A turkey sandwich and chips from home versus school nuggets: Sounds like a toss-up to me
UPDATE: As I noted yesterday, we had yet to hear the other side of this bizarre story. Among the reports I am getting today: No federal guidelines led to the subbing of the home-brought lunch of the 4-year-old with a school lunch. There was a state review under way of the child care center at the school, which includes the nutritional content of the lunches eaten by children. A teacher apparently was concerned about one child’s homemade lunch and overreacted. I am being told that the school apologized to the parent. There are probably more updates to come. I am trying to get a comment from the state.
Three readers sent me links today to this story out of North Carolina about what sounds like an overzealous response by food police checking pre-school lunch trays.
A state inspector (not sure what that means) checking a Raeford, N.C., elementary school lunchroom decreed that a 4-year-old’s lunch from home — a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice — did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the Carolina Journal story. Instead, the child was given cafeteria chicken nuggets.
While I share concerns about childhood obesity, I still remain uncertain of the right role for schools. This story clearly exemplifies the wrong role.
But let me also add that we don’t know the school’s side of this odd tale. Was the child tossing her sandwich and fruit every day and only eating the chips? Was she telling her teacher she was hungry so she was offered the school lunch? (And was the “agent” cited in the story actually the teacher?) In deference to student privacy, schools often don’t respond to stories like this, so we are left only with the parent’s account.
A reader was surprised to read this but checked and reported back: I was stunned by this, so I looked to the NC website and found this. It provides:
CHILD CARE RULE .0901
Food From Home
When children bring their own food for meals or snacks to the center, if the food does not meet the nutritional requirements outlined in the Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements.
I am only sharing an excerpt of the lengthy piece, but if you read the full story, you get the sense that, if this happened, it will not happen again. (The full story also cites the state regulation.)
A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious. The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.
The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs — including in-home day care centers — to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.
When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones. The girl’s mother — who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation — said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a “healthy lunch” would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.
“I don’t feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home,” the mother wrote in a complaint to her state representative. “What got me so mad is, number one, don’t tell my kid I’m not packing her lunch box properly,” the girl’s mother told
When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead. Three chicken nuggets, the girl answered.
While the mother and grandmother thought the potato chips and lack of vegetable were what disqualified the lunch, a spokeswoman for the Division of Child Development said that should not have been a problem.
“With a turkey sandwich, that covers your protein, your grain, and if it had cheese on it, that’s the dairy,” said Jani Kozlowski, the fiscal and statutory policy manager for the division. “It sounds like the lunch itself would’ve met all of the standard.”
–From Maureen Downey for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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126 comments Add your comment
Frankie
February 14th, 2012
1:11 pm
have you seen some of the people that work at the USDA and HHS they are as obese as they come.. Have you been to your doctors office lately, the nurses there are obese to by BMI standards.
I think the HHS need to keep their noses out of my childs lunch box..You mean to tell me that PROCESSED chicken nuggets are more nutritious than a turkey sandwich…maybe processed turkey but turkey cut from the bird itself…
Did these idiots stop the think that My child does not drink COWS Milk, and the apple you provide, who washed it off, and are the vegetables fresh/frozen/canned… they too may contain more sugar and sodium than i want my child to intake..
So again I say stay out of my child lunch box and any charge you think you are going to levy against me you better think again.
Frankie
February 14th, 2012
1:13 pm
This is my problem with the public school system. My child is there to learn and when you have these people trying to impart their unfounded wisdom on MY Child…it set me off.I should not have to explain what or why i put what i put in my childs lunch box at all.
catlady
February 14th, 2012
1:27 pm
You should see the total junk some kids bring to school–all plastic (heavily processed “food”), high calorie/sugar, no veggies. No redeemable social value–the pornographic lunch box.
Lakesia
February 14th, 2012
1:34 pm
Mmmm, nuggets! Actually the sandwich/banana/chips/apple juice combo sounds a lot more appetizing. But then what do I know compared to a government inspector.
resno2
February 14th, 2012
1:36 pm
Who is the idiot that gave a glorified cafeteria worker the right to look into ANYONE’S lunchbox?
Pardon My Blog
February 14th, 2012
1:44 pm
@catlady – Some kids do bring junk but not all. Besides with the little time most students get for lunch most do not have the time to stand in line for a tray of food that will go mostly uneaten. By the time they get to the table some have at the most 5 minutes to wolf it down and then back to class. Talk about unhealthy!
oldtimer
February 14th, 2012
1:47 pm
What I pack…or in my case now..packed for my children, is my choice based on what I know they would eat. Neither of my girls whould have touched chicken nugets and chips were an occasional treat. Maybe the girl had a cold and milk whould have made hker cough worse.
This is a big over reach of Nanny Government. Find the worker a better job.
oldtimer
February 14th, 2012
1:49 pm
And quite frankly…My children get to eat what I decide whether someone agrees with it or not. Students where I taught sometimes brought soda, chips, all kinds of junk. But, we do not get to tell them..you cannot eat it.
Teacher Reader
February 14th, 2012
1:52 pm
The government has no right to tell us what we can and cannot eat. I don’t care if a child has a brown bag of an assortment of chips and a soda or a turkey and cheese sandwich and milk, it is no one’s business. If we want parents to be parents, than we have to let them do their job, and have the government stop taking parental roles in children’s lives.
Pluto
February 14th, 2012
1:54 pm
Like it or not public schools provide the vehicle necessary for the indoctrination needed for a fully compliant society to come about. The rest can be sent to “re-education centers” for treatment. We will be provided for cradle to grave whether or not you want it.
Ivan Cohen
February 14th, 2012
2:06 pm
The food police have gone overboard in Raeford, North Carolina. I hope it won’t happen again. The unfavorable publicity should see to that. Meanwhile in Georgia, not every household can send a child to school with a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice. Often the lunch at school is the only kind of meal these kids get. Some mothers and even fathers take time at home to prepare foods that enhance health rather than detract from it. Others chose: Arby’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Popeye’s, etc. Children pick up on the choices their parents make and mimic them.
carlosgvv
February 14th, 2012
2:06 pm
I took my lunch to school countless times many years ago. There were no State inspectors checking contents. This is certainly one case where the Govt. has gone way too far.
Joe Cass
February 14th, 2012
2:06 pm
The author of the article for the Carolina Journal is a known right winger with less than tenuous ties to facts. The same could be of the Carolina Journal. Why don’t you all keep your powder dry until the truth is revealed?
skipper
February 14th, 2012
2:31 pm
Maureen,
Congrats! I now have heard the biggest crock in the history of public education! I challenge ANYONE (including the moron who made this decision) to reveal as to why the lunch was not “nutritious”. This, along with about 50,000 other things, is what is wrong with the entire public school system!
