May I have a little more please sir?
Topic: Life in the village
Another letter for you from a Wakefield resident and parent. As usual the names have been changed, nothing else. Enjoy.

Politics of school lunch. School lunch cost anywhere from $.75 to $2.55. Some children qualify for reduced or free meals in accordance with their parents income. My friend Pita is a single mom and her son Tad brought home a slip of paper from school the other day that said her son's lunch balance was $34.35 for the last 16 days of school and that the school stipulates that any unpaid balance over $32.00 the child will only be served one peanut butter and jelly sandwich and one carton of milk until the balance is paid. Pita's son has always been on the free meal program, yet every year there is a hassle. Last year her son was told that free lunch doesn't mean free breakfast too, and that free lunch doesn't apply to 7th and 8th graders at all. Not true, because I once took a part-time job as a school lunch lady. So I know that the free meal program applies to all grades KG-12 and it includes free breakfast. I also know that after every lunch there is an abundant supply of leftovers that are headed straight for the trash. In the school where I worked no leftovers were saved because of health department issues. The lunchroom workers were allowed to eat as much of the leftovers as they wanted unless it was a main dish, then you were only allowed two serving before it went into the trash, say a hamburger for instance, you were allowed two burgers with the bun. Lasagna, two helpings and so on. And only as long as you sat right there in the lunch room after all the kids were gone and ate it. You were not allowed to take any food out of the building with you, except if you were the one headed to the dumpster with it. When I worked there many of the people hired were from Labor Ready Services, a work today get paid today place. There was no training, just on the spot watch and do what I do work. Some of the people working for the day looked like they could have been homeless and when it came time to eat up the leftover lunches you could easily tell it was their first meal of the day. The reason I didn't stay a lunch lady even part-time is because I would have had to join the union complete with monthly dues and when you only work 4 hours a day 3 days a week minus taxes, what I brought home was just enough to covered my nasty habit of eating daily.

So Pita's son gets one peanut butter and jelly sandwich and one carton of milk, even though he has been approved for free breakfast and lunch. What the school system fails to understand is that for some kids the school lunch is the last meal that they will eat till the next days school breakfast, because there isn't anything to eat once they get home. My daughter Sarah has told me about her class mates who are so very hungry at lunch time that they go back for seconds. That's not surprising since there average school lunch is about the size of a .99 Swanson's TV dinner. Going back for seconds are free for the free lunch kids but a third helping will cost you. Pita's son Tad is a teenager. Do you know how much teenaged boys eat??? Well over what most adult men can eat. And now with the mandatory gym class everyday of the week, they are burning up that food energy faster than ever and you just can't fill up with energy from one peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a carton of milk. Kid got failing grades? Ask them what they had for lunch and was it enough. I can't tell you how many times Sarah has had friends over and I have heard them tell Sarah that they are going to save whatever she gave them to eat for later. I always tell her to tell her friends, "Eat up my mom will make more" and after that is said they always eat everything given, no worries.

Last year I spent $324.00 on those school lunches for Sarah not counting the $135.00 in snacks for snack time between 8am and lunch. You see the teachers, in the lower grades at least, understand the value of food to brain and I am glad to see snack time in the classroom. But what about those kids who Sarah shared her snack with all year long? What about all the left over lunches being throw away because third helpings aren't free? And because the School Board says they have to serve a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in lou of payment. Why are thousands of pounds of food going into the garbage instead of our children's bellies? There are programs where restaurants donate there extra food to homeless shelters maybe I can get those restaurants to donate their food to the schools so that The School Board can continue with their rationings. And then maybe they can afford to let some of their overworked, underpaid starving employees take a hot dog home.

Yesterday I received a letter from school... "Dear Parents: You are invited to have lunch with your child during National School Lunch Week, October 11th-October 20th please fill out the slip at the bottom and return it to school with your child in advance so that we know how many extra lunches to prepare for. If possible please pay prior to the date so that we can speed up the lunchroom process. Thank you! If you are unable to come on this certain date please remember that you are always welcome to come and eat with your child."

I wonder if Pita is going? Hope she likes peanut butter.


Thanks for another fine letter Jane, we always appreciate it.

-Wakefield