WE BEGAN WITH A BELIEF sauteed with a lot of frustration. That a group of focused people, working hard together, could fix the food children eat at school. This is an important challenge: For many Massachusetts students, the cafeteria meals they eat represent about half their total caloric intake for the day.
We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Come up with some do-gooder solution that ignores the important progress being made in Massachusetts, such as a new ban on some sugary snacks. Our hope is to add urgency to existing efforts and perhaps identify new ones.
Comments
My experience with Boston Public Schools is that the content of the lunch and breakfast menu has greatly improved, but my kids often fail to finish eating lunch (either served or brought from home) because there is so little time available and sometimes there are discipline problems which lead to things like cancelled recess or kids being told to put their heads on tables until everyone quiets down. Sharing of food is forbidden because it leads to conflict and more misbehavior. Then, at the end of the day, all the nutritious food is thrown away. I think my school is working to address these problems, but I want to make the point that simply offering "better" food is a small part of the bigger equation of improving the nutrition kids obtain.
It is complicated. Universal free breakfast--also a great idea--was undermined last year by chronicly late buses. This seems to have been fixed this year.
Also, recently my kids have come home with Physical Education homework--which they are excited about! They are supposed to do exercises each week and have a parent sign off on the form. It seems like a good idea, but it is just another slip of paper in the backpack that would be easy for parents to miss.
The best thing I've seen so far is the new MyPlate.gov design. Kids get interested in how their food fits onto the plate and perhaps this could get everyone thinking more carefully about food.