RECENT COMMENTS
Free lunch & breakfast for all Richmond Public Schools students this coming year
According to a memo recently distributed to parents, starting this school year all students in Richmond Public Schools will receive free breakfast and lunch as part of the Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Lunch/Breakfast Programs:
The new Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows high poverty schools to offer both breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students while eliminating the traditional school meal application process. CEP benefits students and the school nutrition department’s bottom line—it increases participation in the school nutrition programs by offering breakfast and lunch for free to all; reduces administrative work for school districts by eliminating the need to qualify students for free and reduced-price meals and track which children are participating; and improves the overall financial viability of the school nutrition programs in high poverty schools.
As of October 2013, 74.25% of the students in Richmond Public Schools were receiving free/reduced price lunch. The Virginia Department of Education’s data for the 2013-2014 school year has the following percentages of students at local schools listed as “Economically Disadvantaged”:
| % ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED |
ED/TOTAL | SCHOOL |
| 83.1% | 804/967 | Armstrong HS |
| 83.6% | 313/374 | Bellevue ES |
| 89.9% | 420/467 | Chimborazo ES |
| 97.5% | 548/562 | Fairfield Court ES |
| 85.9% | 300/349 | Franklin Military Academy |
| 94.7% | 430/454 | George Mason ES |
| 95.2% | 616/647 | Martin Luther King Jr. MS |
| 95.5% | 496/519 | Woodville ES |
— ∮∮∮ —
TAGGED: schools
One of the practice groups at the law firm I work for deals in education representing the school systems. I have seen all too many times incidents where children go hungry which results in other issues at school. They are the innocent victims who depend on adults to provide for them and some just can’t. I am glad this is happening and my tax dollars are going for something like this.
So basically so many kids in Richmond city school were getting free lunch in the first place (74.25%), so they decided to give it to everyone free.
Look at Fairfield Court ES, only 14 kids out of 562 were actually paying for lunch? It WOULD be a savings to fire the cashier, and give these 14 kids free lunch.
Overall, I think free breakfast and lunch is a good idea…. Food should be free before books and other supplies…
Wow, those numbers are staggering.
So glad to hear that they will be offering free breakfast and lunch across the board.
(Again, nothing is free…someone has to pay for it.) These “healthy breakfast and lunch” will be provided at “no charge”…how long will it take before the first (inevitable) complaints from parents/students that these meals: “taste terrible; are inedible; look like slop; etc.”
Beware: “Free” is not always what it’s cut out to be….and it’s definitely not going to be “gourmet”!
Sorry one last thing…
Did anyone else notice on that the” a la carte” 8 oz. water and 8 oz. milk were the same price? Both 50 cents. Is this mark up or are they getting screwed by their food vendor?
I also agree this is great. Anyone know what the lunches consist of? Microwaved and processed? It’s been a while since I was in school.
#1…TANSTAFL, and that seems to have been buried pretty deeply in much of today’s society. Would be nice to have more widely acknowledged that somebody pays for ‘free’ stuff; with, as you say, a thanks to those who will do so. As for filling up with food before ‘learning,’ it’s a pretty well accepted medical fact that the spike in glucose levels after eating…especially a big meal…just makes people sleepy – not a good condition for learning.
No, the food is very processed and quick fix. Not like when I went to elementary school 45+ years ago. Everything then was made by scratch including bread and biscuits served with real butter pats, Salisbury steaks with gravy, oven baked fried chicken, real mashed potatoes, homemade pizza, cobblers and pies, etc…. It was real food prepared by a group of cooks in a kitchen. Not today.
In 2013, I stood in the lunch line one random day at Woodville Elementary. I was very impressed with the quality of food (yes, it was pizza, but it looked and tasted better than what they used to call pizza in my school back in the 70’s.) The amount served (kid appropriate portions) and the level of service/care of the cafeteria staff was very impressive. Later that day, after school snacks were provided for the kids, too. The kids were happy and fed–it’s all about providing an environment where they can learn.
Is this for all RPS schools? I have two children in RPS and did not receive this letter.
