Free Breakfast/Lunch for All Students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when does every kid in Fairfax county get this?

I take 25 students to lunch. On a typical day I'd say 2 to 4 eat school lunch. Even if it was free I doubt many more than that would eat school lunch.

Not true. We are in Vienna and a lot of kids buy lunch including mine. It’s convenient. Our school is not on that list and does not need to be.

How is what I wrote not true? My post was about my experience at my school, not your school in Vienna. I take them to lunch every day. On average 2-4 will eat school lunch and I’d bet most would still pack even if it was free.

Not surprised. The food is disgusting according to DC who would rather not eat than eat what is served. Packed lunches every day!

[Anonymous]

Looks like that list is only for FCPS. ACPS has schools getting free breakfast, not sure about lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the farms cutoff for this?

Last year, the lowest was 66.0%, but there were some schools over 66% not getting all-free meals this year:

Annandale Terrace Elementary School (Annandale) - 77.5%
Bailey’s Elementary School (Justice) - 67.5%
Bailey’s Upper Elementary School (Justice) - 75.0%
Braddock Elementary School (Annandale) - 75.3%
Crestwood Elementary School (Lee) - 68.9%
Dogwood Elementary School (South Lakes) - 76.0%
Garfield Elementary School (Lee) - 69.7%
Glen Forest Elementary School (Justice) - 75.3%
Graham Road Elementary School (Falls Church) - 83.4%
Groveton Elementary School (West Potomac) - 68.5%
Hutchison Elementary School (Herndon) - 80.4%
Hybla Valley Elementary School (West Potomac) - 90.4%
Lynbrook Elementary School (Lee) - 85.3%
Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 80.9%
Parklawn Elementary School (Justice/Annandale) - 74.0%
Riverside Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 67.9%
Weyanoke Elementary School (Annandale) - 76.3%
Woodburn Elementary School (Falls Church) - 66.0%
Woodley Hills Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 68.3%

Woodburn Elementary is all single family houses and townhouses and right near Merrifield and 495 inside the beltway. How on earth is it at 66% FARMS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School lunch is awful. If people are going to spend taxpayers money on feeding kids, make sure it's nutritious and edible.

They are nutritious now and largely go untouched by many students. At our school, those who receive a free lunch are required to take one. If they skip the line that day, an attendant brings a tray to them. Even if they don't want it, that's the rule. And then it gets thrown away untouched. These are kids who get bags of food to carry them over the weekend (mostly junk food, like, boxed mac & cheese and Chef Boyardee) and are known to be food insecure. Hungry kids would rather go hungry than eat the garbage given to them... that's sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School lunch is awful. If people are going to spend taxpayers money on feeding kids, make sure it's nutritious and edible.

They are nutritious now and largely go untouched by many students. At our school, those who receive a free lunch are required to take one. If they skip the line that day, an attendant brings a tray to them. Even if they don't want it, that's the rule. And then it gets thrown away untouched. These are kids who get bags of food to carry them over the weekend (mostly junk food, like, boxed mac & cheese and Chef Boyardee) and are known to be food insecure. Hungry kids would rather go hungry than eat the garbage given to them... that's sad.

Then they are not truly hungry. A hungry kid will eat anything edible if they dont have food at home. My sister used to work in Baltimore City schools. Fights would break out over access to food and I doubt those lunches tasted much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School lunch is awful. If people are going to spend taxpayers money on feeding kids, make sure it's nutritious and edible.

Says someone who can afford to feed their kids so that thier kids don't have to rely on those free lunches.

MCPS does free breakfasts (and maybe lunches) for all summer school kids. I was talking to the principal at my son's summer school and she told me that kids who are not enrolled in summer school show up just to eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So there is no percentage of poor kids where the free food is automatic? How do they decide which schools qualify?

Instead of having students fill out forms and qualify individually, schools can apply for to have the whole school qualify based on the median income in the community. It's much more efficient, in predominantly low income areas it's cheaper for the fed to just feed the kids who aren't low-income rather than doing all the compliance to make sure the schools are submitting paperwork properly.

This is not true. The FCPS press release tells the parents to fill out the forms anyway because it affects other benefits such as reduced fees for instruments and sports in higher grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not in VA but Baltimore City schools decided to do this for all schools a few years ago. All students in all school receive free breakfast and lunch. It makes the breakfast and lunch lines move a lot faster since students no longer have to enter their PIN number at the end of the line.

