Free meals for all Detroit schoolchildren in fall

[DetroitTeacher]

Thanks for the link. Many parents DON'T fill out the forms required to qualify for free lunch [[and it's not that hard to check a few boxes) because they don't want anyone to know their business. If they don't fill out the form, their child also doesn't qualify for after-school free tutoring, a bus card, and many other things that their kid probably needs. There are kids who can't afford the bus fare to get to school [[and we just made the walk impossible by closing so many schools). Parents don't have cars to drive the kids...so just how are we expecting the kids to make it to school? Then, there are the parents who just don't give the kid lunch money/bus fare to and from...and they probably COULD afford it but just don't do it. I feel for the kids who have to live like this. It really does something to their self-esteem when their parents tell them that they don't care enough to get them to school or make sure they have breakfast and lunch. I can't even imagine what that must be like for the kids.

Way, way back, my parents filled out that lunch form [[we never qualified) because they knew that programs for the kids who didn't have depended on it [[there is money to be had for each lunch form a school receives, if the kid qualifies or not). In fact, every parent sent back the form. I don't know where the thought of the school being in family business came into play. It's not like anyone at the school has time to sit down and look at the family income. We just send the forms out to the feds and they send back a list of names of kids who qualify. That's all we get, a list of names. No income, no anything else. I really think we need to break the barrier between family and school so that families learn to trust those who are working with their kids.

I've had students defend my failing them to their parent. They say they deserved it. One student actually apologized for his mother calling me every name under the book and threatening to kick my ass if i didn't pass the kid. He NEVER came to class. I called home repeatedly. He took responsibility for his F in front of her. She didn't care. She wanted me to pass him. She didn't trust anyone in the school to do what was right. That type of mentality needs to change. We really do need more family support and if the school and the parents started working together, the kids would really be better off [[and they just might do better in school if they knew that school and parents were on the same page and the parents won't go and cause a scene to get what they want...and they usually do get what they want, which causes the kid to not work hard or do anything in school).

I'm rambling but I still think it's a good program.

http://hypestyleshomebase.blogspot.c...tptinyurl.html

[Patrick]

The stigma associated with going through the free lunch line was horrible. No one wanted to do it. This way, no kid goes hungry because of the embarassment of getting a free lunch.

But it was Cooley High....pretty much every kid was from a poor family. Why would one poor kid make fun of another poor kid...doesn't make sense.

[ResurgetCineribus]

But it was Cooley High....pretty much every kid was from a poor family. Why would one poor kid make fun of another poor kid...doesn't make sense.

"...there's nothing more pure and cruel as a child."

-Jet, Cowboy Bebop

[rjk]

1. Kids whose parents are too poor to pay the card but too proud to admit they require assistance, and

2. Kids whose parents are capable to pay the card but don't

I was going to say that this program is putting a million dollar solution on a thousand dollar problem [[The government is great at that), but the above is just the opposite. Putting a thousand dollar solution on a million dollar problem.

You could give the above all the free lunches in the world and I still don't give them much of a chance. If the parents or more likely parent doesn't care enough to make sure that their child is eating, the solution isn't providing them with free lunches. The solution is to have social services and the courts to step in and charge them with child abuse or at least take the children away from them.If they're not providing the child with food I doubt they care enough about any of the other important parenting skills it takes to properly raise a child. Giving them a free lunch is like putting a band-aide on an infected wound.

[ResurgetCineribus]

...

You could give the above all the free lunches in the world and I still don't give them much of a chance. If the parents or more likely parent doesn't care enough to make sure that their child is eating, the solution isn't providing them with free lunches. The solution is to have social services and the courts to step in and charge them with child abuse or at least take the children away from them.If they're not providing the child with food I doubt they care enough about any of the other important parenting skills it takes to properly raise properly raise a child. Giving them a free lunch is like putting a band-aide on an infected wound.

I don't think any of that is the point of this program, or really anything a school should deal with. The point is this:

If you have a terrible home life and you're parents are too poor or just assholes that don't care, when you're at school none of that matters. You will go home back to that terrible life, but at least while you're here at school we will make sure you are taken care of.

And yeah, it probably is the tiniest baby step for bringing a better day to these kids. But it's something we can do.