Edward L Maddog
February 14th, 2012
2:33 pm
NOW!!! NOW!!! The taxpayers are paying some government, KNOW somebody and KNOW NOTHING, as proved by their action. To INSPECT lunches…..???? Related to/friends with who??? Follow the money and the family tree. How do you git a $50,000 a year job to do nothing but drive around and bust 4 year old with home a lunch???? Probably has a government vehicle with government gas card to do nothing. And your taxes will be going up, cuz they need more training to do nothing. If they just had MORE MONEY to do the job right. WE all need all jobs like that, IF we just knew somebody to pull some strings for US. The poor tax payers are running out of money fast. But then we’ll be taxed at 110% to balance the budgets.
Northern reader
February 14th, 2012
2:39 pm
Doesn’t this story strike anyone as made up? I find it hard to believe that there are government workers who inspect lunches brought from home. The Carolina Journal site is the only place on the Web that even mentions this incident.
Pardon My Blog
February 14th, 2012
2:50 pm
@Northern reader – Yeah, I thought maybe this was a tongue and cheek story but Ms. Downey is presenting it as fact and I am sure she checked it out. You won’t see this reported in the main stream media because I believe that this is the direction that FLOTUS wants to take her “program”!
Probably true
February 14th, 2012
2:58 pm
Sounds like what my older two had to endure in the Georgia Pre-K program years ago. They both attended in a daycare facility, and were not allowed to bring lunch from home. Instead, we were REQUIRED to pay a weekly fee of $18 for lunches that came in buckets out of a tractor trailer. My daughter would not eat most of what was served, and would come home hungry. I thought she was just being picky. We ate Thanksgiving lunch with her at the pre-k program, and I immediately knew why she wouldn’t eat it. It was the most disgusting frankenfood I’ve ever tasted (that’s as far as I made it in actually eating the food).
But yeah, I’m not surprised if this is true for the pre-k program. Most of what passes for “food” in my kids’ school cafeterias is industrial-strength as well. Anyone want to guess what an entree called “Flavor to the Max Sticks” are made of?
Maureen Downey
February 14th, 2012
3:17 pm
@Pardon, The story is not tongue-in-cheek, but the school system has not put out its side, which may well be that the child was tossing her sandwich every day and just eating the chips. I am not clear about the “agent” cited in the story and wonder if that really was the teacher.
Systems are hamstrung by student privacy laws, which is why there are so many TV news stories of parents alleging their child was mistreated in some way with no response from the system.
Maureen
Ashley
February 14th, 2012
3:19 pm
You mean to tell me processed chicken nuggets are healthier than a turkey and cheese sandwich? Talk about over-reaching , I am appalled that this so-call inspector would humiliate this little 4-year old girl. This could have been handle in more professional way, the lunch seems adequate to me. While I will admit school lunches are probably more appetizing in todays world. A brown bag lunch from home gets my vote everytime. Although I believe some parents deserve the bashings they sometimes receive on this site….this is not one of those moments, it would appear she was being a good responsible mother. So I guess mothers and fathers now need the “food police” in their kitchen……shame on the gov’t.
efesgirl
February 14th, 2012
3:19 pm
Well, this rates right up there with that school in Cincinnati, Ohio paying students to attend classes. Anybody read that story yet? The government has gone from the ridiculous to the outrageous! All the way from local governments to that big room of overpaid decision makers in Washington.
V for Vendetta
February 14th, 2012
3:21 pm
Wow. That’s all there is to say about this.
We obviously have some MAJOR problems in our society if this is an example of how far we let the government even THINK about extending its reach. However, we will probably still continue to vote based on candidates’ views on Evolution and Abortion–even though both of those topics have very little to do with our day-to-day lives. Sigh.
drew (former teacher)
February 14th, 2012
3:26 pm
“The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services”…
The name alone says it all…when gov’t goes wild – UNRATED! I guess it’s the DCDEEDHHS for short, eh? I wonder how many employees the DCDEEDHHS has, and what exactly it does, besides rule on the nutritional value of kid’s lunches.
Just another example of government sticking their nose in something that’s none of the damn business. Ridiculous!
Old timer
February 14th, 2012
3:28 pm
Wasn’t there a story in the last year or two about a city of Chicago school that would not “allow” children to bring lunch from home? As I recall there was a lot of outrage about that. One parent complained because they had a child that did not like the lunch.
Gary
February 14th, 2012
3:40 pm
With each passing soft tyranny hypocrisy we are slowing moving from a simmer to a low boil to a more rapid boil as a population. soetoro is simply accelerating the process toward the day when America takes America back from the government. Wonder where soetoro will be when that day comes?
drew (former teacher)
February 14th, 2012
3:43 pm
Maureen…so what if the child “tosses” the turkey sandwich and eats the chips? Who’s responsible for what that student eats? No…it’s not the Government, it’s her parent’s, and her parent’s ALONE.
Yeah, yeah, yeah…healthy foods > unhealthy foods, but expecting the government to step in is absolutely asinine! If kids are too fat how about we bring back a little more PE…”One tubby tubby…two tubby tubby…three tubby tubby…”
APS HS teacher
February 14th, 2012
3:44 pm
The few times I have eaten in North Atlanta’s H.S. cafeteria, I was not impressed. Generally they get nachos(way too salty), pizza, sub sandwiches (worst coldcuts), or some daily ethic food (lo mein to me seemed like cooked spaghetti with soy, and cut up day old nuggets topped it off). I know in this free and reduced lunch times and scoring costs of food has been a challenge to healthy eating but come on , could we not do a better job (btw, apples, oranges, salads were available but barely touched)
Mahopinion
February 14th, 2012
3:56 pm
So, if the student tosses the lunch, the school can decide to proclaim it “unhealthy”? How healthy were the 3 chicken nuggets? Doesn’t sound like she ate much of the “healthy” lunch either.
Frankly, what my child eats for their lunch is no business of the teacher or any other “agent”. It’s my choice and mine alone.
Maureen Downey
February 14th, 2012
3:58 pm
@Drew, These are 4-year-olds. It is understandable there is more focus on what they eat.
Maureen
Jon Ham
February 14th, 2012
4:09 pm
To those trying to impugn the reporter and Carolina Journal, I, as publisher, must come to their defense. Yes, we are published by the John Locke Foundation, a free-market, limited government think tank, but our reporters have for more than 20 years uncovered corruption and waste in state government that was often ignored by North Carolina’s mainstream media. If you doubt that, just ask our former governor and our previous governor, one who is a convicted felon as a result of our stories, and the other who has decided not to run for a second term. A CJ series of stories about her campaign’s non-reporting of free air travel, and the resulting indictment of several campaign aides, probably played into that decision.
