Providing nutrition is not the job of government schools

By Steve Candelori
Posted Sunday, August 12, 2007

 E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page

Pittsboro, NC - Did anyone read the article in the Chatham Record about the nutritional program being rolled out by our wonderful government schools? They are called "Fuel Up" and "Food Until Everything Looks Up". These programs send home food on Friday afternoon for hungry student to eat over the weekend. Packaged in "non-identifiable" backpacks so that the student doesn't get teased by other students.

Before anyone accuses me of wanting children to starve, don't bother, you’re wrong. My problem with this is:

1) There are other taxpayer programs to deal with this (food stamps. WIC, etc., no teasing included),

2) Providing nutrition is not the job of government schools. If they want to get a positive nutritional message across then let it start in the lunchroom, quit serving greasy pizza once a week.

3) This kind of thing distracts from their main purpose: educating, which seems to be a low priority. It's also a pathetic attempt to make our sub-par schools seem to be a significant institution. What will the school system want to provide next? Clothes, shoes, hygiene supplies, cable TV, money to pay for utilities, bling?

And to think that they can disguise these back-packs from the other students to protect the recipients from ridicule? Hog wash! They underestimate these children and their ability to notice things. It's their job to know children. Talk about being out of touch! Geeze, gimme a break.

Maybe some of these hungry children should be shamed into saying "Mom, can we get some food in this house instead of you getting a tattoo on your neck of a pit bull?"

According to the article half of the students attending government schools in this county qualify for free or reduced lunch. Administrators could not be happier. I find that number to be skewed. When my son attended North Chatham we were encouraged to get him in a free or reduced program when, clearly, he wasn't in need. After I refused the help repeatedly, he was included anyway.

When our school system is in a struggle to provide a basic education, it finds it necessary to use up scarce resources doing a job it has no business doing. This program is a farce with the intention to make them appear to care while using the image of a hungry child as their prostitute. Shame on you people. You just want to grab every last dime out of the taxpayer and play on our emotions to guilt us out of our earnings.

There was, by the way, no mention in the article about a better education offered.