I attended a community meeting in Homer last night that was called in response to a series of concerns (expressed by some Homer parents and community members) that the district is not doing as much as it can to promote healthy eaters. While much of the meeting wallowed in a discussion of the nutritional value of school meals, my sense of the real issue at hand was a dissatisfaction by many in the audience with the food culture of our country and the perceived lack of responsiveness (by the district) to do more to alert our students to this culture’s limitations and harmful effects.
To me, this conversation is thus, about a lot more than whether we should offer students fat free chocolate milk. It is about the role that schools play in influencing culture. Are schools socially responsible, (I think yes) and how best does a public school act to show this responsibility? This conversation is of course a slippery one and is often divisive. In the case of school food, I support the goal to help students understand the bigger food picture. I don’t feel however, that the district’s is completely missing this mark.
I commend the parents and community members for their willingness to push the district on this issue. The district will continue, within the confines of its federal lunch box, to make improvements to school meals.
3 Comments
Why offer so many fried foods though? Every day deep fried potato wedges are offered. Why not roast them or mash them once in a while?
Thank you for your comment. KPBSD discontinued the use of deep fat fryers in 2002. Potato wedges are served now, but they are baked for the express purpose of eliminating fat.
When I was in Middle School I forgot my packed lunch one day and had the Schools lunch. Your right, the schools are teaching students to eat heathy- I learned my lesson the hard way never to forget my packed lunch again, of course I do still forget but the lunch I had was atrocious. I used to like chicken- than I had it cold, and breaded with only mash potatoes ( with gravy ) as the vegetable on my plate and carrot cake.
I understand these are public schools but still, at least have a passable vegitable on those lunches. And what is with only chocolate milk as a beverage? Could you offer water instead maybe? For those of us who treat milk like a soda because of the amount of sugar, it would be nice for those days I do forget my lunch.