Kendrick1
February 14th, 2012
4:18 pm
There’s a school outside of Richmond, Kentucky that fines the children if they bring their lunch and don’t eat that which is served by the school!
A turkey sandwich and chips from home versus school nuggets: Sounds like a …
February 14th, 2012
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A turkey sandwich and chips from home versus school nuggets: Sounds like a …
February 14th, 2012
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Jack
February 14th, 2012
4:48 pm
This is why the Dpt of Agriculture should be shuttered, like the Education Dpt and others. We don’t need them to tell us how to live. Get RID of them, for God’s sake.
John
February 14th, 2012
4:49 pm
Maureen, are you kidding me? Your response to Drew betrays your bent. This has nothing to do with them being 4 year olds or whether the food is good. Who the heck empowers the government to decide what our kids eat. My God people…Give up some of your freedoms and this Obama crowd is going to come back for more and more. Stop trying to parent our kids…This nightmare cannot end soon enough.
Maureen Downey
February 14th, 2012
4:50 pm
@John, Not sure you would agree if the child brought Snickers every day for lunch. I think there is more adult responsibility with preschoolers to ensure that they are getting what they need to function during the day.
Maureen
By the way to all:
A reader was surprised to read this but checked and reported back: I was stunned by this, so I looked to the NC website and found this. http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us/pdf_forms/center_chp9.pdf
It provides:
CHILD CARE RULE .0901
Food From Home
When children bring their own food for meals or snacks to the center, if the food does not meet the nutritional requirements outlined in the Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements.
bill booth
February 14th, 2012
4:52 pm
Yet one more out of control bureaucrat demi god with too much power. In this case she over stepped her authority The guide lines do not include lunches from home. give them a few years and we will be force fed soylant green!
John
February 14th, 2012
4:54 pm
No Maureen, I completely disagree. It is a parent’s decision, not the government’s decision. Being a parent it is absolutely infuriating to think that there is someone else out there trying to meddle in my parental decisions. I am amazed that this would not outrage everyone, but then again, so many people have abdicated their responsibilities to parent and are more than happy to defer to others. Yeah, that’s working out great, isn’t it?
I would know-
February 14th, 2012
4:57 pm
As a high school student, I know for a fact that the school lunch is rather unappetizing! But I can also understand the need for inspections as some students can get away with almost anything. In fact several of my class-mates have gotten drunk during school hours with alcohol that they bring to school in their packed lunches.
drew (former teacher)
February 14th, 2012
5:01 pm
Maureen,
My point is, the last things schools need is yet another “job” that involves usurping the power of parents. Schools have a job to do, and parents have a job to do. And while they may overlap, they’re NOT the same. Lines need to be drawn.
If a teacher notices students they suspect may be suffering from, for lack of a better term, “nutritional neglect”, they should report it to DFACS (or whatever social service agency) and let them do their purported job.
Schools policing nutrition makes as much sense as DFACS policing education. The school’s plate is already full (pun intended).
John
February 14th, 2012
5:01 pm
@I would know, should we go through your purse every day? Should we pat you down at the door? Heck, you might have a joint in your pocket, should a “government inspector” be allowed to reach into your pocket or perhaps your blouse? Not trying to be provocative here, but where does it end? How much personal freedom are we willing to give up before we start to see the light. Wake up folks, the freedom is vanishing, and it starts, apparently with pre-schoolers.
Ashley
February 14th, 2012
5:02 pm
In my generation if a gov’t worker tried to tell a parent their child couldn’t eat the sack lunch they prepared. There would be stars and they wouldn’t be gold either, catch my drift.
Usedtobedemocrate
February 14th, 2012
5:03 pm
The Obama administration demonizes parents choices now! Wake up that is how they take control. They have made, success bad, hard work bad, catholics bad, light bulbs bad, ….. And now bag lunches packed by a parent bad. It is all bad unless king Obama And queen Michelle dictate it. Vote these controlling democrats out and let’s return to living again.
Maureen Downey
February 14th, 2012
5:07 pm
@Usedtobe, It was North Carolina that enacted the law on subbing the lunch out so not sure why you are invoking the Obama administration.
Maureen
Danny Nix
February 14th, 2012
5:07 pm
Food Nazis. Get rid of them at all costs.
John
February 14th, 2012
5:09 pm
By the way, I wonder what would have happened if the child said she wasn’t going to eat it the government meal because she was a vegan. I think we all know that we would not behaving this discussion, because in the eyes of the goverment, vegan = good.
John
February 14th, 2012
5:11 pm
Maureen, two reasons. USDA guidelines, which are being championed by Michelle Obama and just the overall mood of government based upon the leadership at the top. The mood right now is unfettered intrusion, and that is scary.
Fred Smith
February 14th, 2012
5:20 pm
Let’s look at this logically:
1. We know schools are laying off workers. There is literally no way that there are “lunch inspectors” in North Carolina. It was probably a teacher who was supervising lunch. Four year olds need a lot of supervision when they eat.
2. It is clearly false that the sandwich was deemed inferior nutritionally to the sandwich. Much, much more likely is that the child was discarding or choosing not to eat the sandwich. The school then provided her with something she would eat. Perhaps she asked for chicken nuggets. Chicken nuggets are like crack to four year olds.
3. Rather than seeing this as a usurpation of parental power, aided by right wing spin, why not see it as the school ensuring that the kid had food in her stomach. This is being spun in the worst way possible for partisan reasons. You will never know what really happened because schools never comment on these wild accusations for legal reasons.
Matt
February 14th, 2012
5:22 pm
Please don’t blame the public schools. THEY are not the ones passing the laws that require them to do half of the crap they have to do.
irritated
February 14th, 2012
5:23 pm
Our daughter attended public kindergarten and first grade. They did not “allow” a child under 3rd grade to drink water at lunch and that is all our daughter will drink (her choice) We had to have it written in an IEP for our daughter to be allowed to drink water instead of high calorie fruit punch, strawberry milk, chocolate milk or full calorie vitamin D milk. The food they served in the cafeteria looked like a heart attack waiting to happen filled with sodium, sugar, and fat. It is ridiculous.
Democratic Plantation Dweller
February 14th, 2012
5:28 pm
It be the government’s job to educate and feed my children.
