Chocolate Milk in DCPS

[Anonymous]

If you are against chocolate milk reappearing in the schools, please write to the Chancellor and/or Kwame Brown. This is a great opportunity to be heard on this issue since it is back up for debate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um....no. Especially since we don't eat organic at home. At what point in time did a school become the feeder of children? When they can't even educate our children properly now we want to make sure they are feeding them nutritiously? Nanny state anyone?
Like it or not, feeding kids is some of the most important work schools do. DCPS (and charters) are the primary meal source for a lot of kids.[i][u] No one's suggesting that school meals be all organic (although I think some targeted organic decisions - milk, certain fruits - are in order). But at a minimum, we should make sure school meals are nutritious, and not filled with junk. Everyone has a different baseline for that, but for me, at least, that includes no sweetened milk, no juice, and certainly no fruit loops. If you're dead set on your kids drinking chocolate milk and juice and eating other kinds of crap, feel free to buy it for them. The schools shouldn't provide it.

YES!! Part of providing an education is ensuring the children are prepared to learn, and I'm sure we're all familiar with the boat-loads of research that shows that under- or mal-nourished children underperform academically as well as in their socio-emotional development. If you assume the attitude that a child whose parent(s) cannot feed him/her for whatever reason is simply sh*t-outta-luck, you're placing the blame with the child (an unfair and undue burden to anyone just trying to learn and survive). Not to mention the negative associations you are giving your own child by espousing that kind of attitude - that is exactly how prejudices/stereotypes are perpetuated. If the public schools don't assume this responsibility, who does? Programs like WIC, etc. are of some help, but also limit a family's choices/ability to buy "good" foods. Our children need to be taught and shown that they are worth something, and are capable and valued members of our society. If we feed them junk and treat them like junk, what do we expect they will become?!