 
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 1245
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 69.220.230.150
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 10:51 am: |    |
There was a story in Fox 2 about the Detroit School breakfast program. The person doing the story mentioned that for many this is there only meal and they pushing to get all the children in for the meal.
Was he just being over the top or is this a true statement. And if it is why is that not a news story in itself? |
Danny
Member
Username: Danny
Post Number: 3786
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 141.217.174.223
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 11:01 am: | |
HAH! DPS has done their school breakfast programf or years. Mr. Coleman is just speeding up the progress. |
Wmuchris
Member
Username: Wmuchris
Post Number: 248
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.58.36.2
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 11:24 am: | |
Yes, I believe that the Free and Reduced Lunch Program provides the only meal that many students eat on a daily basis.
Many of my students in my school get their only meals from this program. |
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 1246
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 69.220.230.150
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 11:49 am: | |
As lunch or as breakfast? |
Bvos
Member
Username: Bvos
Post Number: 1215
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.238.170.39
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 12:47 pm: | |
The free lunch program has been around for decades. This was the only meal a lot of poor students got during the day.
If you can imagine teaching a room full of kids who only eat lunch, you can imagine the nightmare that would be. So the Feds started a free breakfast program several years ago so that kids could actually think straight until lunch time. This has been a successful, but under used program for several years now.
Yes, breakfast and lunch at school are the only meals that many of these kids will get in a day.
Welcome to America, the richest nation in the world. |
Gary
Member
Username: Gary
Post Number: 115
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 66.73.238.5
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 2:14 pm: | |
I teach at a K-6 charter school. We do not offer free breakfast, but we do have a free lunch program which is subsidized via Title 1 funding. In order for the children to qualify for free lunches, their parents must meet certain income requirements and my guess is that somewhere around 75% of our students participate in this program. That's the good news.
The bad news is that nowadays, kids seem to be so accustomed to eating sugary, salty and fried snacks that they have no taste for the fresh fruit and vegetables that are served daily as part of the free lunches. So although they are served well balanced meals, they don't eat them. You could feed a small country with the food these kids waste every day. It's truly a shame.
Speaking of breakfast, the other day after morning latchkey, I noticed that one of the children had come to school with a breakfast of homemade scrambled eggs, sausage and pancakes, all neatly packed in a Tupperware container. This kid's parent(s) had obviously taken the time to prepare a good breakfast for their child that morning. I watched in amazement as the kid took the food (Tupperware container and all) and tossed it into the garbage can without taking a single bite. When I asked him why he did that, he shrugged his shoulders and went on about his business. Go figure. |
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 1247
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 69.220.230.150
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 2:17 pm: | |
quote:The free lunch program has been around for decades. This was the only meal a lot of poor students got during the day.
No shit, but nobody has yet anwered my question.
Is breakfast the only meal they are getting, as per the reporter? |
Bvos
Member
Username: Bvos
Post Number: 1218
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.238.170.39
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 2:25 pm: | |
Technically no. If they qualify for free lunch, they almost certainly qualify for free breakfast. The student may choose to only eat the breakfast, but it isn't the only meal offered to them. |
Noggin
Member
Username: Noggin
Post Number: 53
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 71.227.102.104
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 2:28 pm: | |
It is one of the biggest scams out there. The school systems get federal money for these kids even if they do not need it. It is a good way to supplement the revenue for the schools (even the suburban schools). |
Evelethcdenver
Member
Username: Evelethcdenver
Post Number: 96
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 71.211.141.143
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 3:18 pm: | |
Well yea, we all know schools are around to make that community tons of money! |
Mw2gs
Member
Username: Mw2gs
Post Number: 162
Registered: 03-2005
Posted From: 69.213.86.74
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 3:22 pm: | |
sj....there is not a single person on this forum or in the city for that matter who can honestly answer your question. People can give you their opinion but the answer requires research into every DPS household. What you are looking for is not here my friend. |
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 1248
Registered: 12-2003
Posted From: 69.220.230.150
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 3:27 pm: | |
quote:sj....there is not a single person on this forum or in the city for that matter who can honestly answer your question.