Serawyn
February 14th, 2012
5:34 pm
What part “of the missing ones” didn’t this ” agent not understand. The child was missing two fruits/vegetables. That is what should have been offered to her. Not shoved down her throat and not a turkey sandwich replaced with nuggets. The kids who eat lunch at school might be “offered” and given a USDA balanced meal but thank goodness the people in the school are not shoving the food down their throats. This is insane!
Serawyn
February 14th, 2012
5:36 pm
Actually come to think of it, a whole banana is probably two servings so it was balanced. Morons!
This is UN Agenda 21
February 14th, 2012
5:38 pm
Serawyn, an entire banana is two servings of fruit.
This is part of Agenda 21 via the UN. Parents need to watch out as soon the government will have more say over your kids than you do. Look it up and read about it for yourself.
JayGee
February 14th, 2012
5:41 pm
I wish my kid went to that school. Tomorrow his lunch would be a box of twinkies and a pepsi.
Truth in Moderation
February 14th, 2012
5:47 pm
The government can run illegal guns across a national border (Fast and Furious) but an Amish farmer cannot deliver RAW MILK across state lines. More people have died from the “Fast and Furious” guns than have died from drinking raw milk in California the past 11 years (0). http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/13/feds-shut-down-amish-farm-selling-fresh-milk/print/
There is a disturbing attack on REAL food by the government recently. My father will turn 90 this week. He is the last generation to grow up on REAL farm food….no GMO’s, pesticides, pasteurized milk, inorganic processed foods, hormone laden meet, radiation contamination, etc.
The supplemental school lunch was NO supplement.
The Truth
February 14th, 2012
5:52 pm
Perhaps the state of North Carolina could indulge us a bit and explain the nutritional value of the chicken nugget.
Huh
February 14th, 2012
5:52 pm
A guy from north carolina called in to rush limbaugh today with a similar story about his daughter and a lunch packed for a field trip. Interesting that both stories happen to come to light today. BTW I’m a teacher at an alabama elementary school and I’ve never heard of such. Seems like if it was mandated by the US dept of ag it would be for all schools, not just Randomville, NC.
The Truth
February 14th, 2012
5:56 pm
What’s even more comical is that the schools want to be the food police – I guess colossally failing with providing quality educators, rigorous & modern curriculum guidelines, and strong discipline just isn’t enough.
Atlcracker
February 14th, 2012
5:58 pm
There is truly an obesity epidemic in this country and it about to overwhelm us. There was recently an add in Macon Magazine that showed the smiling offfice personnel of a doctors office. Three doctors and 8 office workers. Everyone in the picture appeared to be obese (more than 20% heavier than their normal weight) except one doctor who was just overweight.Three were morbidly obese (more than 50 % heavier than their normal weight). And this was a doctor’s office! In the same magazine there was a picture of the waitresses and customers at Nu-Way Hot Dog restaurant in 1955. Everyone in the picture was skinny. And this was a fast food restaraunt. What happened in two generations?!
OldTimer
February 14th, 2012
6:16 pm
Nothing to see here. This is just a story about a PTA that got out of hand. Move along please.
Alexander Graham Bellows
February 14th, 2012
6:20 pm
In the days of budget cuts forcing every child to purchase lunch helps out, ya know.
Dekalb Teacher and Mom
February 14th, 2012
6:20 pm
@Truth-As a previous poster stated, these are laws passed down to schools. I don’t know of a single school or administrator who is looking for more noninstructional work. Put the blame where it belongs…with the legislators!
The Deal
February 14th, 2012
6:22 pm
I’m interested to hear the rest of the story. There is no way to check every child’s lunch every day. I understand wanting to curb parents who send their kids in with Coke and Snickers (because, even though it is the parents’ responsibility, it isn’t the child’s fault and the child suffers), but wouldn’t a better way to be to issue a written warning that your child has come in 3 or more days with a lunch that doesn’t meet 3 or more of the criteria. In other words, don’t try to punish parents who are 1 fruit serving short or other minor details. Try to catch the major offenders whose lunch choices are detrimental to the child’s ability to focus and learn.
KIM
February 14th, 2012
6:27 pm
Believe me when I tell you: SCHOOLS DO NOT WANT TO BE IN THE FOOD INSPECTION BUSINESS. EDUCATION IS THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION. Don’t confuse schools and the long arm of the federal government. The feds would like to tell you what type toilet paper to buy. When are we going to wise up and pounce on the congressmen and women who allow this type intrusion into our lives?
Slick
February 14th, 2012
6:34 pm
The home lunch should have been fine. It wasn’t a fruit/veggie short. The story said the lunch had apple juice. As long as it was really juice and not apple “drink” it should have been fine. As for if she was tossing some of it – I find that irrelevant. She ate 3 nuggets. Still no fruit/veggies, no dairy, and no grain. So is that really better?
Free from freedom
February 14th, 2012
6:36 pm
Well, well. Most of you were tickled to death when the government began telling people they couldn’t smoke at work or even in a bar. You applauded when the government started putting ethanol in your motor fuel. Now your benevolent government is telling you what kind of light bulb you can buy and how much water your toilet can use. And apparently they are telling you how to feed your kid. How long before the agents of government are dispatched to your home to be sure you aren’t smoking there or that you have enough blankets on the beds of your children? Thankfully I won’t be around long enough to watch the sheeple surrender every bit of their freedom to the nanny state. I’m thankful that I lived a good portion of my life when people in this country were free to live their lives as they chose.
Staci
February 14th, 2012
6:38 pm
I know not all people can but homeschooling is a solution.
Just pointing out
February 14th, 2012
6:44 pm
Just pointing out that the organization laying down this law, the state division of child development and early education, was put in charge of the state’s pre-k program by NC’s general assembly last July when the legislature dismantled More at Four and shuffled oversight of pre-k programs to this division on the premise of saving the state money. It is my understanding that this group did not have any power over pre-k programs until the state’s general assembly moved the program into the division of child development and early education, which, again, is the division that has this requirement.
irisheyes
February 14th, 2012
7:12 pm
Stop blaming Obama. This is a NC law. I would bet that most days, the teachers don’t even worry about the lunch, but on this day there was a state inspector there who decided to look at the kids’ lunches and decided that this was a no-no. Once again, it’s a stupid law that the state requires teachers to follow, even though they know it makes no sense.
BTW, the light bulb law was passed by GWB, so can we stop with the revisionist history?? Google it.