@22 edg, I’d call them – 804-780-8221 or 804-771-7002 are the phone numbers listed in the letter. The letter says it’s for all schools that participate in the programs for lunch and breakfast, not sure if that applies to your kid’s schools or not.
I want to see kids have healthy food. But I’m not really sure that’s a governmental responsibility. Is it really a priority before books?
Heard a very informative story on this subject earlier today on NPR: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/more-schools-offer-free-lunches-whos-paying
It’s a $12 billion federal program…National School Lunch Program.
There were no soda machines in our schools then and no such thing as bottled water when i was growing up. All we had was whole white milk and juice in a plastic cup with those foil peel off tops and that was only for breakfast which was new and optional. I remember the milk sometimes had a strange taste as the cows then were free range so ate wild onions which passed to the milk flavor. Funny how I can still recall that taste. That was in Newport News.
On one hand, kids have to be fed. On the other, not skim milk and reduced fat cookies.
Trish, when I went to school there was no such thing as “reduced” or “low fat” this and that. We ate real food and kids were not overweight. It is all in moderation in this supersized society and what the parents feed them at home. If the parents don’t live a healthy lifestyle then the kids won’t either.
And remember, when I grew up a 6-oz bottle of Coke was a full serving – not a 64-oz whatever. A small cheeseburger and small fries was an adult meal now considered a child’s meal. Times have changed and so have the average American’s weight.
@Eric–you’re only a little older than me and we got served real food at school as well, although it was an exciting day for the fourth grade when the cafeteria started carrying chocolate milk. I didn’t see soda or snacks in the cafeteria until I was in high school (early 1980s). What’s sad is that so many kids don’t recognize food that doesn’t come in a brightly colored box or wrapper. For that matter, a lot of adults don’t either.
Trish, very true. I have even heard of children thinking chicken is made in the grocery store and not an actual animal.
Free lunch, breakfast in city schools
http://www.timesdispatch.com/local/education/free-lunch-breakfast-in-city-schools/article_d60d6874-d7f4-5bd2-8c6a-e394b3bb98b9.html
The gift that keeps on giving: http://www.usdebtclock.org/
I bet half the people commenting on this blog about how free isn’t really free and questioning who pays for this and making incendiary comments about bad parents are indeed overweight themselves. We shouldn’t punish kids bc they’re parents aren’t providing for them. It’s a bad example to be a fat parent…. IMHO
ann, all of those numbers clicking off looks like an ant race! Thanks for sharing.
While I could stand to lose 5lbs, I am not obese & I too question if this is the right answer long-term.
Then what is the solution Bill, allow the children to do worse at school because they were born with inferior parents who are doing a horrible job providing food for them? Sure lets let them fall behind not pursue higher education or vocational training which leads to full-time employment, tax paying and unburdening of the system. Or keep them underfed, performing lower academically and end up either with below subsistence level employment or none at all, possibly being incarcerated and costing taxpayers more long-term …?
@1 Scott- You asked: “Who is paying for this? We should know so we can thank them.”
If you’re a city taxpayer (property owner) Scott, you are! How wonderful is that?
Related article on NPR, there are efforts to reach kids during the summer break with free lunches. And there is a comment “Educators say when school reopens, they can tell which children ate well over the summer and which did not. Those who didn’t are less focused, less ready to learn.”
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/07/23/334041056/summer-program-for-hungry-kids-gets-creative-with-food-delivery
It’s a USDA program, and sure it’s paid for through taxes, but there are multitudes of other programs out there paid by taxes that are full of pork, and I tend to agree with Jay B @39.
Also @28 had some great points and obviously is in the childcare business. The first lady is seriously into nutrition and I’d bet that these programs do all they can to be balanced meals, not heavy on stuff like potato chips.
I have some questions, the first few would probably be best answered by someone from RPD. I know I have seen a couple of past of juveniles breaking into schools and stealing food. How often does this happen? Is it out of genuine need for food or kids getting in trouble? Are they vandalizing property and/or taking other things as well?
