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APS' decision to serve cheese sandwiches to children who's parents are delinquent on their lunch tabs caught the attention of the New York Times Magazine on Friday. Lisa Belkin's recurring column, Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting glances over the subject by quoting at length, Susan Montoya Bryan's well written article for the Associated Press a couple of weeks ago. After relaying the basics of Bryan's article, Belkin posits:
Belkin surely missed Kate Jesberg's thoughtful editorial in the Albuquerque Journal on the 14th. A Senior Policy Advocate for the New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty, Jesberg explains why the cheese sandwiches are bad policy:
APS' position is echoed in Belkin's column by ignoring the root question, can these parents actually afford to pay or are they simply "trying to get a free lunch"?
Jesberg strikes to the heart of the matter by putting the figures into context:
She then presents some logical alternatives:
Bureaucracies typically stifle creativity and that seems to be the case in this situation. We have a burgeoning local food movement going on in Albuquerque and the surrounding areas, why wasn't a mutually beneficial collaboration given any thought?
In the string of comments that followed Belkin's online post, the majority were of the "In my day we would have given anything for a cheese sandwich" variety. However, there was one comment that made me think:
We can only ponder the outrage if children from well-to-do families were forced to eat cold cheese sandwiches. When Belkin ends her column with, "And is a cheese sandwich such a terrible lunch?", I doubt she's ever had to look her child in the eye and say it.
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Published on March 01, 2009
Cheese sandwich debate reaches to NY Times Magazine
APS' decision to serve cheese sandwiches to children who's parents are delinquent on their lunch tabs caught the attention of the New York Times Magazine on Friday. Lisa Belkin's recurring column, Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting glances over the subject by quoting at length, Susan Montoya Bryan's well written article for the Associated Press a couple of weeks ago. After relaying the basics of Bryan's article, Belkin posits: What to do about a child who has no money for lunch? Is it the school’s responsibility to feed them, or the parents’?
And is a cheese sandwich such a terrible lunch?
Belkin surely missed Kate Jesberg's thoughtful editorial in the Albuquerque Journal on the 14th. A Senior Policy Advocate for the New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty, Jesberg explains why the cheese sandwiches are bad policy:
APS has a tough job, striking a balance between being fiscally responsible and making sure kids are fed. And, as the Journal editorialized, APS should take measures to balance its budget. But, in the middle of the worst economic downturn in more than 25 years, and in a place with some of the highest child poverty in the country and the second highest food insecurity rate in the nation, denying food to hungry children misses that balance.
The problem with the APS approach is that it assumes that the unpaid school lunch fees are due to parents who could afford to pay taking advantage of the system. This assumption is not supported by the facts.
APS' position is echoed in Belkin's column by ignoring the root question, can these parents actually afford to pay or are they simply "trying to get a free lunch"?
Jesberg strikes to the heart of the matter by putting the figures into context:
Regardless of the source of the unpaid fees, the amount of $140,000 is about 0.5 percent of the total APS food service budget of $27 million. While fiscal responsibility is to be applauded, this amount is nowhere near material enough to justify denying all hungry children a hot and nutritious meal.
She then presents some logical alternatives:
Other states and other school districts here in New Mexico have dealt with this problem in better ways. One approach is to maximize the number of kids who get qualified for free and reduced-price lunches. Because all children who receive food stamps automatically qualify for free lunch, school districts run computer searches to match their enrollment lists with the state's Food Stamp program. This process identifies large numbers of eligible kids with a minimum of paperwork and in many districts is done several times per year.
APS matches its enrollment with the food stamp program only at the beginning of the school year. Yet more than 4,300 children have been added to the state's food stamp program since August.
Bureaucracies typically stifle creativity and that seems to be the case in this situation. We have a burgeoning local food movement going on in Albuquerque and the surrounding areas, why wasn't a mutually beneficial collaboration given any thought?
In the string of comments that followed Belkin's online post, the majority were of the "In my day we would have given anything for a cheese sandwich" variety. However, there was one comment that made me think:
If a cold cheese sandwich is a satisfactory lunch for one, then it’s satisfactory for all. Serve them all cold cheese sandwiches and there is no more problem.
We can only ponder the outrage if children from well-to-do families were forced to eat cold cheese sandwiches. When Belkin ends her column with, "And is a cheese sandwich such a terrible lunch?", I doubt she's ever had to look her child in the eye and say it.
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