Bryce
February 14th, 2012
7:17 pm
Sounds like the cafeteria was trying to prop up their profit and loss statement… it is absolutely ludicrous and reeks of a nanny state when people do crap like this.
mike
February 14th, 2012
7:55 pm
@Maureen…so if a child did bring a snickers bar every day for lunch, what would you do? Would you remove the kids to a foster home? Another issue-does the “inspector” know anything about food allergies a child may have? What type of threat would that pose?
catlady
February 14th, 2012
8:00 pm
Mr. Bellows: Actually the schools want kids to be on free lunch because they get reimbursed more for them. Paying kids actually lose money for the lunchroom (compared to free lunch kids), as, of course, do those who bring their lunch. Title I status can also be important, if you are “close to the line” in percentage F/RPL.
ScienceTeacher671
February 14th, 2012
8:10 pm
At our school they’re still serving pizza and fries. The little girl’s lunch sounds much more nutritious than that.
School Lunches are a joke
February 14th, 2012
8:20 pm
Chicken nuggets are a heart attack on a lunch tray. They hardly qualify as meat. The employee doesn’t understand or care. Home lunches are much more nutritious because they are not processed or at least not as much as the school lunch is.
…and here is the other thing…just because you serve it doesn’t mean they’ll eat it. My kids’ typical lunch is a thermos of milk, a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat and some raisins. Guess what they eat?
A bite of the sandwich and a few sips of the milk. I have to make them eat the raisins when they get home.
I understand the concern if the kid was sent to the school with a candy bar and a coke everyday but subbbing a chicken nugget for a turkey and cheese sandwich? That’s just plain stupid. The employee ought to be tossed out on his or her ear for not having common sense.
Sheesh….we have enough employees to by nosey enough to check lunch boxes but not enough employees to look in on a monster feeding sperm to the kids? Wonder how nutrittous that was.
Good Ma
North Carolina is marlboro country
February 14th, 2012
8:27 pm
Does anyone see the blatant hypocrisy of North Carolina policing the lunch for a lack of fruit yet they are the same state thjat produces 12 deaths every day from their cigarettes?
Wonder what would happen in the great state of NC if the kid showed up wiht a cigarette along with his chicken McNugget?
Good Ma
Mahopinion
February 14th, 2012
8:38 pm
You want to end the obesity epidemic among children? Then reinstate recess and PE. Our generation had fewer kids suffering from both obesity and hyperactivity because we burned off the extra energy every day, shockingly, we also walked to school. Something not possible with the way school lines are drawn and the overall lack of side walks through Georgia.
N.C. Food ‘Inspector’ Sends Girl‘s Lunch Home After Determining It’s Not Healthy Enough | Tennesseans Watching Federal & State Government
February 14th, 2012
9:02 pm
[...] Journal refers to the person as a “state agent,” while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the persona “state inspector” who was checking lunches that day. In an email to The Blaze, Caroline [...]
J.R.
February 14th, 2012
10:15 pm
It’s stories like this that only prove my hatred and distrust for gov’t is valid. I would be irate if I were the parent of this kid. Tax dollars pay for the school and NOT for the gov’t to tell us what to feed our children!
Roma
February 14th, 2012
10:19 pm
This story was first reported on Weekly World News. It’s FAKE, and you bought it hook, line and sinker. Maybe you should check your sources next time before relying on such a biased source of information like the Caroline Journal. Idiots.
Peg
February 14th, 2012
10:32 pm
Ok This is not just North Carolina, this is every state. This is not SCHOOLS. These are day care centers and the rules are written because there was massive, and i mean MASSIVE abuse. The pre-k centers would get free/reduced lunch program money and they would give a kid hot dog and bread or the cheap mac and cheese in a box. That’s it. They would pocket the rest as profit.
So there is now a law in most states that day care centers and that includes pre-k education centers HAVE to offer a lunch that is considered nutritious.
There are guidelines that must be followed, limited sodium, limited fat, they don’t get vitamin D milk, they get 1% over the age of 2. They have to offer a vegetable, fruit etc.
If a kid brings a lunch, it has to meet the same requirement, this is because parents were sending their kids to school with twinkies for lunch. We are talking about 3 and 4 year olds here.
The school is sticking to the letter of the law- obviously when the laws were made they did not intend for a parent who sends a real lunch to get penalized but that’s what happens when you have idiots who think they can send a bag of doritos and call it lunch.
louis
February 14th, 2012
10:49 pm
I believe that communist country does similar inspections to their citizens. Maybe the public workers need to find out which side to be on. Just a little common sense, if it aint right then don’t defend it!!!!!
BLITZ – 2/15/12: Would You Like A Box Of Chocolates? | JAYFORCE
February 15th, 2012
6:00 am
[...] Kid Ordered To Eat School Lunch By Inspector [...]
Joe Potillor, Jr. (@verbumveritatis)
February 15th, 2012
7:00 am
I think I’ll be eliminating this pointless position if I ever run for governor or president. Get the government out of being mommy and daddy. This is above the school’s paygrade.
Dave
February 15th, 2012
7:31 am
Most comments seem to be blaming Government. Let’s tell it like it is. It’s the Democrats with their Liberal agenda. Vote the Dem’s out and many of these idiotic agenda’s will disappear.
Katy
February 15th, 2012
8:53 am
This story is playing BIG-TIME over at Aussie/Saudie/Chinese owned FauxNews.I checked it out.The one story comes from a conservative think tank and does not go into details,so I had to guess.This is a welfare program,if you let the government pay for your pre-k you need to do what they say,end of story.Repugs want to run al poor folk through hoops for a hand out, yet they run with this story?This Mom is getting a major hand out(We pay 3,600$ for half day pre-k for our four year old,and we feel it’s worth it but…) a handouts comes with a contract.This is why the tea party was a FAIL,they only hate the handouts they can’t get.
Matt
February 15th, 2012
9:20 am
Reading the food guidelines the child’s lunch contained all the required groups and quantities. Meat=turkey, Grain=bread, Milk=cheese, (2)Fruit/Vegetable=banana and apple juice. Whom ever took (if that’s what happened let alone undermine parental control) the child’s lunch is a fool.
Greg Kaiser
February 15th, 2012
9:25 am
Come on, folks. Everyone calm down here a bit.
Maureen was very clear in her introduction to this article that there very well may be much more to this story than we know right now. Some of the comments here are just ludicrous. Saying that it is alright for a child to bring only a soda and chips for lunch, or somehow blaming this incident on the Obama administration, just exemplifies the reactionary, non-sensical kind of response that most of these posters are shrieking their opposition to.
Everyone take a deep breath and realize that there is more to this than we know, so commenting on half the story, without knowing all the details, just makes one look uneducated.
bu2
February 15th, 2012
9:43 am
Other posters are telling similar stories. What is under NC law is clearly a gross violation of government discretion.
