Lunch program 'great benefit'
But some don't take advantage
School lunch programs provide nutrition to students, but some don’t take advantage of free or reduced-lunch programs because they don’t want to be stigmatized.
Gilmer School Superintendent Rick Albritton said that “participation is very, very high through sixth grade.
“However, for the sixth grade and up, we know who is eligible, but some don’t participate because they are worried about being identified.”
Albritton said that Gilmer school lunchrooms have put in a system to help hide the identity of those receiving free or reduced-price lunches.
“Everyone has an ID card,” he said. “Those who pay in advance have the money credited to their account and it is debited when they present it in the food line. Since everyone’s card looks the same, no one can tell who is getting the free or reduced-price meal.”
“The lunch program is a great benefit to our kids,” he said.
He said the federal reimbursement helps them control meals costs and keep prices lower for their paying customers.
Albritton also said that federal nutrition program guidelines “change the way we feed our kids.”
Foods high in sugar and/or food are basically banned. There are no soft drinks permitted, and vending machines have water and juice. Students at the high school and junior high campuses may drink sodas after 2 p.m.
Snack machines may carry things like peanut-butter crackers, but not candy.
Gilmer ISD has handled the situation better than schools in many parts of the country.
According to an article in the New York Times on March 1, “Free Lunch Isn’t Cool, So Students Go Hungry.”
It cites examples of some schools across the country where there are separate lines for free lunch and for those paying for lunch. Some students who qualify won’t each, feeling it will stigmatize them.
The Times article quoted a student at Balboa High school in San Francisco, Calif., as stating that lunchtime “is the best time to impress your peers.” He said that being seen with a subsidized meal “lowers your status.”
The article said that in San Francisco, only 37 percent of eligible high school students take advantage of the subsidzed food program.
In New York City, 860,000 free or subsidized meals are served daily.
The Times article said that federal school lunch programs began during the Great Depression to assist farmers.
Today, it said, “The United States Department of Agriculture spends $8.3 billion a year to provide free and reduced-price lunchens for 30.6 million children whose families are at or below 130 percent of the national poverty level, about $26,845 for a family of four. The program also provides reduced-price meals students who are between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level, or $38,203 for a family of four.”
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