[Roq]

The solution is to have social services and the courts to step in and charge them with child abuse or at least take the children away from them.

Maybe, maybe not but realistically, how soon do you think something like that will happen? Months or years, if ever most likely. A free lunch is something immediate and cost effective and while it may not solve everything, it at least gives a hungry child one meal for the day.

[rjk]

I don't think any of that is the point of this program, or really anything a school should deal with. The point is this:

If I see someone who is neglecting their child and not providing them with proper food I'm contacting social services.
Children are spending 7-8 hours a day in school. They better be dealing with neglected kids and contacting the authorities when it's called for.

[ResurgetCineribus]

If I see someone who is neglecting their child and not providing them with proper food I'm contacting social services.
Children are spending 7-8 hours a day in school. They better be dealing with neglected kids and contacting the authorities when it's called for.

That what I'm saying... The school contacts social services and lets them handle it. It's not the purpose of a school to be providing that kind of help. Obviously this requires some work on the school's part, but I don't consider it dealing with the problem.

[hamtown mike]

The card system does not solve the problem because someone still has to put money into that card's account. Therefore, it it does not account for:

1. Kids whose parents are too poor to pay the card but too proud to admit they require assistance, and

2. Kids whose parents are capable to pay the card but don't

Sad but true. Because of of laziness and or pride we are forced to live down to the lowest common denominator.

[Goose]

federal view: poor kids will feel stigmatized by having to stand in line for free food, thus causing social and learning to suffer

michigan view: allow kids from "poor" districts [[school of choice) to attend schools from "rich" disctricts and their education will improve.... i've wondered how severly stigmatized the kids from west of mack would feel having to walk home from Grosse Pointe schools if SOC is mandated.....

[maxx]

http://www.studentsfirst.org/

Michelle Rhee's new org.

[CLAUDE G]

First of all when I was in Elementry school, you had to go to the office and buy a Ticket for $1.50 in order to be able to get lunch in the lunch line. The kids that could afford the tickets bought them, and the kids who couldn't afford it got the tickets given to them for free.

This way, everyone standing in line had a ticket and you couldn't tell who was getting a free lunch and who had to pay.

How about setting up a system and having the student ID card, be used as a pre-paid debit card for school lunches, and the kids who can't afford to pay simply get money put on their account.

As far as kids not eating, I think it has alot more to do with what the school is serving then kids not wanting to stand in the free lunch line.

When I was in school, my family could afford to pay for my lunches. Many times I just saved the money my mother gave me for lunch, and skipped lunch completely and choose do either do homework or play on the playground.

First of all, im a pickey eater and school lunches make me sick just thinking about them...

#1 Why do the schools have to serve Milk with their meals? The only time I ever drink Milk is when its in a bowl with my Cereal. I can't drink it staright, and im sure many kids are the same way. Choclate Milk is a good way to get kids to drink Milk, but there is even talk about banning that in schools.

#2 The schools are wasting their money on the Salad and fruit. I remember in Elementry school, on Wenesdays it was Milk, Pizza, Salad, Fruit. We would pay the extra 5 cents and upgrade to Choclate Milk, eat the slice of Pizza, and throw away the Salad and Fruit. I would probably say 70% of the fruit and salad gets thrown away.

Its the same thing when parents pack their kids a lunch. They get a Sandwich, Jucebox, bag of chips and a Candy Bar. The sandwich gets thrown away since the parents aint there to watch them and the chips, Candybar and Juce box get eaten.

#3 The food the schools serve is generally good, but it tastes like crap because they warm it for 3 hours. When I started High School, I was excited to see that they served Pizza every day. It was usually Dominos, Pizza Hut, or Papa Romanos. I couldn't figure out why I would see them opening fresh boxes of pizza and serving the slices, but it had no flavor and would have a different texture to it.

Then one day Im late to my class, and here is the Pizza Hut driver at 10AM delivering pizzas to the Cafeteria when lunch is for 11:30, 12:00 and 12:30.

Every since High School, I have refused to order from Papa Romanos and rarely will order from Pizza Hut or Dominos because of the bad memories.

The only thing the schools could get right was Nachos, and only because the cheese is good for several hours when kept warm.