I’m disturbed by Michele Obama’s nutrition guidelines. Not every student has her problems. Some students need to eat more instead of having obesity problems. I’m afraid this new food they are introducing will just get tossed by many students and the ones accustomed to pizza, etc. will go hungry and probably gorge on salty or fatty snacks when they get home. It may make their problems worse while causing problems for the kids who need to eat more.
Government “food inspector” sends girl’s lunch home because it’s not “healthy enough” | PhoenixNetwork.us
February 15th, 2012
9:58 am
[...] Journal refers to the person as a “state agent,” while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the persona “state inspector” who was checking lunches that day. In an email to The Blaze, Caroline [...]
ronald
February 15th, 2012
9:58 am
I thought when I awoke this morning I was still in the United States of America?What is going on here is this communist China.I mean this is terrible people in this country better wake up this should be stopped right now write your congressman get this out to the american people so they can see how all our freedoms are being taken away from all of us.
C Jae of EAV
February 15th, 2012
10:06 am
Public Education Is Big Business !! If we allowed that child to keep his lunch from home how then would we be able to justify the cost of the contract to provide lunch service, which in my experience dispite the alledged nutritional value to kids they don’t have eat anyway.
I’d venture to say that 40%-50% of school provided lunches end up in the trash. This story is definately one for the books. Gees.
Jon Ham
February 15th, 2012
10:39 am
For the non-reality-based commenters here, who think this story is a hoax:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8544298
Missy
February 15th, 2012
12:17 pm
Why is it a TOSS-UP? When are chicken nuggets ever healthier than a homemade turkey sandwich? Obviously Maureen Dowdy is getting her talking points from Media Matters.
Get out of my child’s lunch box! :: conservativemama.com
February 15th, 2012
1:02 pm
[...] Journal refers to the person as a “state agent,” while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the persona “state inspector” who was checking lunches that day. In an email to The Blaze, Caroline [...]
atlmom
February 15th, 2012
2:23 pm
what if your family keeps kosher?
is vegetarian?
To Mahopinion
February 15th, 2012
2:58 pm
Exactly right, Mahopinion. You wrote “Our generation had fewer kids suffering from both obesity and hyperactivity because we burned off the extra energy every day, shockingly, we also walked to school. Something not possible with the way school lines are drawn and the overall lack of side walks through Georgia.”
When i went to a Western school, I walked to my neighborhood school and back everyday and so do my children today (along with the dog sometimes) BUT APS is redrawing the lines so that my children will have to cross a major intersection and three lanes of suicide boulevard to go to school — they won’t walk anymore if that happens.
We need smaller neighborhood schools that we all can walk to.
Good Point.
Good Ma.
To Buz -- her problems?
February 15th, 2012
3:02 pm
Buz, it sounds like you are a rabid conservative. You write about Michelle O’Bamas nutrition and exercise PR and say “I’m disturbed by Michele Obama’s nutrition guidelines. Not every student has her problems
HER problems? Have you seen her problems?
I would LOVE to have her problems. The woman is fit. She is toned. She is athletic and healthy….and beautiful.
I would LOVE to have her problems. You may be against government “intrusion” in nutrition or gov’t having any influence in our lives but to say Michelle O’bama has a problem? Nah, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
Michelle O’Bama is a healthy role model for me and my children. Look at her children too — fit as a fiddle.
Love it.
Good Ma
bu2
February 15th, 2012
3:19 pm
@GM
Michelle doesn’t talk about exercise which is the real issue with kids nowadays as someone else pointed out above. She only talks about food. And too much of anything is bad for you. Calories are not bad, they are essential. We need food that kids will eat.
You are right about Michelle being toned and athletic and healthy. But with her build I bet she has had to work really hard. And I bet she did it more with exercise than diet. But that’s not what she talks about.
Ole Guy
February 15th, 2012
3:59 pm
Institutional chow, be it from schools, churches, or whathaveyou, has never been known to be of the best nutritional value. School chow was crap back in the 60s; it remains so today; stop blaming kids’ lousy physical states on the chow. IF SCHOOLS AND PARENTS PULLED KIDS’ BUTTS AWAY FROM THE KEYS AND SHOVED EM ONTO THE BALL FIELDS (like us ole farts who have, somehow, managed to stay in shape, even though we were “forced” to consume bad chow), this entire line of “blame someone else” wouldn’t exist.
Mary
February 15th, 2012
5:09 pm
This happened to my (anti-sandwich) daughter twice at the beginning of this school year.
She was forced to buy a school lunch because the teacher didn’t think her lunch from home was good enough. Great way to confuse and worry a 5 year old in her first few days of school.
What horrid food did I send her from home? The first time it was yogurt, graham crackers and raisins. The second time it was yogurt, apple slices and whole grain crackers.
I sent a note to the teacher and asked what in the world was going on and why was she being forced to order a school lunch when she had a perfectly good and healthy lunch from home. She defended her actions by first saying she assumed those were snacks. Even though my daughter told her they were her lunches and it was packed in a lunch bag and I had put a note in her folder that she would be bringing lunches for home. Oh, and they don’t bring snacks into school, so why would they be snacks? Nevermind the fact that they would be awfully big snacks for a 5 year old girl.
The teacher then claimed that it was school policy to order a lunch for anny child that didn’t bring a sandwich for lunch. Since when is a sandwich the only acceptable lunch? My daughter does not like sandwiches, so I send her with the best options I can and that I know she will eat. This includes whole grains, dairy and fruit. As for meats and vegetables, she gets them with her dinner at home.
After sending a firm note to the teacher that my daughter was to only eat what I prepare for her, the issue was resolved.
I was left with the bill for two school lunches, plus the two homemade lunches she didn’t eat at school were wasted.
So aggravted that schools have come to this. It is my responsibility to make sure my children eat good, balanced meals. The schools are there for education. Not to make parental decisions.
Maureen Downey
February 15th, 2012
5:14 pm
@Mary, Was this a Georgia school?
Maureen
michelle
February 15th, 2012
5:55 pm
This is what Michelle OweBammy wants for ‘the children’. This way they can be as fat as she is
Jake
February 15th, 2012
6:27 pm
@ Northern reader: Here are places you can find this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com a left wing new paper, triad.news14.com/ a Carlonia News Station, Right here on this blog. Do some research.
Also if this was your kid and you packed this lunch and some government inspector came and took yout kids lunch away saying your mother and father are morons and are not taking care of you by doing so, then how would you react? If this was YOUR CHILD HOW WOULD YOU REACT???? I swear some people want to be lead around by the government and be controled by the government. Well if that is what you want then please LEAVE the United States and go live in China or Russia because the United States is not the place for you.