That is unacceptable to me from a standpoint of a childs wellbeing. Could we fail these kids anymore. |
Bvos
Member
Username: Bvos
Post Number: 1219
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.238.170.31
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 3:30 pm: | |
I wouldn't call it a scam. The folks who qualify for the meal programs are poor and every little bit helps these families. If a family signs their kid(s) up and the kid doesn't show or doesn't eat the meal, it's not the school's fault. If every kid were to eat their free breakfast and lunch, it would hardly be a money maker for the school district.
These meal programs are heavily regulated programs with lots of safeguards to ensure that the food isn't going elsewhere and that the money is only being spent to provide the food. Audits happen frequently and those who don't follow the regulations get in trouble. |
Gary
Member
Username: Gary
Post Number: 116
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 66.73.238.5
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 4:09 pm: | |
Title 1 is not a scam in and of itself. Like many federally funded efforts, the program is designed to address some legitimate needs; free meals for under privledged kids is one example. However, the manner in which the program is administered often leads to problems. At the end of each school year, any unspent Title 1 monies may legally be kept by the school district to whom those monies were allocated. In theory, this provides for additional funding to the districts, which they are allowed to use for any number of worthwile educational endeavors. What the school districts actually do with this money is open to speculation. In the case of charter schools, the unspent money usually winds up in the pockets of the owners of the charter schools. I know this from first hand, personal experience.
Bvos is correct; the free meals program has many built in safeguards and there are many regulations as to how that money is spent. But, the Title 1 funds are another story entirely. The school districts can pretty much use that money as they see fit. It's the old "I didn't make the rules, but know the law" routine. They must operate within certain guidelines with regard to Title 1, but they sure as hell know where those guidelines end and where their discretionary spending can begin. |
River_rat
Member
Username: River_rat
Post Number: 36
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 68.166.44.44
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 5:38 pm: | |
Every few months a reporter is sent out to do a "poor starving kids in America story." The story is always filled with hyperbole and inaccuracies; but, as you can see by this thread, they always rachet up the bleeding hearts.
Forty years and 9 trillion dollars into the "War on Poverty" of LBJ and everyone who followed has not changed the landscape. With the exception of mental disease induced tradgedies, there is little or no hard evidence of any malnutrition in the children of the city. They may drink too much soda and eat too much sugar instead of nutritious meals but the etiology of this is poor purchases and decisions by the guardian/parent.
Stop freting over the same old story rewritten for the 235th time in the last forty years.
the river rat, professional curmudgeon |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 6907
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.251.24
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 6:01 pm: | |
quote:there is little or no hard evidence of any malnutrition in the children of the city.
While there may not be sweeping starvation your assumption shows how little you know.
Agreed about poor purchasing decisions by the parents but some is also based upon the poorest nutritional foods being dirt cheap. Go to a supermarket in the city and you will see lots of people loading up on rice/ramen noodles/mac-n-cheese and other high starct, low nutritiounal food that is very inexpensive and will not spoil.
I am willing to bet that you have never been in that situation but fuck it let's keep the meals away from the children.
Somebody really needs to slap River Rat.
(Message edited by jt1 on March 06, 2006) |
River_rat
Member
Username: River_rat
Post Number: 37
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 68.166.44.44
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 6:13 pm: | |
You would lose your bet, Jt1.
Please inform me of the statistics relative to diagnosis code (ICD-9) 260 to 263 in children in the city not associated with other causes and I will accept my ignorance.
the river rat (slap-slap) |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 6909
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 198.208.251.24
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 6:24 pm: | |
(edited out part questioning the validity of RR claiming to have been in the situation above. Not my place to question him/her.)
So poverty and malnutrition have no parallel?
If you want to prove you are correct please show the causes for those and how none are coorelated to poverty. Where do you suggest that people struggling to stretch their grocery dollar get vast amounts of protein. Tell me what sources of protein are cheaper than raman noodles and other high starch foods. Which protein sources can you buy in bulk for a discount and not have to worry about spoilage.
Peanut butter comes to mind. Now tell me the rest of these wonderfully cheap, high shelf life foods that can be bought in bulk with huge amounts of protein.
