Clarke schools opt out of new all-free school lunch program (GA)

Online Athens ^ | July 25, 2013 | by Lee Shearer

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Clarke County public schools will take a pass on a new free-lunch-for-all federal program, at least for now.

Under the “Healthy, Hunger-free Kids” act of 2010, school districts with high levels of students who qualify for free or reduced lunchroom prices can opt to offer free lunches to all students this year.

The Clarke County School District easily qualifies.

Since 2003, the percent of pupils in Clarke schools who qualify for free or reduced lunch has jumped from 64 percent in 2003 to 82 percent as of 2013.

If Clarke entered the all-free-lunch program, schools and parents would no longer have to go through an application process to find out who does or doesn’t qualify.

“We could eliminate a lot of paperwork,” Lanoue said.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

"All-free-lunch".. A perfect slogan for the Kenyan's administration.

[PrairieLady2]

They really should feed the kids what they feed the kenyan.

[Bronzy]

In Indianapolis we have the: http://www.childrensmuseum.org/indianapolis_children_benefit_from_feeding_our_future

Excerpt: “Within the Museum’s own neighborhood there are children going without meals during the summer months when they are not in school,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “Partnering with Sodexo to help fill this void is a natural extension of our mission to serve the educational needs of children and families. We are proud to take a leadership role in implementing this program in Indianapolis and our staff has shown an outpouring of their own time and effort to help make these meals possible.”

[GeronL]

All schools should offer free beans and rice

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Oldeconomybuyer. Somehow this has to be George Zimmerman’s fault.

[exDemMom]

I hate to say it, but all these free lunch giveaways just teach poor people that they are essentially pets. They aren’t learning to take care of themselves; they aren’t learning how to make nutritious meals on a shoestring budget.

Furthermore, taking the option to move the whole school to free lunches might save time on processing applications, but it costs more money. Each extra child that receives free lunches whose family does not meet the income threshold costs the school money needlessly—probably a few hundred dollars per school year, as compared to the $5 or so worth of time it takes an administrator to review the application and deny it.

I speak as a former recipient of free lunches... Lucky for me, I was smart enough to reject poverty culture indoctrination.