To Mary
February 15th, 2012
7:47 pm
I loved your post. I hated that it happened to your daughter, though. Graham crackers are a staple at my house because they are whole wheat.
If I were you I would send all of the things you usually send in your child’s lunch along with….one of those play plastic sandwiches.
wanna sandwich? Got a sandwich.
Then I’d send a complete nutritional report for a traditional sandwich lunch — white bread with loads of sugar jelly and peanut butter and compaire it to the heathy yogurt and graham cracker lunch nutritional information. I might even add a hidden camera in my child’s collar.
Then, you know, see what happens.
Sounds like a law suit to me.
For your child’s sake, I hope those idiotministrators come to their senses and if they don’t, I hope you find a good lawyer.
Good Grief.
Good Luck.
Good Ma.
To Michelle
February 15th, 2012
7:54 pm
You say about Michelle O’Bama “This is what Michelle OweBammy wants for ‘the children’. This way they can be as fat as she is”
As fat as she (Michelle O’Bama) is?
You may disagree that government has a right to dictate lunches for children. You have a valid argument there.
But when you attack the first lady and call her fat you defeat your own purpose.
Michelle O”bamma is anything but fat. She is the epitome of fit. She had the guts to get on a TV show and do push ups with the host.
Fat? Not a chance.
If you disagree with Michelle touting fitness and nutrition as the role of government, just say so on those merits alone…you really lose your argument when you personally attack a woman who is so obviously healthy and attractive.
What other first lady in our entire history is as fit as Michelle O’Bama? Let’s start with the Republicans….Mrs. Laura Bush? Gentile and slow-moving. She certainly looks attractive but is she fit? can she run? Can she do ONE push up? How about Mrs. Bush senior? Overweight, certainly. Nancy Reagan? Emaciated. Skeletal. Now the Democrats…Hillary — overweight, certainly.
who else in the history of our nation has ever been fitter and in the White House? Our own Presidents aren’t as fit as michelle O’Bama.
Good Ma
To Bu2
February 15th, 2012
8:00 pm
Bu2, you claim Michelle Obama doesn’t talk about exercise. You must be tuned into Fox News 24/7. Michelle Obama talks about exercise every time she opens her mouth. She was on the Ellen Degeneres show doing push ups to promote exercise.
You’re way way way off base. Michelle has an entire campaign called “Let’s MOVE!”
If you want to criticize the Democrats for dictating things that you feel should be left up to the individual (like food and exercise) you may have a valid point but to say Michelle Obama doesn’t promote exercise is the same things as saying Charlie Sheen doesn’t promote prostitution.
Sheesh. Watch something else besides Fox News for a while.
Good Ma
Leigh Ann
February 15th, 2012
8:22 pm
There is a drop-in daycare near us and they have the same deal. Your child’s lunch must have the required components and if it doesn’t they’ll put in the missing thing. So if you have only one fruit, they’ll add a second one. But they won’t take away one protein, for instance, and sub another one. If your child has a milk allergy, you need a doctor’s note. My own daughter didn’t go to daycare but she did Georgia Pre-K at a daycare center and they didn’t allow food from home. If you had an issue like an allergy or vegetarian or kosher, you could send in food but they only wanted to you to send in a sub for the food in question. So you would send a vegetarian entree but still eat the schools vegetables.I don’t understand why this lunch didn’t qualify. The cheese was a serving of milk and the juice was a serving of fruit. And then there was a grain and a banana for a second fruit. The chips were just extra. Hard to believe they would take away a sandwich and offer chicken nuggets instead. Maybe the kid didn’t want the sandwich and wanted the nuggets instead. Maybe she chose to go through the lunch line instead of eating lunch from home and the note just happened to go home to everyone that day. It doesn’t say the note was addressed specifically to her and that her particular lunch wasn’t nutritious.
School seizes lunch, not nutrious enough - Children, problems, school, daycare, behavior, age, teenagers, infants - City-Data Forum
February 16th, 2012
5:14 am
[...] seizes lunch, not nutrious enough A turkey sandwich and chips from home versus school nuggets: Sounds like a toss-up to me | Get Schoo… This is utterly obsurd. I decide what to feed my child, and it isnt as if chicken nuggets was any [...]
Did anyone catch the truth?
February 16th, 2012
6:42 am
Did anyone catch the truth? There were no federal guidelines involved in this.
The specific school was under investigation for not providing good lunches and the TEACHER acting alone is the one who made this assinine decision.
It wasn’t Obama. It wasn’t the feds. It wasn’t the state. A specific pre-school did not serve healthy lunches and the TEACHER acting alone, decided to take it on herself to veto the healthy turkey and cheese sandwich, the healthy banana, the healthy applie juice and the potato chip snack and force the child to eat…a pile of chicken heart attack nuggets.
A TEACHER.
Why does everyone blame Obama and not this specific teacher?
A. They did not read the facts.
B. They have an agenda.
C. ?
Good Ma
ONE teacher did this, not the feds.from Good Ma
February 16th, 2012
8:17 am
Did everyone read Maureen’s comments at the top of the blog? She says clearly that the feds, the Obamas had nothing to do with this decision.
It was a TEACHER acting alone on her own judgement, which we all agree, was a bad one.
The preschool was under fire for lousy lunches. So an individual TEACHER took it upon herself to veto the healthy homemade lunch.
There is no vast left-wing conspiracy. There is no plan by the Obama administration. It was ONE teacher acting alone…like an idiot.
The teacher should be fired. When an adult makes an azz out of herself and brings wrath on the school, it is time to give her the heave ho.
Northern reader
February 16th, 2012
9:05 am
Jake, all of the many places that mentioned it were posted after my comment. Duh.
bu2
February 16th, 2012
9:16 am
@GM
Well I don’t watch Ellen or other daytime talk shows. My kids watch lots of PBS and Disney. I have never seen her talk about exercise. However, she is constantly trying to get kids to eat salads.
She has been pushing major campaigns to control what kids AND adults eat. And its not science based like Obama talked about. Its internet science.
The reality is that there were a lot more sauces and gravies and fried foods when I was a kid. There were soft drinks and candy. Yet there were almost no obese kids. Of course, in those days, most people had B&W TVs, and, if in a major city, 4 or 5 channels, not 200. There were no computers or XBoxes or Wiis. Kids play.
TR
February 16th, 2012
9:22 am
For some reason a teacher thought a student needed something else to eat. The rule quoted above exists at every school. If a student shows up without enough to eat a school should provide something. There isn’t a list of what is right and wrong. AJC is wrong to run with this nonsense. Why to pump bizarre hysteria into the air so you can get on the TV AJC.
