Chicago Public School principle bans students from bringing own lunches - Polidicks

[quote=Chicago Tribune]Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school. "Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English. Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!" Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?" At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria. Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices. "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 (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception." Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common. A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals. "While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments," Monique Bond wrote in an email. "In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom." Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district's food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch. At Little Village, most students must take the meals served in the cafeteria or go hungry or both. During a recent visit to the school, dozens of students took the lunch but threw most of it in the garbage uneaten. Though CPS has improved the nutritional quality of its meals this year, it also has seen a drop-off in meal participation among students, many of whom say the food tastes bad. "Some of the kids don't like the food they give at our school for lunch or breakfast," said Little Village parent Erica Martinez. "So it would be a good idea if they could bring their lunch so they could at least eat something." "(My grandson) is really picky about what he eats," said Anna Torrez, who was picking up the boy from school. "I think they should be able to bring their lunch. Other schools let them. But at this school, they don't." But parent Miguel Medina said he thinks the "no home lunch policy" is a good one. "The school food is very healthy," he said, "and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food." At Claremont Academy Elementary School on the South Side, officials allow packed lunches but confiscate any snacks loaded with sugar or salt. (They often are returned after school.) Principal Rebecca Stinson said that though students may not like it, she has yet to hear a parent complain. "The kids may have money or earn money and (buy junk food) without their parents' knowledge," Stinson said, adding that most parents expect that the school will look out for their children. Such discussions over school lunches and healthy eating echo a larger national debate about the role government should play in individual food choices. "This is such a fundamental infringement on parental responsibility," said J. Justin Wilson, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Consumer Freedom, which is partially funded by the food industry. "Would the school balk if the parent wanted to prepare a healthier meal?" Wilson said. "This is the perfect illustration of how the government's one-size-fits-all mandate on nutrition fails time and time again. Some parents may want to pack a gluten-free meal for a child, and others may have no problem with a child enjoying soda." For many CPS parents, the idea of forbidding home-packed lunches would be unthinkable. If their children do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, such a policy would require them to pay $2.25 a day for food they don't necessarily like. "We don't spend anywhere close to that on my son's daily intake of a sandwich (lovingly cut into the shape of a Star Wars ship), Goldfish crackers and milk," education policy professor Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach wrote in an email. Her son attends Nettelhorst Elementary School in Lakeview. "Not only would mandatory school lunches worsen the dietary quality of most kids' lunches at Nettelhorst, but it would also cost more out of pocket to most parents! There is no chance the parents would stand for that." Many Little Village students claim that, given the opportunity, they would make sound choices. "They're afraid that we'll all bring in greasy food instead of healthy food and it won't be as good as what they give us at school," said student Yesenia Gutierrez. "It's really lame. If we could bring in our own lunches, everyone knows what they'd bring. For example, the vegetarians could bring in their own veggie food." "I would bring a sandwich or a Subway and maybe a juice," said seventh-grader Ashley Valdez. Second-grader Gerardo Ramos said, "I would bring a banana, orange and some grapes." "I would bring a juice and like a sandwich," said fourth-grader Eric Sanchez. "Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," second-grader Julian Ruiz said, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables."[/quote] ...I have nothing to say. This is just too monumentally stupid. [url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410,0,2614451,full.story]SOURCE[/url] Key quote here: [quote]"and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food."[/quote]

Are you kidding me? In most places the school lunches are less healthy than the lunch a kid brings.

Greed.

[B]Wait, what?![/B]

Are you fucking kidding me.

You have got to be kidding me

If I were them, I'd bring it anyway. No fucking way I'm letting a school take away my right to not eat the shit they pull out of their asses.

Thats fucking [b]RETARDED[/b]. What if the lunch they have there gives the student a allergic reaction. That should be REVOKED. Do you really need money to do such a thing?!?!

Haha sucks to be them

[QUOTE=BigBeretFrenchi;29118256]Thats fucking [b]RETARDED[/b]. What if the lunch they have there gives the student a allergic reaction. That should be REVOKED. Do you really need money to do such a thing?!?![/QUOTE] "Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria."

