Feed students to help them learn

Some of Clayton’s students may soon learn the life lesson that you can’t get something for nothing.

According to the Journal-Constitution, 77.5 percent of Clayton County Public School students receive free or reduced lunch, the highest percentage in metro Atlanta.

I mentor public school students weekly during their lunch hour. The meal is usually sparse and a few complain of hunger afterward. So imagine if that is the only and/or best meal some get daily? It would be a shame to lose that. While there probably are parents who take advantage of the fact that nobody wants to see a kid go hungry and will send a child out with no money, there are possibly just as many parents who simply don’t have the money to send.

According to Dr. Henry Anderson, a family medicine physician in the metro area, “Numerous and voluminous studies have stated and confirmed what we all know to be true is that school-age children, pre-teens, and teenagers need to eat well-balanced, nutritious meals during breakfast and lunch as well as a midmorning and midafternoon snack to ensure that their brains and bodies are well-fueled, primed, and energized for maximum, highest, and optimal educational learning to occur throughout the school day.”

But the end result is someone has to pay for this. Should our board of education vote to bill parents for school lunches? Or as a taxpayer are you willing to help foot this bill?

Reader comments

Don’t be cruel!: For many poor children, the school meal is the only balanced meal they receive. Some elderly must choose between rent and prescriptions. Many poor families must choose between rent and food… . Why do we jump to conclusions and think that welfare moms are working the system? Many poor moms have lost their jobs, homes and dignity, and free school meals takes a little bit of burden off them.

SA: I have no problem assisting those in need. But there’s a difference between freeloaders who use their child for their benefit vs. those who really need it.

truth hurts: The only way we now have to identify students at need for free/reduced lunch is the forms they file. If the system is broken, let’s fix it. There are many families who are lying on their forms. We need more investigations to verify the numbers self-reported on these forms.

borodawg: No, we should not pay to feed those who can afford it. We should also crack down on those that do get free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch. (Breakfast at school?! Incredible!)

Childless, for now: I have no kids so don’t know how this goes, but why don’t schools require that parents submit pay stubs or tax returns with their applications to make sure that their kids are entitled to receive a free or reduced lunch?

> Kimberly Allen writes Clayton.Talk, a blog at ajc.com/clayton.