Chicago Tribune
It’s come to this
“Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school,” Carmona said. “It’s about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It’s milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception.”
Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring “bottles of soda and flaming hot chips” on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.
A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals.
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They want your children. Give them up.
I have no problem with schools getting rid of soda and cheetos and serving up healthier lunches, but forbidding students from bringing their own lunch is a slap in the face to parents and uncomfortably intrusive.
Daemonocracy on April 11, 2011 at 4:37 PM
Looking at the picture: is that what they served or what the kids barfed up?
karl9000 on April 11, 2011 at 4:37 PM
Nanny state.
rbj on April 11, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Nanny. State. That’s what’s for lunch, kids.
Shut up and eat it.
radioboyatl on April 11, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Now you cannot have your pudding even if eat your meat.
WashJeff on April 11, 2011 at 4:44 PM
These people are insane. It’s only a matter of time before liberalism is covered by Blue Cross.
Dopenstrange on April 11, 2011 at 4:44 PM
“It Takes a Little Village Academy”
aquaviva on April 11, 2011 at 4:44 PM
GOVERNMENT.OUT.OF.CONTROL. It has to stop.
NJ Red on April 11, 2011 at 4:44 PM
For the last few weeks, people have talked about how bad Madison is.
Folks…it’s not Chicago.
MadisonConservative on April 11, 2011 at 4:44 PM
You know, I’m really surprised any of us lived to adulthood while packing those lunches from home.
I think it would be in the best interest of everyone involved if the school would pack the students a dinner to take home for that evening.
ButterflyDragon on April 11, 2011 at 4:46 PM
Well in 1979 in England my father got called into the school because it was evident he had been teaching me stuff at home and I was ahead of the other kids in math and science. They basically told him how dare you educate your own child, that’s our job and if you continue to do it we’ll take the matter further. This was during a time of frequent teacher strikes which had severely disrupted the education of every state school pupil. Also, I guess, just before Thatcher saved Britain from socialism.
The US is on it’s way there. Socialists really do believe that the state has more right than you to raise your own children. In fact the survival of their ideology depends on it.
Sharke on April 11, 2011 at 4:48 PM
I don’t mean to pick, but your comment makes absolutely no sense.
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 4:49 PM
Once they dictate what food you’re allowed to eat, the next step is controlling what you put into your body. Oh wait. Same thing! My bad!
Paul-Cincy on April 11, 2011 at 4:49 PM
Sounds really nutritious to me.
malclave on April 11, 2011 at 4:50 PM
No
soupPB & J for you!cmsinaz on April 11, 2011 at 4:51 PM
so they are going to punish the whole lot for a few who bring a bag of hot fries….puhleeze
cmsinaz on April 11, 2011 at 4:52 PM
Does that make sense to you now.
Paul-Cincy on April 11, 2011 at 4:53 PM
Its not a matter of punishment, at least to me. Its a matter of control.
If kids won’t eat the food, what’s next? Force feeding them? Can’t have them not eating after all, let alone the waste. A wasteful student is a bad student.
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 4:56 PM
Reason #475 why I homeschool.
CurtZHP on April 11, 2011 at 4:57 PM
It is all about controlling everything in your life.
GardenGnome on April 11, 2011 at 4:58 PM
That’s right out of this book.
visions on April 11, 2011 at 5:00 PM
What ever happened to “Keep your laws off my body”?
Socratease on April 11, 2011 at 5:00 PM
My kids eat fruit and veggies at lunch. What are these poor kids eating? Flavorless goo? Do they really expect that cramming this crap down their throats will result in healthy eating habits down the road?
Vera on April 11, 2011 at 5:01 PM
Maybe what I should have said was, philosophically, it doesn’t jive.
If you’re against anything being intrusive, then banning something is ridiculous.
And what’s better? Banning a food a child will eat and giving them one they won’t? So the schools should make the kid go hungry for the sake of a Principal’s politics/ideology?
When I went to high school (in the mid 1980′s) we had a smoking area (yeah, cigarettes) for the students.
Now a kid can’t bring a soda from home to drink with his lunch.
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 5:02 PM
fair point, but they had a problem with the food that was brought on a field trip…which can be totally different than what is normally brought in the lunchroom
cmsinaz on April 11, 2011 at 5:03 PM
My sister got in trouble in 9th grade for knowing what a ‘serf’ was. The teacher claimed the only way she would know that is if she had read ahead. My sister actually knew that independently of school because history was her favorite subject.
When they called my mom about it, she stated that she did not care if my sister knew it because she had read ahead or knew it because she had already learned it outside of school. My mom couldn’t understand why they were upset that my sister knew something that hadn’t been spoon fed to her by a teacher.
Of course, 15 years later, she gets it. It’s about control, not education.
JadeNYU on April 11, 2011 at 5:03 PM
When they get home they’ll binge because they’re frickin starving from not eating the government-nutritious lunch.
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 5:03 PM
Yes, and you can bet that if they are going to go this far with this type of control, they’ll certainly have to increase taxes to raise the salaries of the school staff.
Nanny states don’t come cheap, don’t ya know.
See how that works?
Chip on April 11, 2011 at 5:05 PM
Not providing something is not the same as banning it.
If the school wants to only provide arugula and soy milk, fine. But I should be able to send my kid there with a ham sandwich and a Coke if I so desire.
CurtZHP on April 11, 2011 at 5:05 PM
Id agree it would be OK for the school to do this if they also allowed school vouchers.
If your going to take away choice how about offering it elsewhere ?
