Comments on: Real Food For Kids: School Lunch Letter Sent to Superintendent

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:03:10 +0000

Mary, that is so sad, yet I know you’re right. Hopefully I’ll hear something back soon from our Superintendent, and maybe he’ll encourage me to get in touch with the food services dept. I doubt they’ll listen to me without his go-ahead, though… Crappy carumba! I just remembered that the school changed all their email addresses recently, I’ll bet that’s why he hasn’t replied yet! I’ll have to go find it and re-send.

Sheree, you would sure think so!

Jeanne, I’ll be thinking of questions!

Kelly

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:09:13 +0000

Kelly,
One other person to contact in the school district would be your district director of food services. This is someone that you need to get on your side to begin implementing even small changes. This person is also the one that will know the cost of items and where there are possible cost savings or even equal spending opportunities. In order to present a plan to your district, this person will have the information that you need to show the cost or savings of any changes.

With the economy as it is, you would be surprised at how many students eat their only meals of the whole day at school.

By: Sheree

Sheree — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:15:03 +0000

Wouldn’t it help save money if they used part of their playground to do a garden for the kids to help work on?

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:39:18 +0000

Liz and Kelly,
In the winter when I was doing lots of reading and researching on nutrition I read a couple of great books on school lunch programs.
I checked them out here at our little library. I haven’t come across the titles in my nutrition notebook, but if I remember them I will let you know. I would also be willing to do some grass root work on changing our school lunch program. My mom was a lunch lady in the 50- 80’s when all food was made from scratch in the school kitchen. Any questions you want me to ask her when I see here in a couple of weeks??

By: Kelli

Kelli — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:24:07 +0000

Dying at a younger age than their parents? One more reason to homeschool.

By: Sue E.

Sue E. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:37:21 +0000

Wow!! Great job Kelly!
I clicked on the last video clip from 1/04 entitled: View the clip of Ann Cooper and The Ross School as featured on the “Martha Stewart Living” television show, and it is so inspiring. Wouldn’t it be great to know our kids are eating healthy food for lunch when they order hot lunch? It is so challenging to pack the way we eat in bagged lunches.
Sue E.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:39:37 +0000

Liz, you were the first person I thought of, hoping you’d be willing to help! However, I sent this last week and haven’t heard back yet…normally he’s great about returning email, though I suppose he’s probably on vacation.

Thanks for commenting everyone and sharing your thoughts – keep ‘em coming.

By: Liz F.

Liz F. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:12:42 +0000

Hi Kelly… of course I would help if this iniative got off the ground in our school system. I don’t see myself chairing a large committee or anything like that, but I’m a great little worker bee!

Meahwhile, I’ll keep making my daughter’s lunch as healthy as possible!

By: Raine Saunders

Raine Saunders — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:01:45 +0000

Great post! I have been working on our school lunch initiative here in Boise, Idaho for over a year and there is so much resistance in our city (not that other regions don't have the same problems). There was recently a big meeting with the school district a couple of weeks ago, which I was unable to attend due to being sick, but I'm hopeful that what occurred changed the minds of the rigid bureaucrats who control the school district. Last fall we also brought "Two Angry Moms" to Boise which has segments in it with Chef Ann Cooper (one of my heroes), and our school district still did not wake up. I don't know what can occur to get through to these people, but I wish you luck in your city. One thing that is important to note is that many of the communities who have already accomplished great things in their lunch rooms is that many of them did it WITHOUT raising costs (which is always the first objection school officials have about this matter) because they used their money wisely and supported local farmers and food producers. This often is cheaper or costs the same as having a bunch of processed foods shipped from all over the country. I have a number of school lunch articles on my site. It is my hope that articles like yours and mine will inspire parents and other community members to make important changes in their own communities to make a better future for their children - they are so worth it! This next year, I am returning to home schooling my son (we home schooled for four years already), so we won't be dealing with school lunches for the time being, but when he attended public school, I hand delivered his lunch to school, fresh, each day (of course we're only a block away, but I felt it was worth it!). Raine Saunders’s last blog post..ACTION NOW! USDA Ready to Approve Widespread, Risky Field Trial of GE Trees

By: Ren

Ren — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:31:58 +0000

This issue is near and dear to me- thank you so much for taking action and posting about it. Who knows, maybe we can even get USDA to subsidize healthy food one day! Ren’s last blog post..Clean Your Plate Challenge