Mandatory Healthy Lunches
By: Shoshanna Levy
Published: August 16, 2011

One elementary school in Chicago is taking the concept of healthy school lunches to the next level. The principal has banned students from bringing their own lunches.
The school believes that this policy will help curb the childhood obesity epidemic, and even if they are right there is the issue of individual rights. Many of the parents feel this is big government run wild.
I have to side with the parents on this one. Even as a real food advocate and passionate nutrition educator, this just doesn't seem like the way. Education and inspiration will do far more to help parents make healthier choices in the long run.

Comments:
Chris Armstrong
August 16, 2011

This is an interesting idea many kids bring some truly horrendous lunches to school. Let's just hope that the school takes food allergies seriously.
audrey

this sounds good in the reading...but my questions are...who is paying for the lunches? some children's parents these days can't afford the school meals even tho they don't qualify for assistance. and is the nutritious meal program going to be along-side a fitness program. when ppl my age were young we exercised at p.e. now they sit on oversized skateboards and scoot around. no sit-ups or jumping jacks or running laps. i beleive that is really a big reason for the obesity problem.
Pamela

What happened to individual rights and freedom?  Every day I read about something like this that just amazes me. As a teacher, I've seen the so called "healthy lunches" our schools are required to serve and it's frightening.  Did anyone watch Jamie Oliver's attempt to change school lunches?  He was told that his pasta sauce which was filled with vegetables, didn't provide enough vegetables, but the school lunch of a hamburger and fries did because they were counting the french fries as a vegetable!
Angela

This goes beyond wrong.  Since when does the school have the right to take authority over the parents?  They cannot control what these children eat at home and they cannot force these children to eat what is served in the cafeteria.  The parent is ultimately responsible for the health and welfare of the child and will have to deal with the consequences of what they feed them.   Also, who decides what is healthy for my child?  My child has multiple intolerances and hypoglecemia.  I work very hard to make sure my child has the right nutrients in the right balance and avoid contamination, who has the authority to tell me that is not good enough and based on the track record of the schools and their lunch programs, how am  I to trust that they  are going to put my childs health above "cost" and "efficiency"    This is a blatant violation of constitutional and parental rights and parents who refuse to fight this travesty are doing themselves, their children and their community a huge diservice
Angela

This goes beyond wrong.  Since when does the school have the right to take authority over the parents?  They cannot control what these children eat at home and they cannot force these children to eat what is served in the cafeteria.  The parent is ultimately responsible for the health and welfare of the child and will have to deal with the consequences of what they feed them.   Also, who decides what is healthy for my child?  My child has multiple intolerances and hypoglecemia.  I work very hard to make sure my child has the right nutrients in the right balance and avoid contamination, who has the authority to tell me that is not good enough and based on the track record of the schools and their lunch programs, how am  I to trust that they  are going to put my childs health above "cost" and "efficiency"    This is a blatant violation of constitutional and parental rights and parents who refuse to fight this travesty are doing themselves, their children and their community a huge diservice
Shoshanna Levy

I fall on the side of health most of the time, but this does seem like an over-reach. who is to say that some parents aren't making their kids better foods than the shcool? Also, it may cause some people to get rebellious. It just seems wrong as far as rights go. I want parents to stop feeding their kids garbage too, but you have to educate them and let them make the choice. Lead the horse to water not force them to drink.
Rhonda

I want to see their "healthy" lunch menu! No, really, do you have a link to that, or do you know the name of the school? If they are serving the same crap all that's on the lunch menus I have seen (our school tells us it's healthy too), I would be furious. If they are really serving what I would consider to be a healthy lunch, I wouldn't be totally against it, but I'm sure there are some irate parents!
Rhonda

Found the school, looked at their site, and it looks like someone's back tracking...here's a link to the principals note-if anyone would like to see it.
http://www.lva.cps.k12.il.us/lva/PRINCIPALS_MESSAGE.html
Dr. Len Schwartz

great to see all your thoughts!
To Your Success,
Dr. Len Schwartz
Pres/CEO of Pro2Pro Network
http://www.Pro2ProNetwork.com