And the next part, do area schools participate in any type of back pack programs for weekend meals? I can find information for the district as a whole but not which schools participate and how many students are served? If anyone knows or can point me the right direction that’d be awesome.
I feel better now knowing that my 14% increase in real estate taxes will go toward feeding the children… Ridiculous! The tax & this program!
@43 and 40, this is a federally funded program through the USDA. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with your city real estate taxes.
@44…ok, then my federal tax money is paying for this. Either way, it shouldn’t be my responsibility to ensure that someone else’s kids eat! More welfare…
Wow….guess “it takes a villiage” no longer applies. Hey remember long ago when it did and there was a lower crime rate? If you want less crime and better over all conditions for everyone then it absolutely is your responsibility. It’s everyone’s responsibility when you live in a community.
Jay B – I don’t profess to know the proper solution, only that I question whether this one is best long-term. If my choice is feeding a child over not, I will feed the child 7 days a week. One question I keep coming back to is with all of the programs out there from food stamps, to welfare, to local food bank/food drive efforts, how can such a large population of the City not afford to feed their children lunch?
It sounds like previously ~ 3-in-4 kids were already receiving a free lunch. I’m just curious what the parameters of qualifying for such a program were. Was there any sort of validation or audit done to make sure it wasn’t being abused? Further, is a household where a child isn’t even being properly fed the right environment for said child?
I know I’m opening up a can of worms here, but we have a massive problem of “pulling out the credit card” in this country, especially with regard to government spending, & so I feel the question of “Who pays for it?” is a valid one.
Who pays for it is a valid question for a lot of things when it comes to government spending. But it when it comes to making sure children are fed, that’s not something that bothers me. The immigration debate has been raging lately, especially over minors. We recently saw a proposed detention center in Virginia blocked because of the massive public outcry. Over and over people said the same things, ‘we have hungry kids in America’ ‘the government needs to take care of its own’. And then when something like this is announced and people don’t want their tax dollars to go for ‘our own’. If people were even half as passionate about finding a solution as they were about their tax rate this would be a much better world.
@Mindy. Yes, it “does take a village” to create a community. Shouldn’t I be able to choose where my dollars and time go? Maybe I’m passionate about libraries and want to put my tax dollars there. Maybe I’m passionate about the elderly, or animals, for housing safety. We can all make an argument for one cause or another and say “it makes the community better.” More money does not solve the problem. Money used intelligently does and realizing we have limited resources does. Currently Washington D.C. spends $29,000 a year to educate 1 child in the public school system. Doesn’t that sound insane and unsustainable to you? Additionally, as a teacher who hasn’t gotten a raise in 5 years, I’m being out taxed on my home and am struggling to pay mortgage payments. Shouldn’t you all chip in and help me since I’m on the front lines of making the community a better place? Programs cause a rise in taxes and the working poor can’t afford to sustain all these programs. Instead of asking for a handout to pay for my mortgage I’ll get a second job or a roommate.
Mindy I don’t disagree with you & again I have complete sympathy for these children. My concern is that I question whether our tax dollars are already paying for “our own” via the programs mentioned above and that this is simply double dipping.
@49. No, you don’t get to choose where your tax dollars go because that isn’t how it works. That’s not how our system of government works. This is why we have elections. You elect officials that you feel will best represent where your tax dollars go. The idea of everyone getting to pick where taxes are spent it extremely impractical. I pay a social security tax that probably won’t exist by the time I retire, I pay a Medicare tax even though I have my own private insurance. My taxes pay for upkeep on roads I don’t drive on, places I don’t visit, services I don’t use, things we don’t need and things I don’t support, but I don’t get to choose because it doesn’t work that way. Of course we would all love to see our money go to the things we feel strongly about. But rather than question why your taxes are spent the way they are, go get involved in whatever that thing is you feel passionate about. If you feel something important to you is being short changed, find out how you can make it better. Because you are NEVER going to be able to pick and choose where your taxes go.
Also, I’m sorry that you are struggling. My brother is a teacher and is also the person I admire and respect the most. You asked shouldn’t there be help for you, there are several programs to help avoid foreclosure.