I later found out by being nice to one of the ladies who made the lunches that the Nachos where the cheapest ones you could buy from Gordans Food Service, and the Cheese was a mixture of Old Elpaso and Land O Lakes Cheese. To this day, I still go to Gordans and buy Nachos and Cheese!

My best memory from School lunches was when there was a fire at the school and the School kitchen burned down. The school had a deal setup with McDonalds and we had Mc Donalds Happy Meals for an entire month while workers made the repairs to the Kitchen

But enough of my rant..... The kids deserve to be fed a decent lunch, and if the goverment wants to provide it with their education, then thats fine by me.

Im just glad I don't have to meet it.

[English]

Claude, it sounds like you had luxurious lunch fare compared to those of us in Detroit. In the 1980s, I was in K-8 and the food was just awful. The only edible meals were the pizzas and the tacos.

When I was in high school in the 1990s, there was a breakfast and a lunch program. Both were fairly decent so I rarely brought lunch from home. There was also an Ocean Spray juice machine... sometimes, I wouldn't want to eat much since breakfast was halfway decent, so I just had a can of Mauna Lai guava and hung out in a classroom with my friends.

And when I taught at Cass Tech, I felt food quality had gotten better still. Almost everything was at least fair to middling...

But the SE MI suburban high school that was my final destination before I moved to college teaching was out of this world. It was more like a buffet than any school cafeteria I'd known in Detroit. They even had a separate teacher's lunchroom with a different buffet line. The soups and sandwiches were as good as any you'd get at a restaurant.

[Roq]

But enough of my rant..... The kids deserve to be fed a decent lunch, and if the goverment wants to provide it with their education, then thats fine by me.

Im just glad I don't have to meet it.

All this debate and Claude G nails it; the kids aren't eating the damn lunches anyway.

[rjk]

Speaking of bad lunches, the catholic school that I went to had pretty good lunches with the exception of mini-pizza day. It was an english muffin with a scoop of tamato sauce topped with a piece of cheese. The only melting the cheese did was from the heat from the sauce which wasn't much. I'm getting sick right now just thinking about it.

I agree that kids aren't eating vegtables, fruit probably has a slightly better chance.
There are ways of sneaking veg. in like putting spinach and such on a sandwich.

[maxx]

You kids with your nachos and pizza for lunch. You don't know nothin' about school lunches. We'd have macaroni and cheese made with gov. surplus white bland cheese served with stewed tomatoes . Stirring it all up together made the mac and cheese less gummy and provided some taste. There were other items served, but that's the one that stands out in my memory since I was catholic back then and had to abstain from meat on Fridays.

[Goose]

You kids with your nachos and pizza for lunch. You don't know nothin' about school lunches. We'd have macaroni and cheese made with gov. surplus white bland cheese served with stewed tomatoes . Stirring it all up together made the mac and cheese less gummy and provided some taste. There were other items served, but that's the one that stands out in my memory since I was catholic back then and had to abstain from meat on Fridays.

and that was after a two mile walk to school in 2 feet of snow.... UPHILL!!!!!

[CassTechGrad]

Maybe, ifparents don’t have money for food, then State should provide them with money! Ohwait, they already do, it’s called food stamps-bridge cards.

Well then, maybeif parents have lost their jobs, then the State should provide them with money!Oh wait, they already do, it’s called unemployment compensation.

Well then, maybeif parents were not working, then the State should provide them with money! Ohwait, they already do, it’s called the Welfare Program.

Well then,maybe if parents don’t have enough money for rent, then the State should providethem with money! Oh wait, they already do, it’s called HUD Housing ChoiceVoucher Program [[Section 8).

Well then, maybeif parents don’t have enough money to pay their energy bills, then the state shouldgive them some money! Oh wait, they already do, it’s called the StateEmergency Relief Program [[SER).

Well then,maybe if parents don’t have enough money to pay for health care, then the Stateshould give them money. Oh wait, they already do, it’s called the Medicaid LowIncome Family [[LIF) Program

Well then,maybe ……………………………………

[Magnatomicflux]

and that was after a two mile walk to school in 2 feet of snow.... UPHILL!!!!!

...... in both directions! No video games either, they chewed bark off of trees for entertainment!



This really a great idea. I would just hope alot of these kids arn't walking around with cell phones and things like that. Actually, I hope more that the Parents arn't walking around with cell phones without feeding their children first.