(Message edited by jt1 on March 06, 2006) |
River_rat
Member
Username: River_rat
Post Number: 38
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 71.126.177.217
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 7:06 pm: | |
I didn't say anything about the plight of poverty, I simply stated that there is no validity to the story about "poor starving kids in America". It is difficult to stretch a dollar for the poor to have a good diet. To answer the direct question, soy beans, lentils and plain baked brown beans are high in protein and easy to buy in bulk and store. And chicken is a reasonable price as a source of protein. But it needs refrigeration.
But overwhelmingly, the poor diet of the struggling poor is that Coca-Cola and burgers at McD's are much more attractive and easier to get (and they really advertise well). They are also expensive.
I advocate programs that truly provide nutritional meals to those in need, doing that is very difficult. To do so would infringe upon the rights of self-determination and freedom of the recipients. There are no easy answers, but the story that started the thread is an example of why little changes for the poor in this country despite staggering expenditures. We think that some government program, however well meaning, is the answer.
I don't know the answer, but the forty years of effort hasn't worked, has it?
the river rat, sorry for offending |
Jjaba
Member
Username: Jjaba
Post Number: 3232
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.160.138.107
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 7:27 pm: | |
River rat, we meet again. Detroit, Michigan has the vital statistics of Honduras.
Get our your latest World Almanac and look it up.
Rat, you are certainly correct. Governmental fixes have not solved poverty in Detroit.
John Conyers has not conquered poverty in Detroit.
jjaba, tells it like it tis. |
River_rat
Member
Username: River_rat
Post Number: 39
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 71.126.177.217
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 9:04 pm: | |
Jjaba et al, yes Detroit has vital stats that are abyssmal. Why? A concatenation of events that started nearly a half a century ago when you and I were delivering the Detroit Times on the westside. The plethora of 'government fixes' hasn't and will never work. They never address the root issues because the basic reasons for the decline are too difficult and emotionally charged to even discuss in a rational manner. E.g. - the response to my original post on this thread.
This thread began because a bored reporter trotted out a warhorse story that has been written 252 times in the last 40+ years. Because nobody wants any kid to not have an adequate and reasonable diet, we want a "program" to fix it. No program will ever fix it. What is necessary is a draconian change in our approach with a painful and open discussion on why poverty exists in a wealthy country. It will be painful to realize those factors that have persisted despite all the efforts.
To connect the threads, the John Conyers (or any other current politician of either party) of Washington will never do it. They can not even discuss the questions in a civil manner (sort of like the forum). They are completely beholden to their party and special interest groups.
Want to end kids being hungry? Think outside the box. Provide them with three meals a day in an all day school program (8-6) without the corrupt and incompetent bureaucracy of current educational systems. Demand and enforce comportment and citizenship in that system in order that an education is obtained.
Again, all this requires the release of some personal freedoms. Discipline a kid at school now and find out how fast you need a lawyer.
Our entire system is broken when it comes to correcting the ills of poverty.
the river rat, sometimes be deep inside the beltway |
Jenniferl
Member
Username: Jenniferl
Post Number: 248
Registered: 03-2004
Posted From: 4.229.156.201
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 9:25 pm: | |
I used to work in a special ed class in a Detroit Public school. My kids came from all over the city in taxis, so they didn't arrive in time to eat breakfast in the gym with the rest of the kids in that school. Therefore, they ate breakfast in the classroom. It was just a small amount of milk and cereal and some fruit juice, nothing fancy. The food was free only for the kids whose families couldn't afford to pay for it. Of the six kids in my group, only one came from a home that was truly poor. "Billy" with his grandmother, who was also raising other grandkids and may have had one or two kids of her own still at home.
One day the kids didn't get their breakfast, for some reason I cannot remember. (This was back in the early 1990s, so my memory is kind of fuzzy.) For the 5 other boys, this was fine. They had already eaten something at home. But Billy couldn't do his work and kept complaining that he was hungry. Normally, he was a very agreeable child-- one of the nicest kids I've ever worked with. But on this particular day, he was quite the opposite. The teacher I was working with had some peanut butter and crackers stashed away. She gave some to Billy, he went out in the hall for a drink, and came back his usual, happy-go-lucky self. The rest of the day went on as usual.
So yes, some kids really do need that school breakfast. It makes all the difference. |
Jt1
Member
Username: Jt1
Post Number: 6910
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 4.229.99.36
| | Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 10:24 pm: | |
RR - Your post 38 is a very fair and true post. Thanks for the response. |