I feel that no child should ever be hungry. There is no excuse for it in the year 2014. However, I think Walker County is doing the right thing in this matter. In order to opt-in to the program and receive a grant that covers a percentage of the food cost, 40% or more students in the school must qualify for free meals without the free lunch form. That means when deciding to opt in FINANCIAL DATA WILL BE COLLECTED AND SHARED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE COMPANIES. Under Michelle Obamas Lets Move Initiative and the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 schools are already restricted on the amount of foods that children can receive when receiving a lunch prepared at school.Students in grades K-8 are given the same amount of food. How is the small portion given to a kindergartener enough to sustain an 8th grade boy that actively participates in school sports? The answer: IT WONT! The 5 year old is not receiving enough food to keep them from being hungry in class. Research has proven that hungry children perform poorly in the academic setting. The idea behind the food programs offered to public schools by the federal government has more to with control than help.This includes items brought from home, i.e they can remove the option for homemade lunches and require every child to eat at school. Also, part of the provisions mandate individual health assessments of students at school. The federal government wants a WHOLE LOT of private information on EVERY child in the school/district before approving participation in the program. The Community Eligibility Provision offered through the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 requires that a certain percentage of students eat meals prepared at school each day. If a school fails to meet that percentage then the school system must reimburse the grant they received. The program also gives full control as to the foods that can be consumed on school property to the USDA and the US Department of Education. The possibility of have homemade lunches banned under the provision is VERY REAL!. Michelle Obama has waged war on childhood obesity. While an obesity problem among children has been noted, starving them at school will not correct the issue. The best way to combat obesity in children is to get them active. Something that Common Core, another federal mandate, restricts due to the increased homework due to the nonsensical way academic subjects are expected to be taught and standardized testing requirements that require teachers to begin coaching children as early as day one of the school year. If the federal government, its officials, and their wives were to actually look at CCSS and Lets Move closely enough they would see the issue as well. You cannot expect children to be active after school, as Lets Move recommends, when they have 4-5 hours of CCSS homework to complete before they return to school the following day. If the officials in our nations capital were actually concerned for the well being of the nations children then the programs they offer would not be linked to threats of removing Title 1 funding for noncompliance. Children that are in need of the most help financially, children that are most likely to only eat while at school, are being used as pawns in the game the federal government is playing. The only individuals that stand to gain from any of the subsidies and mandates being offered to public schools via federal programs is the officials offering them and businesses that will make huge profits from the control being taken away at the state and local level. Walker County and Jasper City Schools have chosen to not participate in the provision. While we might not always agree with the respective boards, this was one of their better decisions.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 14:21:31 +0000
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