Tuscaloosa School Lunches Under Fire

Several school districts in New York have opted to drop the Federal guidelines for school lunches because, according to school officials, the children aren't purchasing lunches at all.

Since the new rules went into effect, school lunch losses total over $1 billion dollars country wide and one million fewer students are eating each day.

My own children have complained about the pitiful fare offered for their mid-day meal and the portion amount. I discovered my oldest was purchasing two, sometimes three lunches each day because one wasn't enough. In August, he spent three times the total amount one lunch per day should cost.

We opened the phone lines this morning and needless to say, NONE of the callers were fans. One grandmother complained about the serving sizes the children were receiving (two chicken fingers) while a Tuscaloosa mom was forced to dump out the salt she'd intended to sprinkle on her daughter's watermelon. She was informed by a lunchroom representative that children were not allowed salt on anything while on school grounds. Since when do the decisions of school board officials trump your own preference for your child?

'Overreach' is an understatement. Grabbing a diet Coke from a vending machine at her daughter's school before going to eat with her daughter, one unnamed caller was forced to remove the label before entering the cafeteria. No advertising of any kind is allowed in the lunchroom.

Today, we're told the latest guidelines include the removal of cheese toast and tomato soup as well as spaghetti and meatballs.

Here's how you can stand up to the Tuscaloosa County School Board who, as one employee claims, has promised firings for anyone deviating from the federal recipes.

The nice folks feeding our kids don't like the guidelines, parents can't afford them and the kids won't eat the food suggested by them.

Yet, they persist.

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