By: Kassie

Kassie — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:22:43 +0000

As a lunch lady and mom of a full-pay student, I was very interested in reading your article. I agree with most points you make, with the exception of eliminating the reduced-price meals. My son’s district did this last year and as a result, my son’s high school full-priced lunch has gone from $2.25 to a range of $2.75 to $3.75, depending on the entree. In other words, free and formerly reduced-priced lunch students get to choose any entree they want off the daily menu, but if my son brings only $2.75, he only gets to choose between a cold sandwich or a bean burrito! I find this to be totally unfair to full-pay students. Why don’t reduced-price families have to pay their fair share so my family doesn’t have to pay even more? I went round and round about this issue with the district’s Business Services Administrator who basically laughed in my face and the school board approved his idea of eliminating reduced-price meals. I think I do like your idea of all students being provided a free meal. It makes sense that more parents will care about school lunch nutrition and demand an improvement if ALL the children are eating at school and eating the same foods with no a la carte options.
Many thanks for a very well-written and informative article!

By: Shirlee Taylor

Shirlee Taylor — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:00:26 +0000

Ann Cooper: I caught your segment on Nightline and was
so glad to see someone really telling it like it is and
could explain so well the problems that we face as Food
Service Administrators and Lunch Ladies. Even though we are
a small in town rural school district in Mississippi. (enrollment approx
1400) we face the same problems that the large districts do
only we have less to work with. Our paid lunches are only
1.75 up this year from years of 1.50 and .75 breakfasts
up from years of .50. As a 1 person office, it is so hard
to fight the rules and regulations on one hand and those
students and parents on the other hand who demand the fast
food. we too have a strip of fast food places one block from
our high school. I have tried to focus on the youngest
children, hoping to change habits early on. However, another area that I have to fight is salaries are so low
that workers don’t want to go the extra mile to prepare
scratch foods even though they know the perils fast food represents. The work is hard and they just want to get it
over with and get out. Small town school districts make
it difficult to recruit the right type of worker since
once they are hired, they are afraid to fire or let go
unqualified workers unless they have just absolutely done
something that cannot be contested. Therefore, it leaves
you with some workers who are less interested in the
food going out as they are getting out at the end of the day. I am sure that there are many stories out there. But,
I was so refreshed to hear someone finally come out with
words of truth. I immediately had to see if you had a web
sight. I am so proud to have heard you and it has renewed
my faith that something can be done eventually. Thank you.

Comments on: ABC’s of School Lunch

By: Kassie

By: Shirlee Taylor