School Lunches - Streamwood,IL

I pay for school lunch I have always paid for school lunch I honestly do not have the time or the patience to make them lunches besides they actually like the lunches at thier schools. I can understand being upset if you send lunch but from what I understand this is just one school not all schools.

I read that article and that seriously ticked me off! The lunches I send my daughter to school with are superior in every way to what is provided by her school. I would be raising holy hell if that were my child's school district.

Hi Mamapedia mamas.........

I am reposting the answer that I wrote for the last question about this same thing for mamas who didn't read that post, but read this one.

There certainly are options for kids who have allergies or medical issues. I will guarantee you that if you are feeding your child organic, vegan or vegetarian lunches your child wouldn't be in this neighborhood school.

I also think that mamapedia is a fantastic resource. But these posts have fueled considerable misinformation about the city where I live and the school district that provides my daughter with an education that rivals many across the country. She does not go to the school mentioned in the article. She doesn't have to. Many kids, however, do.

Chicago is a large and diverse urban city with problems the likes you have never seen - and I hope you never will see. But that is not the entire city or the entire school district. Many of you are sitting within your perspectives of saying that your child would starve before they would eat school lunch. For many kids in Chicago, especially in neighborhoods like this one, this is the only meal they get each day, and certainly the most healthy. These kids don't have the option to whine about what is being served to them because they are focused on getting good grades and being thankful for the circumstance they are in.... because they know it could be much worse for them.
Are there parents in this particular school who have the resources, abilities and desire to fix their child(ren) a healthy home-made lunch every day? Absolutely. This is not a one-dimensional issue.

I am on a bit of a rant..... but this Tribune article was horribly slanted and has given a large amount of people who don't have the time, energy or desire to actually research the facts to make snap emotional judgements on how horrible this is when you have absolutely no idea what is involved.

Mamapedia is a fantastic resource for support and inspiration to mamas who benefit from and enjoy this community.
Posts and responses like these are counterproductive and one-sided.

Thanks for reading,
B.

original reponse--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am not generally in favor of this - for all the reasons mamas stated below. I think it is about educating parents on making healthy choices for their children - not taking away their ability to make parental decisions.

But this is ONE school - not the entire district.

Also, I wanted to provide some factual information for you.

*Chicago public schools always has 1 fresh fruit. Usually it is an apple or an orange.

*milk, chocolate milk and water is offered as a drink

*A Salad option is always offered

*in addition to the salad, children have either 2 or 3 options of 'main course' choices

*CPS provides a menu that tracks calaries and nutritional information by day and by selection choice.

*Yep - most of the meals are not gourmet - or even as good as what I could cook for my family. But I can cook well and with fresh ingredients. some parents can't or won't.

This school in particular........
*In this particular school, 99% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. It is an extremely poor area of the city (north lawndale) which is prone to violence.

*36% of the students do not speak english at grade level and receive supplmental 'english as a 2nd language' support.

This principal through her perserverence in getting grants/partnerships from outside CPS has brought extra curricular activities to this school that are not provided by CPS - arts, music and PE to name a few.

This is a year round "Track E" school and the principal instituted a dress code.

This school EXCEEDS not only CPS but state of IL standards in:

Math 79.4% (CPS 76%)
Science 75.7% (CPS 67%)
Attendance 97% (CPS 95%)
participation in extracurricular activities 78% (67%)

In addition, parent satisfaction was 91% vs 89% for CPS as a whole

These results are DESPITE poverty, violence and language barriers and being a neighborhood ONLY School - ie (no charter, magnet or selective enrollment students to bring 'up' the #s).

Additionally.....
Little Village Academy is designated as an Illinois Horizon School to Watch receiving national recognition for its exemplary practices. The Academy is currently on Track E year round school calendar and partners with Livio Medical Center to provide programs in sports, music and creative writing with Barrel of Monkeys to enchance academic achievement for all students.

But by all means let's get bent out of shape and focus on what our kids can/cannot bring to school for lunch. This is a SCHOOL POLICY. not a civil rights issue. Really?????? It's not discriminatory. CPS has a policy that you are free to apply to any neighborhood school if you don't like yours. If they have space available they will accept you.

By all means take your kid out of this high functioning success story of a school so you can exercise your RIGHT to send them lunchables and juice.

I say that principal should institute WHATEVER policies will help her teach those kids, who are at extremely high risk for being recruited into a gang or dropping out of school.

We gripe that teachers aren't doing enough to help our kids and then when they do we don't like that either and we tell 'em to butt out and scream civil rights.
Well, exercise your 'rights' and move your kid to a different (and probably less successful school) if you don't like it. THAT IS FREEDOM. "Freedom" is not crying foul if you don't like it and demanding that your kid get to bring whatever they want for lunch. Soooooo not important in the scope of these kids lives.

What's too bad is that the Chicago Tribune slanted the article the way they did -which causes people to NOT read the entire story and not look at all the factors involved and then rush to judgement.