Walter
February 16th, 2012
9:47 am
Obama requires us to buy insurance, other fed rules ( Dept of Ag) determine what our children can eat, and other feds dictates winners and losers in the marketplace, with its venture capital decisions such as “green” energy compnaies favored with loans of our tax money.
bu2
February 16th, 2012
10:11 am
@Walter
Don’t forget the sugar tax they are trying to pass.
bu2
February 16th, 2012
10:27 am
@Mary
I don’t think you should get angry at the school for the 1st time it happened (repeated is a totally different issue as it is your right to determine the child’s diet). I don’t think its a “sandwich” issue. Your lunch had no or very little protein so it was very unusual. Growing children need lots of protein. It clearly looked like an oversight and a 5 year old’s statement doesn’t carry a lot of weight. Sandwiches are just an easy source of grains and protein. I think if you had chosen to include a source of protein such as sliced turkey or cheese, it wouldn’t have been questioned.
Leave The Kids Alone! « ourbedofnails
February 16th, 2012
10:32 am
[...] A state inspector (not sure what that means) checking a Raeford, N.C., elementary school lunchroom decreed that a 4-year-old’s lunch from home — a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice — did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the Carolina Journal story. Instead, the child was given cafeteria chicken nuggets. (source) [...]
bu2
February 16th, 2012
10:44 am
@GM
This action is consistent with a pattern of the Obama administration to try to control what we eat. That’s what you fail to understand. Its trying to have DC (or Raleigh) force its value judgements even on your diet. The Obama administration has changed laws regarding school lunches and is putting heavy pressure on food companies with threats of taxes and other things to comply with what the administration wants. Raleigh’s actions have EVERYTHING to do with the direction the Obama administration is taking even if the individual act did not.
bu2 is wrong again
February 16th, 2012
11:04 am
bu2 you villify mary’slunch as not having enough protein. Did you read what she packed? She packed yogurt. Yogurt has LOTS of protein. Yogurt doesn’t have LOTs of empty calories as a sandwich does. White bread is a mouth full of empty calories.
You are barking up the wrong tree again, bu2.
mary packed a wonderful healhty lunch for her child. yogurt has protein and calcium. The graham crackers have whole grain. The apple is a fruit.
Very healthy indeed.
bu2, you really need to educate yourself on calories, fats, proteins, grains, carbs and sugars.
Good Ma
bu2
February 16th, 2012
1:33 pm
@Good Ma
I suggest you take your own advice. Read the label. There’s not a lot of protein in yogurt.
And if you don’t like white bread, you can try wheat bread.
I also suggest you try better reading comprehension. I didn’t villify Mary. I said it was unusual to have little protein at lunch. But it is her perogative how to distribute a balanced diet.
bu2 you are wrong again
February 16th, 2012
2:13 pm
Did you actually read Mary’s post. Her child does not eat sandwiches, white bread or whole wheat. That is why she provided graham crackrs, which have whole wehat and fewer calories.
A six ounce cup of yogurt has 7 grams of protein and only 150 caloires. Comapre than to a 500 ca lorie turkey sandwich.
You still don’t get it, bu2. You don’t know what you are talking about and you want Mary to just put up with the self-appointed food police teacher who took it upon herself to snatch away her child’s healthy lunch.
If you think it is inappropriate for Michelle Obama to talk about food and exercise, then it stands to reason that forcing a child to throw away her lunch is also inappropriate.
Choose a side and stick with it, bu2 and get your facts straught. You still haven’t admitted that Michelle OPbama promotes exercise. Her Let’s Move campaign is on the Disney channel, your favorite.
If you want to disagree with the Democrats, then do it but you won’t make anyone respect your arguemtn or opinion if you bash the first lady for being fat and not promoting exercise. (You really need to get out more).
Good Mother
Maureen Downey
February 16th, 2012
2:52 pm
Good Mother, Readers are allowed to send emails complaining about posts and you are the No. 1 source of complaints. Your email does not work so I am advising you here that you need to stop the personal attacks and stay on topic. As I have noted before, I admire your creative writing skills and your uncanny ability to conjure experiences to match whatever the topic is. Your comments would be fine if you would simply stop the attacks.
If the unrelenting personal attacks on other posters don’t stop, I will take down every post, whether you are good mother, dedicated dad or grumpy gramps.
I try to be lenient on length, but you could also consider the beauty of brevity.
Maureen
David Shedlock
February 17th, 2012
2:55 am
Defense of the Federal Government has been lame. First, According to the link provided, North Carolina was basing its required lunches on Federal Guidelines. Second, the school superintendent admits:
“The girl’s teacher should have handed the child a carton of milk to round out the turkey-and-cheese sandwich and banana she brought from home,,,The teacher never should have sent that little girl into that line. She should have gone over and picked up the missing item and brought it to her.”"
How did the teacher know she had juice instead of milk, unless she was supposed to be snooping? The teacher is being made a scapegoat for the school. They are inspecting lunches,and it is to follow federal guidelines.
http://start.toshiba.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9SUPTQO0%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=931
Ray Johnson
February 18th, 2012
11:40 am
I agree with Ms Downey we do not have both sides of the story. Judging the official response received thus far I do not expect clarification any time soon. Most can agree, who ever took such action showed a serious lack of judgement.I read the NC law, it provides daycare for NC children 3 and 4 years old, employment for private and public school teachers and mandates post secondary education for most involved ensuring further employment for NC institutes of higher education. Simply put it is a federally subsidized jobs bill for teachers and assorted other government agencies local, state and yes federal.Mom you are lucky all they did was feed your child and send you a bill for $1.25 read the law the next time it could be much worse.
for the record
February 18th, 2012
2:12 pm
Superintendant Bob Barnes confirmed there was an agent from Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child Development and Early Education at the school Jan. 30 who examined some student lunches. Hopefully those of you excusing this behavior as that of an overzealous teacher will accept that this is the government forcing parents to feed their children a certain way.
In addition, this purportedly happened to a second child named Jazlyn Zambrano around the same time, at the same school. If what the second mother says is true, we need to be looking pretty hard at what Constitutional authority the government has to usurp a parent’s decision.
It is one thing to require a school to provide healthful lunches at the cafeteria for children to purchase. It is wholly another to come into my pantry and tell me what to feed my own child.
As a mother, I would be furious about the mixed messages this sent my child: “your mom doesn’t care for you as much as the state does” or “mom doesn’t know about nutrition” etc. Don’t you dare drive a wedge between the trust between a parent and a child, and embarrass or intimidate my child.
This is not the USSR.