To: President Donald Trump, Rhode Island Board of Regents, Special Assistant to the Commissioner and Liaison to the Board of Regents, George D. Caruolo, Esq., Chairman, Patrick A. Guida, Esq., Vice-Chairman, Colleen A. Callahan, Ed.D., Secre...
What's in a Lunch?
Humiliation, fear, social stigma is the noon-time meal of choice...if you're a kid without enough money in RI.
Tell (Y)OUR decision makers we're watching. Tell them they need to step up to the table and stop allowing OUR children to be neglected and abused by local administrators. Please.
Why is this important?
Humiliation, fear, social stigma is the meal of choice...if you're a kid without enough money in RI.
Despite the EPA annual estimate of more than 34 million tons of US food waste--the single largest component of landfills and incinerators--RI's school districts are left to interpret Public Law 108-265 and pocket the difference.
Receiving adequate Federal funding to cover the cost of a STANDARD HOT LUNCH, these districts opt to have lunchroom monitors "speak" with OUR children about "their unpaid tab." OUR children are then left to accept a "Shame Sandwich"--a single slab of cold "American Cheese" (hydrogenated oil and whey-a milk byproduct) or, in some districts, "Sunny Butter" (a peanut butter substitute)--perhaps their only meal of their day--or to walk away. http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/12/10/cold-cheese-sandwich-for-students-with-late-lunch-payments/
How would you feel? Hungry? Embarrassed? Ostracized in front of your peers?
School is supposed to be a safe harbor, a place where children--even children without money--learn more than their ABCs. They learn to trust, socialization skills, and to explore. It isn't supposed to be a place of pain.
Let's require all public schools to comply with the spirit of Public Law 108-265 and give all of OUR children the food they need for quality academic performance, or suffer a loss of Federal funding.