Just my $0.02

First of all, it is a single school in Chicago with a unique (thankfully) situation. You can find the original Chicago Tribune article fairly easily as well as an excellent comment by one poster (apparently Brenda who also posted below) on the previous post on this issue. The school in question is in a very disadvantaged area with an extremely high percentage of children qualifying for school lunch. The school has also instituted a rather progressive nutrition program which (for 99%) of the kids attending is way healthier than what they were eating. I doubt any kids attending the school were eating a vegan, vegetarian, clean or gluten free diet.

That said, DS (5) takes his lunch to school. He gets 1-2 fruit/fruit servings, 1 vegetable (sometimes beans), and then a protein/grain item (yogurt with fresh fruit, peanut butter on whole grain bread, cheese with brown rice cakes, grilled cheese on whole grain, sometimes just a handful of almonds and an extra veggie). Plus milk. However his classmates (and this is an economically advantaged Montessori school) generally have lunchables, peanut butter and jelly (or fluff) on white, fruit snacks, chips and juice drinks. I believe he is the only child who regularly eats fruit and the only one who ever has a vegetable. So parental rights aside, it likely would be better for most kids to have someone else make their lunches.

I don't see how they can dictate to you what your child eats. School lunches have such poor nutritional value, I see the menu come home each month for my kids school lunches. They tend to be a rotation of hot dogs, chicken nuggets, chicken burgers, chicken tenders, tacos, corn dogs, and pizza (every Friday), they offer one vegetable and one fruit (generally canned), they also offer milk in a variety of flavors or juice. Apart from the fruit/veg and real milk that they offer there is little to no nutritional value to any of these foods, and these foods are so high in sodium
I send my kids with a lunch (even though we would be entitled to free lunches at school) that includes a sandwich, yogurt (no artificial colors or preservatives) and a serving of fresh fruit along with a carton of 100% juice. This is a balanced lunch that I have control over. If they ate school lunches they would eat the chicken nuggets/ corn dogs/ pizza first, then have a carton of chocolate/strawberry milk, and then the fruit/veg if they had room. I need to know what my children are putting in their bodies. I have them bring home anything they don't eat so that I know what/how much they have eaten. If they were forced to eat school lunches I would have no idea what they ate or how much.
There are some parents that send their kids to school with unhealthy packed lunches, but the majority of parents who pack a lunch for their kids do it because they want them to have a healthier lunch than the school can provide.
Parents must stand up to the school districts that try to bring in this crazy rule. Good luck!!!

I think the school is doing this to eliminate most of the junk. that can hardly be called food, that can come into a school cafeteria. It is a low income area and most if the children qualify for free lunches. As far as costs go, I have found it is much cheaper to buy school lunch then to pack one. My son brings his lunch most days because I prefer he eat healthy. Many families can not afford to feed their children healthy balanced lunches and are also to busy to do so. My son likes to bring a hot lunch so he usually has a thermos filled with left over dinner (wholewheat spaghetti, turkey meatballs, homemade mac and cheese, soup... etc) I also include a fruit or veggie, a crunchy snack and a drink. If his school refused to allow me to pack a lunch, I would only require that they provide as healthy a lunch as I do. Which is what this school is trying to do.

My daughter is not in school yet, but I would be horrified if the schools said no more packed lunches! I can't see how they can say no more packed lunches. What if parents can't afford it or the kids have special diets like you mentioned. I don't trust my childs nutrition to the school, who make their food decisions based on a very limited food budget. Yikes!!!

I know at my children's school the portions are the same for a kindergardener as it is for a boy going through puberty in the 5th grade.

From what I understand, it is not just allergies -- but those with a medical reason. I am sure that is classified as doctor's note or correspondence to the school in conjunction with doctor's note. It would cover diabetics and not just allergy kids. Celiac or wheat/gluten allergies or intolerances would also be medical reasons. It is not Chicago-wide, but at one school. There is another post on this earlier today and a very good informative comment by another mama below the post. Maybe look there.

Windy City Mom shed some light on this. Had to re edit my response in support of hers.

I pack a lunch for my 8 year old daughter 90% of the time. Usually a peanut butter or turkey sandwich on whole wheat, a fresh fruit, a yogurt and some sort of side like baked chips, wheat thins, organic cheddar bunnies, etc. I think it is ludicrous to be forced to eat hot lunch at school. Most schools, including ours, which is one of the top schools in the country (public), serve pizza. burgers, msytery meat, accompanied by tater tots, fries and canned fruit or vegitable. We don't eat any of those over processed fake foods at our house on a regular basis. That stuff is an occasional treat with the exception of pizza, which we have about once a week. When they start providing truly fresh food and healthy options, then I would be more inclined to have my daughter eat there. One good thing, our kids have an hour for lunch and are allowed to come home if they want.
Big over reach on the school's part, as far as I am concerned.

