Re: Preschooler's Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria Nuggets

[Guest guest]

I would be livid. Why is any employee allowed to go through children's lunch

boxes? This one is obviously clueless. What happens when an " approved " school

lunch is used to replace a lunch for a child with allergies or special food

requirements or restrictions? If employees can't tell when a lunch meets the

requirements, how can they be expected to understand something like a gluten

free diet?

Mavis , RDLD

> > Preschooler's Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria " Nuggets "

> > 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. "

> >

> > 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. "

> >

> > 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, "

> > 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. "

> >

> > 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. "

> >

> > 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. "

> >

> > 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. "

> >

> > 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-cafet

> eria-nuggets.html

> >

>

>