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/avoiding_foreclosure
I don’t know if that helps, but it’s something and also provides some links to other resources. Best of luck.
In regards to the menu….cookies shouldn’t be cheaper than “fruit snacks”. Not the best way to promote healthy decisions when it comes to food.
Mindy, you have exactly made my point. I’m being taxed to death: real estate taxes, meals taxes, car taxes, etc.and have little to no say on how that money is spent. Everything is going up meaning I have less discretionary income to spend the way I want to spend it and on the charities I find important. In October I have no doubt that my group health care will have risen as well (another “tax”). I’m very tired of people saying that if we all just pay a little more we can pay for these many government programs. I very honestly have no more to give.
I, too, am sympathetic to the disadvantaged children in our community. But when “you plant seeds, you expect fruit.” Last year, WE spent approximately $13,022* per RPS student (local, state, and federal funding). Take the example of Armstrong High School with an on-time graduation rate hovering around 52% – is this money well spent?
So what’s next…”free” dinners for students, or dare I say, “free” diplomas to go along with the: “free” education, free books, free supplies, free breakfast, free lunches, free iPads/laptops/computers, etc. At the end of the day, if only a little more that half graduate, then half of that money is poorly spent. I’m not opposed to spending the money on educating (and feeding) these children, I would just expect some results (fruit).
I think that we’ve got a problem that (more) MONEY can not solve…. Are we just a “village” of idiots who would throw more and more money at this crisis? We’ve got to do better than this, for the sake of these (our) children.
*as listed on p.146 of RPS published FY2013-14 budget
http://web.richmond.k12.va.us/Portals/0/assets/BudgetReporting/pdfs/SchoolBoardADOPTEDBudgetFY2014ExecutiveSummary.pdf
@54 – when you consider how much of what our various governments buy is done on credit, we aren’t even paying for what we already have. It’s like someone with $100,000 in credit card bills figuring they can “afford” a new tv because they can keep up with the extra interest they’ll need to pay.
Sorry to segway to another thread here, but why in the HELL are my tax dollars going to build traffic circles that no one wants!!!
Alex, yes we do need a better solution. But that doesn’t mean you do nothing in the mean time. Do I think that ultimately this will solve a greater problem , no. Am I okay with kids going hungry until a better solution is found, absolutely not. While I support this, I still believe something else needs to be done. Arguing tax regulations and government spending won’t solve a damn thing. But if anyone can answer any of the questions asked in #42 that would be much more productive.
One other thing I would like to point out (sorry I talk too much sometimes) only because I see food stamps and welfare come up pretty frequently when poverty is discussed. Government assistance is not given as freely and as easily as you may think. The kids that will now be covered under this program are probably ones that fell through the cracks. A several years ago when we still lived in the Midwest my husband lost his job. I worked full time as well but my job payed a lot less. He took the first job he could get at less than half of his previous pay. We were struggling, not even that, we were sinking. It got to the point that we had to apply for assistance, something we never thought we would need. We sat down with social worker and they went over our documents, pay stubs, bank account records and told us we made too much money. What?! How?! Because they base it off of your income before taxes and any other deductions! My husband has a son from a previous marriage and he pays a good amount in child support (an amount determined based on the higher income job). With the new job this payment was over half of his paycheck. And this payment didn’t count when looking at our financials. So as far as the government was concerned we had over $1000 a month that we NEVER saw and therefore made too much money and qualified for nothing. The social worker was a really nice man and you could see that he felt absolutely defeated by the situation. I will never forget when he said to us “you know how you hear about people ‘falling through the cracks’? You guys are in the crack and I’m so sorry”. Don’t assume that everyone below the poverty line is already getting help and that this is just “double dipping”. It’s also important to remember that kids don’t get to pick the parent. I’m sure there are parents that have a criminal record meaning no assistance. Think about how often you have to check a box that asks if you’ve been convicted if a crime. Most of us just check no and move on, think about all those things you’d be denied if you had to check yes. And I know that is their fault for breaking the law, but any children in the situation also suffer from these consequences and that’s not their fault.