Chicago School Makes Kids Eat Government Food

Chicago School Makes Kids Eat Government Food, Forbids Homemade Lunches
By Elisabeth Meinecke
4/11/2011

A Chicago school is forbidding children to bring homemade lunches to school "to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices," according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

The school makes an exception for medical issues, but, otherwise, the kids are forced to eat whatever's being served in the cafeteria.

Because, you know, a food assembly line is really going to care more about what is put into a child's body than most parents. Yeah, right.

"At Little Village, most students must take the meals served in the cafeteria or go hungry or both. During a recent visit to the school, dozens of students took the lunch but threw most of it in the garbage uneaten. Though CPS has improved the nutritional quality of its meals this year, it also has seen a drop-off in meal participation among students, many of whom say the food tastes bad."

Apparently, other schools in the area have similar policies or rules that a child can bring his or her lunch but take away snacks with a lot of sugar or salt. Sadly, some parents are on board with the idea. Others are frustrated.

The article shows that many times, the policy increases the money received by the district's food provider, but costs the parents more:

"Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district's food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch."

"For many CPS parents, the idea of forbidding home-packed lunches would be unthinkable. If their children do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, such a policy would require them to pay $2.25 a day for food they don't necessarily like."