I wouldn't worry about it...for that to happen on a wide scale schools would have to significantly up their game on nutrition and no districts have the extra money for that these days. Our school lunchs contain an average of 2000 mg of sodium for goodness sakes! If they ever made that the only thing my kids could eat they would have a real fight on their hands. I have been holding back my fire on this b/c my kids pack anyhow so its not a battle for me at this moment. I don't think parents even realize just how terrible school lunchs really are if you look at the nutritional breakdown.

I do NOT think schools should be able to say, "No packed lunches." However, it was my understanding that only one charter school was doing this because part of their program is healthy eating in an area where they rarely see that. I need to go back and read the article again, but if it's in all schools, that's nuts. Generally most parents who are packing the lunches are going to pack something far more healthy than what the school cafeteria offers. At my son's school, they DO offer vegetarian entrees at every meal and they are offering more and more certifiably healthy options, but none of it is as good for him as the blueberries, fresh yogurt or cheese and whole grain crackers I send with him. I think instead of saying "no packed lunches" perhaps they should say "no sweets" or "no junk foods" and define those specifically in a list or something. I don't like the idea of a school telling me what my child WILL or WON'T eat.

I read about that yesterday and thought stay the heck out of our lives.
Let parents be parents. Who gives the school the right to decide what my
child eats or does not eat.

I haven't read the article, so I am only going to respond to what I sent in my son's lunch today. By his request (he is 5) he had:
Chicken nuggets (veggie nuggets actually)
Carrot sticks
Apple fries (just cut up apples)
Bread thins
School will give him juice or milk

Other days he will have:
veggie hot dog (I dislike them, but he loves them)
mandarin oranges
peas or green beans
etc.... ususally healthier than what the schools offer, but on their budgets they can't offer what I prefer my son to eat and what he is willing to eat.

I think Vegan, Vegetarian, Clean & Gluten Free are a part of their exceptions list...at least until they make those options available at school. I actually like this change they have made in certain schools*as long as they are providing healthy lunches to the kids (like no trans fats, lots of veggies, healthy protein, & some fruit) with water or milk. The cost of these lunches would be similar to what is spent to pack a lunch and send it in to school. Millions of little plastic ziplock bags would be eliminated along with countless other lunchtime stuff. I think it would also help our kids to expand their palates and try some different things. I hope my children's school district does this!!!

My kids eat school lunch. But that's our choice. If the school told me they *had to* eat school lunch (and be forced to pay their prices), I would be livid. Absolutely livid. There are so many things wrong with children not being given a choice at lunch, I really don't even know where to start. I'm astounded that Chicago is trying to pull this off and I can't imagine it will last very long. Exactly what are they trying to accomplish with this anyway? I gotta go read that article...

For those saying it's only for one school in Chicago, I submit that the preschool my child goes to has been that way from day one! I cannot pack any snacks OR lunch for him. It's the rule that they have a morning snack, a full lunch, and an afternoon snack, but it is provided by the school. We are allowed to bring things for the holiday parties, but they have a printed sign up sheet of what they would like and you sign up to bring that thing. Not sure, but I think it's state law that no junk food is allowed as snacks in schools here? I was annoyed at first, and then thought well, what the heck, it'll save me time and aggrivation if they don't "like" my snacks. They do provide a menu every week so that I can know what he's eating and plan meals at home (to not have duplicate meals one day or whatever). I REALLY REALLY like the service that is provided, serving healthy meals. I am NOT happy with not having the choice to pack his lunch if I so choose.

At a time when childhood obesity is on the rise and education budgets are being cut, parents and caregivers need to make the choices and decisions that will best meet the needs of their children and their families. Home-made lunches are an essential part of the choices that we make for our families. Taking away that choice and putting it into the hands of law-makers who, without hesitation, slash essential services within our schools would be catastrophic.

For our family, a typical lunch includes a small, fresh salad; a sandwich, homemade pizza or pasta dish; fresh cut fruit, homemade trail mix, and a treat - like pita chips and hummus or celery with cream cheese. Nothing fancy but definitely wholesome.

Or, how about those of us that just want our children to eat healthier...nothing to do with Vegan, vegetarian, allergies, ect.?
There is no way I would be okay with that. For example, my child does eat school lunches every once in a while. He says that he had fruit. It's really canned fruit in heavy syrup. If I send him fruit in his lunch it's a cut up apple, grapes, strawberry's...(you get the picture) which is healthier? The canned or the fresh? I send him a sanwhich on whole wheat bread instead of the starched white bread at school. There are a whole lot of things that make packing a lunch better.
What is the reasoning behind this idea in Chicago? I can't imagine what it could be. And, if they are going to demand that everyone eats a school lunch does that mean the school district is paying for it? Cuz I know over here in WA the schools are cutting funds left and right so I can't imagine them all the sudden paying for lunches. AND, if the parents now must BUY lunches I would be furious and pulling my child out of school.
L.