I was just reading a story about this a little while ago. I also came across this blog post which cuts to the heart of the matter.

It's just cruel.

I read that with one eyebrow raised in surprise.

At first I was thinking that this was a little feelgood story in that even if their parents were remiss in paying for their lunch the kids still got fed.

As I read on I was startled to see that no, this is regarded as a problem.

This is quite incredible. The ability or inability of parents to pay for lunch is not going to be the only marker of poverty, so the stigma thing doesn't make sense.

I'd have expected a little gratitude, but apparently that is scarce on the ground these days.

There is nothing hard in making lunch for these kids to eat at school during lunch time.

I can't believe that some parents, because they are poor, will avoid the responsibility of feeding their children. That should be their number 1 priority...

Sad really...

Honestly, I don't see why there's such an outcry over "shaming" the kids. I don't see why providing kids with a free lunch is equal to shaming them.

The schools are attempting to feed the kids to the best of their ability without going over budget. Would those who are appalled at the insult these free lunches apparently convey prefer that the kids get no lunches so as to spare them the indignity of a cheese sandwich? Moreover, would these same people who are so appalled be willing to pay extra in taxes to provide better quality free lunches, or would they huff and puff about it?

And pocksucket's right. The stigma thing TOTALLY doesn't make sense. I went to a grade school that was completely across the board in income levels. The rich girl was the one who brought in pictures of her horses for show and tell, the poor kid was the one who brought in a squirrel skin and didn't bathe. What they ate for lunch had nothing to do with it. And for the record, I ate cheese sandwiches almost every day. Although I prefer them grilled, and don't see why the schools can't do that.


EDIT: Also, all the comments on the blog suebe posted about how it's so shameful that these kids have to be seen eating "poor people food" really, REALLY piss me off. Food is goddamned food. They sound like a bunch of overprivileged assh*les.

When did public school start becoming a food kitchen?

I'm sorry..there are already subsidized meals and prices for people with low income. Hell..I know many schools have ALL kids pay with a plastic card so that nobody knows who's getting the free meals and who is paying.

It shouldn't be my school taxes paying for your kid's lunch because you can't afford to pay for the cheap meal prices or pack a PBJ.

Sorry..No sympathy here.

EDIT...BTW..When I was kid we paid cash for school lunch. If I didn't have the cash and I didn't have a meal packed then I didn't eat. It was my parent's responsibility to make sure I'm fed, not the schools. The schools were only responsible for making sure healthy food was available.

Why not? You may not have sympathy for the parents, but why not sympathy for a six-year-old?

Why is it THEIR fault that their parents can't provide for them? Why should they go without a 'dollar lunch' because their situation is already bad to begin with?

Have some sympathy.

If we can spend billions of dollars to send some guy into space for a trip around the earth can't we spare a buck for a kid to eat?

Ah, the days of my youth - this happened to me with peanut butter and jelly. No kid knew what that meant as it wasn't really a policy. It was ok until I got sick of pbj and stopped eating lunch altogether. The problem with this is going to be nutrition, and those children (like me) whose parents paid too much child support and whose jobs were too unstable to pay for anything else. It's not like my parents didn't try, but the only thing my parents could afford to send me to school with was... pb and j. XD

I'm confused about the outcry as well. Other school districts just turn the kids away without food; at least this way they get to eat something.

Granted, a cold cheese sandwich sounds gross. My mom runs a daycare; she does pb&j, except for the kids who are peanut-allergic.

Where do I begin? When we lived in VA and lived on a military base, our kids went to the school on the base. If they ran out of lunch money--because I forgot to send them to school with money for the week--they got...COLD CEREAL and HELLO a GREAT BIG STICKER that had a bear on it or something with the message that the child's account was empty or something. I told my daughter to take it off and stick it in her backpack. Talk about "shame" these people need to stop crying. A cheese sandwich with fruit and milk is great. Also, while I do agree it is the parents responsibility to feed their child, it may be that the lunch at school is their healthiest meal. We live in bad times. Most schools have programs where kids can get a free or discounted lunch. Schools do not have a ton of money, and theirs is the first budget to be cut. And who is going to fund the schools? I don't know either, but I will say my Mom knew someone once who said they shouldn't have to pay taxes towards schools because they didn't have kids. And my Mom told that person, but they should, because those kids are going to grow up and be the ones taking care of you!

This wins my title of the day award.

EDIT: Wrong post

Dang cheese-related topics

Pfft. If the school didn't feed the kids at all, then people would be b*tching about it being "cruel" because they're not feeding the kids. (Which, that *would* be cruel.)

At least this way, they're getting something to eat. Cheese and bread, fruit and milk... it's a lot better than nothing at all. Like someone else said, the lunch itself isn't going to be the only marker for poverty... and if it's this big of a problem, it's very likely that a *lot* of kids are in the same boat, together.

My 1st grader has a lunch account at school (I deposit money online, and then it gets deducted accordingly whenever she wants a hot lunch... maybe twice a week). But they say right on the menu, that if there's no money in the account, a kid can charge one $2.50 meal (if the parents accidentally forget to put more money in or whatever), but anything more than that, and they'll be provided with a "healthy snack" until the account is put back in the green.

I totally understand financial hardship. I grew up on free lunches at school... with the pink tickets (the obvious OH NO! "marker" for my family's poverty). I didn't feel ashamed or singled out. But then again, there were a lot of other kids who had pink lunch tickets, too. Big deal. We all got fed.

If we had that same philosophy then why not just stop ALL nasa projects and ALL research projects and just feed the hungry! Yeah...more free handouts, that's what the world needs.

I'm sorry..I'm in a bad mood today.

It's not a matter of having sympathy for the hungry child...I just don't think it's the SCHOOL'S responsibly to give FREE FOOD. Not when they are canceling arts programs and some schools can't even afford frickin' paper for tests (I recall an article about a school that limited how many mimeographs a teacher was allowed to make a year).

I think any sympathy here is misplaced. I sympathize for how bad things are for people (it's not all roses for me either), but I don't sympathize for their kid getting a free cheese sandwhich and that not being good enough for them.

Nobody was there when my parents had 5 jobs between the two of them just to pay the bills to keeps us just out of the "inner city" and get a good education. Be happy they are being fed and quit b*tching.

Punishment? When I was a kid, "punishment" at school meant being smacked on the hands by a ruler. The thing with the sandwich, fruit, and milk was called LUNCH.

When I was little, my mom always made my mid-morning snack... that is what it was, a mid-morning snack... or gave me money to BUY it from the cafeteria...

Then we were allowed to go HOME for lunch. Then return to class in the afternoon...