Big Brother Bans Bag Lunches At School
The next time somebody calls you paranoid for questioning the ever-expanding reach of government into the private lives of citizens, tell them to give Fernando Dominguez a call. The seventh grader had enough temerity to protest his Chicago school outlawing students from bringing bag lunches to school. This from the Chicago Tribune:
At his public school, 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. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception.”
Well, isn’t that generous of comrade Carmona, who along with the rest of the Chicago school food police obviously know better than parents what is best for their children.
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.
“While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments,” Monique Bond wrote in an email. “In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom.”
There is, of course, no “encouraging” of “choices” involved here; that would mean actually allowing parents to decide what their children should or should not be allowed to eat. And we can’t have that.
As an added bonus the Chicago educrats also curry more favor with the federal government, growing the district’s take of free- and reduced-price lunches subsidized by the taxpayer.
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.
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.
Sure the kids may be starving, but at least their parents aren’t making bad choices about what to feed them. Another problem solved by government.
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