[QUOTE=BigBeretFrenchi;29118256]Thats fucking [b]RETARDED[/b]. What if the lunch they have there gives the student a allergic reaction. That should be REVOKED. Do you really need money to do such a thing?!?![/QUOTE][quote=Article]"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 (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."[/quote] Ninajd.

Okay kids are frequently stupid and lack the vast majority of the basic rights available to them in order to protect them, but this is way over the line. Schools aren't prisons.

[QUOTE=Jad Hinto;29118168]Are you kidding me? In most places the school lunches are less healthy than the lunch a kid brings.[/QUOTE] I can't speak for a majority of kids, but I would always pack a healthy lunch. Sandwich with whole wheat bread, ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Then I'd bring some juice, fruit, and then a snack (be it some chocolate or cookies or whatever). Whenever I had to eat school food, it wasn't particularly good and I would end up not really eating anything. Similarly, the only things that were actually decent was Pizza and fried chicken. Those were certainly not healthier than what I ate when I packed my lunch. Of course many kids will definitely bring in unhealthy food, but to say school food is the healthier choice is severely overstating the situation.

I've seen mcdonalds food ordered by a fatass more healthy than some things they serve in a school cafeteria.

[QUOTE=GunFox;29118327]Okay kids are frequently stupid and lack the vast majority of the basic rights available to them in order to protect them, but this is way over the line. Schools aren't prisons.[/QUOTE] Although, it certainly is a good business for students. They can smuggle in snacks and shit; then they sell them to kids for huge markup. Hell, I think it'd be awesome to be some food dealing middle-schooler. I actually did that with my lunch. I'd pack a few extra sandwiches and sell them to kids for a dollar or two so I could buy ice-cream.

dude what I've been to a public chicago school, food is terrible. No better than what they could bring from home.

Freshman year at my high school, the physics teacher would walk through the halls making kids throw out their energy drinks. Good man.

[QUOTE=GunFox;29118327]Okay kids are frequently stupid and lack the vast majority of the basic rights available to them in order to protect them, but this is way over the line. Schools aren't prisons.[/QUOTE] If I recall correctly, there are a few schools that have been rated as more strict than federal penitentiaries. [editline]11th April 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=bopie;29118384]Freshman year at my high school, the psychics teacher would walk through the halls making kids throw out their energy drinks. Good man.[/QUOTE] And if they didn't, what would he do?

Great so kids can now eat the "Healthy" buckets of horse shit that the public school culinary systems use. Good to know that they're being "protected".

[QUOTE=GunFox;29118327]Okay kids are frequently stupid and lack the vast majority of the basic rights available to them in order to protect them, but this is way over the line. Schools aren't prisons.[/QUOTE] Feels like one anyway

We hold these truths to be self evident - That all men are created equal (18 and over only. You're not human when you're under 18 and the bill of rights doesn't apply to you, and you are to receive no trust from anybody at all, and its okay for cops to over exert their authority onto teens because they're not really people yet)

[QUOTE=bopie;29118384]Freshman year at my high school, the psychics teacher would walk through the halls making kids throw out their energy drinks. Good man.[/QUOTE] The psychics teacher, you say? [IMG]http://i53.tinypic.com/11ryqah.jpg[/IMG]

School food sucks monkey balls

That game was so good too bad I lost it

I wish I held onto my money during my middleschool/highschool lunches, I'd be way healthier.

I'm from Chicago. I am not pleased.

That is stupid. They're stupid. This is stupid.

[QUOTE=Wootman;29118453]School food sucks monkey balls[/QUOTE] Also sucks the health from you.

[QUOTE=.50 Cal;29118388]If I recall correctly, there are a few schools that have been rated as more strict than federal penitentiaries. [editline]11th April 2011[/editline] And if they didn't, what would he do?[/QUOTE] Probably lecture them to the point they dropped the bottle anyway. One of my Math teachers did the same thing with bottled water. [editline]11th April 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Hole;29118506]Also sucks the health from you.[/QUOTE] Its actually gotten better over the years, we all just remember as shit because we were given shit. Does everyone forget what Obama passed last year :v:?

Public school food shouldnt even be considered "food" by the FDA Its so fucking awful