William Amos on April 11, 2011 at 5:08 PM
A kid brings a coke and a bag of cheetos on a field trip but he wouldn’t bring something like that for a regular lunch? Really?
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 5:08 PM
Not allowing a kid to bring a lunch from home is what?
The story doesn’t say they simply banned certain items – like a coke. They won’t let kids bring lunch from home to school. Why? Because the school (government) can’t control whats in the lunch.
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 5:11 PM
you never know, mom might think of it as a treat…
my mom did…
cmsinaz on April 11, 2011 at 5:13 PM
Sure. When my son was in public school they actually told us to send lunchables with them on a field trip day. That’s the only time my kids have ever had lunchables.
Field trip food is supposed to be disposable. They don’t typically want the kids to bring a full sack lunch.
Vera on April 11, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Totally off topic, Charlie Rangel is on Glenn Beck talking about raising taxes.
kringeesmom on April 11, 2011 at 5:14 PM
This is the reason she is doing it. Not FIELD TRIP lunches- because when the kids go on Field Trips the cafeteria DOESN’T COME WITH THEM so they are still bringing chips and cokes on those trips.
journeyintothewhirlwind on April 11, 2011 at 5:16 PM
The word for today, children, is “submit.”
Yeah, this is what we have come to. Last year I had a long term substitute position in a local middle school. I could not believe how poor the lunches were. I was shocked. Nothing was actually cooked. Other than the fresh fruit, which they did have, it was all frozen and preheated.
A common meal was white rice, a little ground hamburger and melted cheese of some kind. Another meal was toasted bread with melted cheese and curly fries and corn. Everything on the plate was yellow.
Every meal did have fruit but so what. The portions were also very small.
When I went to school we had actual cooks who cooked meals. They were full meals. Chili with cheeses cubes, crackers, side salad and you always had a dessert. Plus you had ala carte ( I don’t know how to spell it ). Other meals… hot roast beef sandwich, mashed potatoes, gravy, side salad and dessert. Pork and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, bread and butter, peas, side salad and dessert.
Here’s another scam the schools are engaged in.. breakfast. Our schools give our these bag breakfast’s and any brown bag not touched must be thrown out. All the food in the bag has to be tossed even if no one wanted it or touched the bag.
Last thing on this…. follow the money…
JellyToast on April 11, 2011 at 5:17 PM
So a lunch size bag or cheetos and a 20oz soda aren’t disposable?
Listen, I do understand your point. Yeah, they don’t want the kids ordering takeout on a trip to the whatever.
But this is ridiculous.
catmman on April 11, 2011 at 5:18 PM
Field trip days always meant lunches that were a little bit more “fun” than normal when my kid was in school, things I wouldn’t normally send, like those Capri Suns and lunchables. It wasn’t representative of what he got on most days. I always packed a lunch for my child, because he didn’t like the cafeteria food, it really was pretty gross. I can’t imagine a school disciplining a child for bringing food from home, couldn’t that lead to a lawsuit? If my child was a student there, I’d be tempted to slip some healthy granola bars into my child’s backpack so he wouldn’t starve. The school lunches at that school sound like pretty typical cafeteria cr*p.
mbs on April 11, 2011 at 5:25 PM
Yes, that’s very possible. But I suspect the kid who brings a coke and a bag of cheetos on field trip day eats in the cafeteria most days. People who pack lunches every day don’t usually spring for cokes and cheetos, they do it to save money (unless they get free lunches) and for health reasons. Cokes and cheetos fail on both counts.
mbs on April 11, 2011 at 5:29 PM
Yet another success for our public school system. It is working exactly as it was planned. The school system exists solely to inure our children to the state.
Parents are not qualified to feed or teach their own children.
Reason #4321 why I homeschool. It is time for the parents to vote with their feet and get their kids out of public schools. Show me a voucher program for all students, and I will show you practically empty buildings.
kringeesmom on April 11, 2011 at 5:31 PM
The worst part of all of this? The food is literally inedible.
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2011/02/healthier-school-food-at-cps-makes-kids-and-one-adult-cringe.html
Vera on April 11, 2011 at 5:33 PM
I think this bothered me as much as the rest of the story……
Jasech59 on April 11, 2011 at 5:33 PM
¡Viva La Revolución!
(Let’s see the filter catch that!)
Kafir on April 11, 2011 at 5:41 PM
¡Viva La Revolución!
(Let’s see the filter catch that!)
Kafir on April 11, 2011 at 5:42 PM
Heh. I love the Onion.
Wait…what?
TexasDan on April 11, 2011 at 5:48 PM
From the linked article:
Huh?
If you’re any kind of parent, you would have more control over what your child eats for lunch.
I’m guessing Miguel won’t be getting that Father of the Year coffee mug.
hillbillyjim on April 11, 2011 at 6:07 PM
This is NONE OF THE SCHOOL’S BUSINESS!!! The school is NOT the parent, and is NOT medically, morally, or legally qualified to determine what is “best” for students!!!!
If I was a parent of a school-age child in Chicago, I’d be in the pitchfork-waving crowd warming up the tar and getting the feathers ready….
landlines on April 11, 2011 at 6:13 PM
Well hell.
A little bit of research yields who to blame for this nonsense.
I’m shocked, I tell ya.
hillbillyjim on April 11, 2011 at 6:19 PM
Did you check out the picture of the so-called food they are feeding these kids? I had to read the caption to discover what that nasty looking blob of brown stuff actually was supposed to be. (Enchilada.) Yuck.
I have noticed that control freaks seem to be heavily over-represented in the population of school administrators.
novaculus on April 11, 2011 at 6:25 PM
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