Changing School Lunches: A Process

Quality school lunches and the dilemma of getting them in schools weigh heavy on my mind; I have written about this situation before. As a teacher, I saw students fall asleep from lunches comprised of French fries, packaged sweets and jelly sandwiches. School lunches concern me even more this week, as my son began preschool. In his first week of school, the school served him a bologna sandwich and hotdog-two lousy meals, when he only attends school three times a week. Granted, fruit and vegetables were also on his plate, but the main course was processed, mechanically removed meat, possibly with fillers, like lard.

With food movements and research concerning brain-based learning pervading parental newsletters and educators' conferences, how can schools still serve such unwholesome foods? Brain-based learning takes current research concerning the brain's structure and functions and designs strategies for optimal student learning. One component of brain-based learning is a common sense approach to food. If students eat subpar food, they will not think as well. Think of it this way: if you put inferior gas in a vehicle, it will run. The car may even get you where you need to go, but it may sputter and jerk along the way. Students can learn after eating a junky lunch, but they may not learn very well, or very much, especially if their brains are not fed correctly. Even if educators know this, school lunches are not changing.

While there are wonderful stories of cafeteria lines lined with colorful fruits and grilled wholesome meats, that picture is still the minority. This is so disheartening, as parents try to serve their children healthy meals (or at least puree spinach and squash to add to spaghetti sauce) at home, only to have kids go to school for a lunch of bologna and hotdogs. I am paying this school to educate my child, and I dislike that his lunches are not nutritious. Parents are in the position to change school lunches because they have the passion to continue working as they see a school lunch menu every week. Healthy foods and strong educations are incredibly connected. These ideas have led me to work toward changing my child's school lunches. This is a new journey for me and would like input and help from my readers.

During my first attempt at research, I found the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act. HR 5504 "will dramatically improve children's access to nutritious meals, enhance the quality of meals children eat both in and out of school and in child care settings, implement new school food safety guidelines and, for the first time, establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools."  The committee has recommended this bill, but is not yet on the House or Senate's calendar for voting. Speaking to my representative and senator is my next step in working to better school lunches. I will update my readers with my progress.

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