DetroitTeacher, you make me so sad whenever you talk about the kids you guide.
You're a good soul. Keep it up.

[canuck]

Big question here in Canada; why should hospital and school cafeteria food be insipid and not wholesome? Or a better one still I heard on the radio about old age homes where pensioners get things like meat pie or pork chops on the hottest days in july...

[DetroitTeacher]

Don't be sad...they aren't. I am amazed at how these kids manage to make it [[most of them) coming from some of the conditions they do. I just went to the Cooley Class of 2001 Reunion last night and I am proud to say that I taught these "kids". They are successful [[in some pretty prominent fields) and happy. Many are married and have kids of their own. Many of them came from circumstances of which I speak in my posts. They really inspire me to keep plugging along and doing what I can.

...... in both directions! No video games either, they chewed bark off of trees for entertainment!



This really a great idea. I would just hope alot of these kids arn't walking around with cell phones and things like that. Actually, I hope more that the Parents arn't walking around with cell phones without feeding their children first.

DetroitTeacher, you make me so sad whenever you talk about the kids you guide.
You're a good soul. Keep it up.

[Gistok]

After this, the deluge...

English, that subtle "apres moi, le deluge" comment [[for those less informed... it was made by French King Louis XV, who knew that trouble was coming after his demise) went right over the head of all the "Marie Antoinette let them eat cake crowd"....

They act as though the parent of every poorly nurished child goes to the nail salon and gets their hair done instead of feeding their children.... really? Got any statistics to back that up?? .... or is it more "stereotyping"??

Arguing over whether schoolchildren should be fed or not... how pathetic is that??

No wait... let me guess... feeding all schoolkids is a sign of the encroachment of socialism.... got it...

[Thames]

I am not convinced that expanding free lunch to all, is the most cost effective way to remove stigma in the lunch room, but that’s the best our government can come up with. As illustrated in other posts, there are ways to solve that problem without spending an extra dime. To me, the idea is the epitome of dysfunctional government.

My kids were in the Redford Union school district. RU assigned a lunch account number to each student. No cards, no swiping. Just a number. The only way to get lunch was by using that number. There was no cash exchanged in the lunch room. Ever.

If there was no money in the account, you missed lunch, even if you had the cash to pay for it.

Parents were required to send in money for the account, or send in the free lunch application that RU sent out to every family in the district.

It wasn’t an option . Those were the rules. Not that difficult.

If you can’t do that, you’re unfit to be a parent. Like it or not, it IS your responsibility to make SURE your child eats. Refusing to, should be met with consequences, not hand outs.

So on one side we have unfit parents and on the other side, we have a dysfunctional government.

Then there is us in the middle, most certainly chastised for suggesting that our tax dollars not be spent needlessly.

I’m in favor of spending more money on food, but I’d rather spend the money on dinner for a kid who can’t afford it, than spend it on a lunch for a kid that can afford it. But that’s just me.

[Goose]

English, that subtle "apres moi, le deluge" comment [[for those less informed... it was made by French King Louis XV, who knew that trouble was coming after his demise) went right over the head of all the "Marie Antoinette let them eat cake crowd"....

They act as though the parent of every poorly nurished child goes to the nail salon and gets their hair done instead of feeding their children.... really? Got any statistics to back that up?? .... or is it more "stereotyping"??

Arguing over whether schoolchildren should be fed or not... how pathetic is that??

No wait... let me guess... feeding all schoolkids is a sign of the encroachment of socialism.... got it...

again, they are feeding kids regardless of need.... no ones arguing against feeding kids that don't get fed at home or can't afford food

stop with the "feed the kids" bullshit.... typical crap from the left claiming that if you are against this program your are against feeding kids.... the kids they are adding to the program can afford food, this is just another handout that will develop a entitlement mentality in the kids receiving it... start them young and they will vote democrat for life.......

[313WX]

again, they are feeding kids regardless of need.... no ones arguing against feeding kids that don't get fed at home or can't afford food

stop with the "feed the kids" bullshit.... typical crap from the left claiming that if you are against this program your are against feeding kids.... the kids they are adding to the program can afford food, this is just another handout that will develop a entitlement mentality in the kids receiving it... start them young and they will vote democrat for life.......

Why not tell us how you really feel.