school dinners and there are school dinners that meet certain "health requirements". There is a difference.

Jamie Oliver isn't just into getting healthy school meals onto school students' plates, he's into everything foodwise, from encouraging getting kitchen classrooms into place so that students can learn how to cook - to school vegetable gardens so that the students can grow their own food - and yes ... if there is enough use it in their school dinners (or more likely in the kitchen classroom).

It's a shame we don't have enough school catering managers and school boards with Jamie's mindset. Otherwise kids would get proper school dinners. Not processed crap.

Mark.

[Exultant Democracy]

78. +1. When the guy said "milk instead of coke." I thought sure... flavored milk.

[notadmblnd]

59. and lunch is on the school?

many children carry lunches because their parents can't afford to buy lunch everyday for their kids- and they don't qualify for free or reduced lunches.

[Akoto]

60. I heard on the news that the kids say the food tastes awful.

They're throwing it away before they even finish. I guess their going hungry is preferable to bringing a packed lunch. Meh.

Personally, I brought lunch from home all the way up through high school. It was more of a snack to tide me over until school let out, which is when I actually ate.

[happyslug]

63. Chicago Tribune Article on the Subject

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

Website of Actual School:
http://www.lva.cps.k12.il.us/lva/links.html


Little Village Elementary School

Public - Grades: PK-8
District: City Of Chicago School District 299

2620 South Lawndale Ave
Chicago, IL 60623-4519 (map)
[phone]

Data on Little Village Elementary School:

Total Students (2008 - 2009): 810
Full-time teachers: 37.0
Student/Teacher Ratio: 21.9
Eligible for discounted/free lunch: 807 ( 100 %)

Type: Regular school
Status: Operational
Locale: City: Large

Little Village Elementary School ranks 1957th of 2219 Illinois public elementary schools.
Schooldigger District Rating:

City Of Chicago School District 299 ranks 769th of 833 Illinois school districts.
How would you rate Little Village Elementary School?

http://www.schooldigger.com/go/IL/schools/0993001608/school.aspx

Little Village appears to be a Regular School, but a low performing one:
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/IL/district/09930/search.aspx

[Zorra]

65. How much do lunches cost, and who is profiting from selling them?

Article did not address this.

[woo me with science]

69. We have a winner. nt

[DiverDave]

66. My kids eat fine from home

Yes they get pizza and hogies when the school has them, but mostly they get sandwiches and fruit from home.

Sorry, but I wouldnt let someone tell me I couldnt send food with my kids.

[alp227]

67. wait wait wait a PUBLIC school???

At first I had the impression that this academy was a private school...but then saw Chicago Public Schools mentioned at the tail end of the excerpt...wow this is just so messed up in so many ways, can't the school encourage healthy eating with other methods than nannying maybe such as parental outreach programs/workshops? Not every parent knows nutrition but you shouldn't take away everyone's freedom for the sins of a few.

[rebecca_herman]

70. I would have starved if I were a student there

I highly doubt hungry kids are going to learn as well. I was an extremely picky eater as a child due to texture/sensory issues and a very sensitive stomach, even as an adult I can't eat that many foods. I would have been starving and felt awful from it and that would have distracted me from learning for sure. I don't think a public school should be allowed to have this policy. I could understand banning really sugary items if they make the kids hyper and causes disruptions but they shouldn't be able to regulate what kind of sandwich a kid eats at school.

[crim son]

72. Poor kids.

They serve shit at our school cafeterias, at least according to my kids who would prefer a ham sandwich and an apple over processed breadsticks dipped in processed marinara sauce any day.

[w4rma]

77. ... (nt)

[maddogesq]

80. Who has the food contract, Halliburton maybe?

This does not pass the smell test.

[OverDone]

88. Telling you what to eat

Now they are telling your kids what they can and can't eat. WOW

[CRK7376]

90. We were not poor

but we lived on a very tight budget. I took lunch from home in a Submarine lunch box, a paper bag more than I can remember and when I was teaching in a black metal lunch pail that I also used when I worked in construction. My lunches were great, more often better than what the school served, especially on the days my mom packed left over blackberry cobble! By the time I was in high school I usually was able to buy my lunch one day a week, but still mostly I brown bagged lunch. My kids all have taken their lunches, at least through elementary. Now they buy their lunches, but don't tell me we have to buy lunch from the school.

My question is who in Chicago is going to pay for all those lunches. I know from my own experience, as a child and now as a parent, we saved lots of money for other things by taking lunch from home. But I did buy lots of chocolate milk over the years....