Nanny State: Students forbidden from bringing lunch from home

Is this isolated or does it happen in other places too? A Chicago public elementary school forbids students from bringing their own lunches to school in and effort to control what they eat.

First, the government is stealing money from taxpayers to redistribute the funds through school breakfasts and lunches for low-income families. (Keep in mind that a lot of this funding is federal dollars, which to me is completely incomprehensible.) Now we learn some kids are forbidden from bringing their own lunch to school?

From the Chicago Tribune.

[At] Little Village Academy on Chicago’s West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

“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.

Gotta protect the kids. Government officials make better choices for your kids don’t you know? Carmona indicated she instituted the policy six years ago.

Even though the article states kids have been forced to eat the lunches provided by the government for six years, there is no information provided about the health and wellness of the kids. Where are the results from the past six years? How is the obesity rate? How about the diabetes rate?

Follow the money. More kids eating lunch equals more federal cash.

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.

Some parents have been so brainwashed by the liberal establishment in Chicago and around the country, they seem very comfortable with the word control.

[P]arent Miguel Medina said he thinks the “no home lunch policy” is a good one. “The school food is very healthy,” he said, “and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food.”

Got to have control … since parents cannot or do not want to make decisions for themselves or actually teach their children to make responsible choices.

These policies – even if they worked to improve the health and wellness of kids – breeds pure dependency on the government for both the kids and the parents. In my opinion, this is exactly what the socialist/liberal/statists want and they are not being shy about it.

Since the principal of the school is not mentioning the results of the program, I’m betting it’s failed. But remember, it’s the “good” intentions of the government – not the results – that count.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

21 Comments

  1. Murphy on April 11, 2011 at 6:49 am

    Let's even forget about the ignorance of allowing the school to tell you this. It seems to me the school and the gestapo government are opening themselves up to quite a bit of liability when some survey links a supposed problem to a certain food stuff down the road.  Also is all the food PC and or Kosher?



  2. brianh on April 11, 2011 at 6:54 am

    Stunning…Outrageous!!! Who the he.. is this woman!!!

    I'd be all over her, if—I may get all over her, anyway!



  3. PatRiot on April 11, 2011 at 7:00 am

    Unfortunately not surprising.

    In Florida, they are to the point of giving school children breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And there is talk of sending food home for the weekend.  

    It has been said that good men are tolerant to the point that handcuffs will be on them before they realize they have lost their freedom.



  4. Dimsdale on April 11, 2011 at 8:17 am

    Just another step closer to government boarding schools, where our children can be fully indoctrinated.

     

    It works for North Korea, and worked for the Nazis (Hitler Jugend)

     

    How about the Øbama Youth Corps?  (pronounce the last word as "corpse" in honor of our fearless leader's recent, yet unreported, gaffe)  "'Blut und Ehre" (blood and honor) could become "arugula and roughage" or something….   😉

     

    Just don't let them eat at a White House sausage and rib fest….



  5. RoBrDona on April 11, 2011 at 10:43 am

    Ah yes, it is all "Sturm und Drang" but no brats, sourkraut or beer. Funny, that's what they ship tons of to the German Army in Afghanistan every week.   

    The sad part is that there is no parenting of the kids in most of these inner city schools and crazy administrators can get away with this because of the vacuum. They are disenfranchising a whole generation from understanding the real world and placing them firmly in the Victim Class. Which of course is exactly what they want – the conviction from birth that the government is the source of everything: you only need to read and write well enough sign up for your benefits AND REGISTER TO VOTE.  



    • Dimsdale on April 11, 2011 at 1:56 pm

      Agreed.  It is bad enough that the libs have destroyed the black family (and are working on the rest of us) but now, they want to take ALL responsibility away, with the obvious consent of Miguel Medina, who doesn't want to lift a finger for his kids.

       

      The problem is that the responsibility shifts to the village, er, I mean, government!



  6. JodiP on April 11, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    Guess nobody saw the tv show last year, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, where the first thing he did was go into the schools, and show how unhealthy the school lunches were. Oh sure there was a salad bar, but no one touched it. Those who did not bring a lunch from school picked up the chicken nuggets, the pizza, etc. It was a glaring example of how the government was actually part of the problem in making Huntington, WV the most obese city, in the most obese county, in the most obese state, in the most obese nation.



    • Dimsdale on April 12, 2011 at 5:20 am

      Don't assume that because the gov't wants control they care.  Controlling is not caring.



  7. winnie888 on April 12, 2011 at 12:25 am

    The food-like substances they serve in school are items I won't spend my money on or serve to my children at home.  Why on earth would I give money to a school lunch program that is served by the likes of Sodexho which gives kickbacks to the school districts they "serve"?  It's big business backed by big government creating big, unhealthy kids.

    This is why my kids eat a big breakfast before school (eggs, toast, oatmeal, etc.), come home to something healthy followed by a healthy home-cooked meal.  Don't get me wrong:  I cook/bake fun stuff, too.  It's just not an every day occurrence, nor does it need to be.  If anyone tries to tell me that my kids have to eat a school lunch, that's when I'll get a lawyer.



  8. Gary J on April 12, 2011 at 2:05 am

    LOL 9/10 , OMG 9/10 WTF 9/10 !



  9. kipitwic on April 12, 2011 at 2:12 am

    Did anyone notice the names?  Hispanic….and then I wonder what is the racial make-up of the school…and where in Chicago is it.  Likely a low income district, which then explains much of the loss of common sense of these parents.  Parents who are illegal, illiterate , on welfare, are more likely to allow schools to take away their parental rights and not even complain.  These are the same ones who vote for the Democrats because of all the free handouts..



    • ricbee on April 12, 2011 at 3:56 am

      I would think it a "magnet school"but you may be correct. Especially about those looking for freebies.



  10. ricbee on April 12, 2011 at 3:54 am

    Are schools allowed to make any rule they see fit? Including making parents spend money they do not want to spend?



  11. WagTheDog on April 12, 2011 at 5:17 am

    My mom was az 1st grade teacher in East Hartland, and I asked her a long time ago why schools were providing free breakfasts at tax payers expense?  She said because the kids aren't getting the nutrition at home, to which I responded, isn't a fault of the parents and a need for them to care for their kids and not for the school to take up the slack?

    Identifying a deficiency is easy, coming up with a viable solution is not.  However, disallowing lunches being brought in from home is not a way of resolving the problem.



    • ricbee on April 12, 2011 at 9:22 am

      I think you just cited a parent for child abuse & if their are not feeding their kids,DCFU should descend upon them with the wrath of Thor.



  12. Don Lombardo on April 12, 2011 at 6:35 am

    Less school lunches served equals less taxpayer money. This is about $$$$$$, and nothing else.



  13. TomL on April 12, 2011 at 11:52 am

    What would they do to a student who brought in a lunch?



  14. johnboy111 on April 13, 2011 at 6:16 am

    send them to re-education camps???[no?]



  15. Murphy on April 13, 2011 at 7:15 am

    Can You say TSA Pat-downs….. is that a Snickers in your pocket young fella.



  16. sammy22 on April 13, 2011 at 11:57 am

    Next time I am in a hospital, I'll have Domino's deliver pizza.



    • TomL on April 13, 2011 at 4:34 pm

      Sammy you got style, if no Dominoes then maybe Pizza Hut anything but hospital food.



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