Re: Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets�

[Guest guest]

I am so mad all I can write in UGH!

Nowak

Stay at home mom and chief lunch packer

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 15, 2012, at 9:31 AM, ne

wrote:

> Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggetsâ€

> State agent inspects sack lunches, forces preschoolers to purchase

> cafeteria food instead

> By Sara Burrows

>

> Feb. 14th, 2012

> More |

>

> RAEFORD — 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, Republican G.L. Pridgen of Robeson County.

>

> The girl’s grandmother, who sometimes helps pack her lunch, told

> Carolina Journal that she is a petite, picky 4-year-old who eats white

> whole wheat bread and is not big on vegetables.

>

> “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 CJ. “I pack her lunchbox

> according to what she eats. It always consists of a fruit. It never

> consists of a vegetable. She eats vegetables at home because I have to

> watch her because she doesn’t really care for vegetables.â€

>

> When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to

> know what she ate instead. Three chicken nuggets, the girl answered.

> Everything else on her cafeteria tray went to waste.

>

> “She came home with her whole sandwich I had packed, because she chose

> to eat the nuggets on the lunch tray, because they put it in front of

> her,†her mother said. “You’re telling a 4-year-old. ‘oh. you’re

lunch

> isn’t right,’ and she’s thinking there’s something wrong with her

food.â€

>

> 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.†The lunch has to include a

> fruit or vegetable, but not both, she said.

>

> There are no clear restrictions about what additional items — like

> potato chips — can be included in preschoolers’ lunch boxes.

>

> “If a parent sends their child with a Coke and a Twinkie, the child care

> provider is going to need to provide a balanced lunch for the child,â€

> Kozlowski said.

>

> Ultimately, the child care provider can’t take the Coke and Twinkie away

> from the child, but Kozlowski said she “would think the Pre-K provider

> would talk with the parent about that not being a healthy choice for

> their child.â€

>

> It is unclear whether the school was allowed to charge for the cafeteria

> lunches they gave to every preschooler in the class that day.

>

> The state regulation reads:

>

> “Sites must provide breakfast and/or snacks and lunch meeting USDA

> requirements during the regular school day. The partial/full cost of

> meals may be charged when families do not qualify for free/reduced price

> meals.

>

> “When children bring their own food for meals and snacks to the center,

> if the food does not meet the specified nutritional requirements, the

> center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements.â€

>

> Still, Kozlowski said, the parents shouldn’t have been charged.

>

> “The school may have interpreted [the rule] to mean they felt like the

> lunch wasn’t meeting the nutritional requirements and so they wanted the

> child to have the school lunch and then charged the parent,†she said.

> “It sounds like maybe a technical assistance need for that school.â€

>

> The school principal, Jackie s, said he didn’t “know anything

> about†parents being charged for the meals that day. “I know they eat in

> the cafeteria. Whether they pay or not, they eat in the cafeteria.â€

>

> Pridgen’s office is looking into the issue.

>

> Sara Burrows is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.

>

>

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria\

-nuggets.html

>

>

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