Haley Sousa

Kevin Mira
Tasche Bryant
Writing 104
December 2016
School Lunch Proposal
Eight hours is a long school day, especially when youre a thirteen year old who
did not eat breakfast. After sitting in a classroom for hours, lunch time finally
approaches. The hungry teenager is looking forward to their only hot meal of the day,
the last thing they expect to happen is to have their lunch ripped out of their hands for
having a negative balance on their account.
Unfortunately, situations like this happen on a day to day basis. Sophia Sousa, a
seventh grader at Goff Middle School, spoke of a situation that occurred in the
lunchroom one afternoon. A sixth grader had his lunch snatched out of his hands in front
of everyone because he owed money. The lunch lady continued to toss the
embarrassed child a cold turkey sandwich. The little boy started to tear up and the lunch
lady exclaimed, See kids, this is what happens when you dont pay for your lunch.
That cold sandwich is possibly the only meal that the child will eat on that day.
Hunger is a consistent problem that has swept across America over the past few
decades. In fact, 49 million Americans are food insecure (Facts and Statistics). Being
food insecure means that families eat small and unhealthy meals because they cannot
afford a healthy alternative. Out of the 49 million, about 16 million are children. The only
healthy meal that a child might receive is at school. More than half of educators state a

lot or most of their students depend on school meals as a primary source of nutrition
(Anderson). Having no nutrients in a child's body all day has numerous negative effects.
More often than not, teachers complain of children falling asleep in class and/or not
paying attention. Calories produce energy and when the human body has no calories to
run off of, the body has no energy. This results in the person feeling sleepy and
unfocused. Especially for a thirteen year old, who needs at least 1,800 calories a day
(Duyff). A cold turkey sandwich typically has about 287 calories in it, which is clearly not
enough to sustain a growing teenager.
Those 287 calories could dissipate to nothing in the summer. Some school
districts offer lunch during the summer to the kids who come to the playground. But
what about the ones who cant find a ride to the playground? (Lill). One teacher states,
You can see a real learning gap at the start of the school year between the students
who had enough to eat over the break and the ones who struggled (Lill). Although
schools are doing something about their students not eating, there are more solutions
that school systems should take into consideration.
Usually, if a student owes a balance on their account, their hot lunch gets thrown
away. If you simply just google school lunch getting thrown away, you will find
countless

news articles of situations

like the one at

Goff Middle School.

Figure One
What
gets tossed in

happens when the meal

the trash? The Department

of Education ends up losing money which can affect the whole system in the long run.
The food that they serve instead is usually a cold sandwich with some sort of fruit and
milk. This ensures that the child wont go hungry and schools claim it saves them
money but the cold meal has to come from somewhere. Logically, it is cheaper to give
the child the already made lunch meal than to throw it away, waste money, and end up
spending even more money making a whole new lunch.
A possible solution to this problem includes passing a Hot Lunch Law that
ensures every student that wants a hot meal, receives one. This law would make it so
that even kids who didnt have money for that day would still get a hot lunch. As said
before, the school serving the child a cold lunch instead of a hot one only cuts into the
school's tight budget which is a lose lose situation, for the school and the child. The law
would have a requirement making sure all families fill out the free or reduced lunch form
even if they don't think they qualify. Sometimes, families think they dont qualify for free
lunch when they might just get a reduced price. A dollar or .50 less everyday adds up
and can save a family a ton money.
Families can be busy, therefore there will be a mandatory night where they get
assistance from trained officials with filling out the form. In fact, Alex Johnson says, If a
school can get more eligible children enrolled, its direct costs go down because the
federal government picks up more of the bill. The economy is constantly changing,
therefore the requirements for the free and reduced price of lunch is constantly
changing (Montague). Money is tight for most middle to lower class families. According
to schoolnutrition.org, Children from families with incomes at or below 130% of the
poverty level are eligible for free school meals. Those with incomes between 130% and

185% of the poverty level are eligible for reduced price meals. For the 2016-17 school
year, 130% of the poverty level is $31,590 for a family of four and 185% is $44,955.
There are many families who are struggling day to day and bring in an income way
above poverty mark. Since legally the parents make too much, the child wouldnt get
free or reduced lunch. This law would also benefit those people because if more people
apply and get approved, the cost of lunch will go down.
School lunch could be the only meal and a child has in one day. This law
establishes a direct plan to tackle hungry kids at school. Every student deserves a hot
meal without the threat of having it ripped out of their hands.

Works Cited
Anderson, Melinda. What Do Unpaid Lunch Tabs Mean for Schools? The
Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Feb. 2016.
Duyff, Roberta. How Many Calories Does My Teen Need? Www.eatright.org,
Kids Eat Right, 14 Feb. 2014.
Facts and Statistics. Facts and Statistics, TABLE,
Johnson, Alex. Some Schools Cut Lunch Options for Kids Who Struggle to Pay.
NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 21 Feb. 2011.
Lill, Avery. School's Out, And For Many Students, So Is Lunch. NPR, NPR, 7
July 2016
Montague, Patricia. When Students Can't Pay for School Lunch, Everyone
Loses. Education Week, 1 May 2016.