Banning The Brown Bag

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What if your child came home from school and told you that he or she is no longer allowed to bring a lunch from home?! Not only that,but you had to pay for a school lunch everyday or your child  will go hungry! Sounds ridiculous right? I mean, who has the right to tell us what to feed our children!! Sheesh! Well, guess what? A elementary school Prinicpal in Chicago, Illinois did just that! Can you believe it?  True story! I couldn't believe it either so I tracked down the story and THERE IT WAS! In the Chicago Tribune...plain as the nose on my dog's face. 


Here is the scoop:"At [this] 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(Who eats healthy on a field trip anyway?Come on lady, it's a basic kiddom rule!). 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."

Do you know what this means?  More money in the pocket of the School District! And if your child doesn't qualify for a free lunch, you will be forking over twice, if not more money for your child's "healthier lunch" each day OR they go hungry....end of discussion. I personally would like to see what kind of "healthier choices" they have at this school. Because I don't consider a few tomatoes and carrots sprinkled on a wad of ice burg lettuce with a mound of ranch dressing very healthy.  I'd rather give my child a PB&J sandwich for crying out loud!

"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."

Do you know what that means? Kids don't eat during school, or sneak in some candy or the like, wait all day to get home and snarf everything in site! And if they weren't making unhealthy choices to begin with, do you really think they will eat a head of broccoli just because some principal banned lunch-ables? I think not!  School is a GREAT place to learn new things but, it has to start with the parents FIRST!