please, sir ...

Still researching the "type-C" lunch ... aka (but don't quote me till the USDA links stop crashing my firefox) the school milk program. Reading up on the National School Lunch Program - interesting stuff, starting with the supposition that the meals provided are "nutritionally balanced." Pastry pockets, french bread slathered with enough butter to choke a cow, and cheese pizzas that veritably glisten with grease may be technically nutritionally balanced, but I'd also bet they're way higher in fat and sugar than they have to be.

But I already have truck driver, sandwich artist, librarian, lawyer, and eternal student on my list of possible career changes, so I'll leave "dietician" off the list for now.

I am really interested in the C-lunch thing, though. I missed the news bit on the student whose family was delinquent in repayment of lunch loans (some $11 or so worth? which in terms of reduced-cost lunch is 55 loans of 20 cents apiece.) Heard about it from K, who takes these types of issues very much to heart. Apparently the student (and others on the C-lunch list) receives a roll and a half-pint of milk for lunch. And reading the NSLP info on the milk program, the bread at that particular school seems to be a bonus.

Outrage all around. Draw the line? Define basic human rights? As any person, I want all kids healthy and well-fed. As a teacher, I want my kids healthy, well-fed, and performing well in the classroom. As a member of a school community that includes food service management heavily reliant on federal funding, I want our students to continue to benefit from that funding, which means correcting the management violations that are putting that federal assistance in jeopardy.

Whatever that means. Like I said, I'm still finding out.

Have a Saturday ... damned USDA links.