Wrong--kids still enter a pin, (1) because USDA wants to track the use; and (2) because add-ons are not free (popcorn, pretzels, cookies, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Our Girl Scout troop got involved in supporting food banks etc several years ago. The girls interviewed school principals and others and they heard about and is some cases had personally seen the impact of the stigma of getting a free breakfast for only FARMS kids. There are kids who will not get a free breakfast because they are ashamed or they can’t get to school early enough to eat.

But the stories that stuck out the most for our girls was when one of our troop said that she didn’t get breakfast at home because her mother never ate breakfast and didn’t think her daughter needed it so that she wouldn’t get fat. Another child shared that when a friend of hers was staying with her dad (divorce) he didn’t keep cereal or anything in his house and wouldn’t give her money to buy breakfast because he paid hold support. That child wouldn’t ask her mom for money because funds were really tight. So that girl would pack extra food for her friend on those days.

The girls resolved to go to their school leadership and suggest that breakfast bars be provided for all classes everyday. That way there was no stigma and it helped all of the kids even those who were just a little extra hungry that day. The PTO ended up sponsoring it at one school (Catholic) and the public school applied for a school waiver for the next year.

I wish grown ups could see with the eyes of children sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the farms cutoff for this?

Last year, the lowest was 66.0%, but there were some schools over 66% not getting all-free meals this year:

Annandale Terrace Elementary School (Annandale) - 77.5%
Bailey’s Elementary School (Justice) - 67.5%
Bailey’s Upper Elementary School (Justice) - 75.0%
Braddock Elementary School (Annandale) - 75.3%
Crestwood Elementary School (Lee) - 68.9%
Dogwood Elementary School (South Lakes) - 76.0%
Garfield Elementary School (Lee) - 69.7%
Glen Forest Elementary School (Justice) - 75.3%
Graham Road Elementary School (Falls Church) - 83.4%
Groveton Elementary School (West Potomac) - 68.5%
Hutchison Elementary School (Herndon) - 80.4%
Hybla Valley Elementary School (West Potomac) - 90.4%
Lynbrook Elementary School (Lee) - 85.3%
Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 80.9%
Parklawn Elementary School (Justice/Annandale) - 74.0%
Riverside Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 67.9%
Weyanoke Elementary School (Annandale) - 76.3%
Woodburn Elementary School (Falls Church) - 66.0%
Woodley Hills Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 68.3%

Woodburn Elementary is all single family houses and townhouses and right near Merrifield and 495 inside the beltway. How on earth is it at 66% FARMS?

There are numerous apartment buildings that are zoned for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So there is no percentage of poor kids where the free food is automatic? How do they decide which schools qualify?

Instead of having students fill out forms and qualify individually, schools can apply for to have the whole school qualify based on the median income in the community. It's much more efficient, in predominantly low income areas it's cheaper for the fed to just feed the kids who aren't low-income rather than doing all the compliance to make sure the schools are submitting paperwork properly.

This is not true. The FCPS press release tells the parents to fill out the forms anyway because it affects other benefits such as reduced fees for instruments and sports in higher grades.

They still fill out the paperwork for FCPS benefits, but the school will not need to file all the paperwork with the USDA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the farms cutoff for this?

Last year, the lowest was 66.0%, but there were some schools over 66% not getting all-free meals this year:

Annandale Terrace Elementary School (Annandale) - 77.5%
Bailey’s Elementary School (Justice) - 67.5%
Bailey’s Upper Elementary School (Justice) - 75.0%
Braddock Elementary School (Annandale) - 75.3%
Crestwood Elementary School (Lee) - 68.9%
Dogwood Elementary School (South Lakes) - 76.0%
Garfield Elementary School (Lee) - 69.7%
Glen Forest Elementary School (Justice) - 75.3%
Graham Road Elementary School (Falls Church) - 83.4%
Groveton Elementary School (West Potomac) - 68.5%
Hutchison Elementary School (Herndon) - 80.4%
Hybla Valley Elementary School (West Potomac) - 90.4%
Lynbrook Elementary School (Lee) - 85.3%
Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 80.9%
Parklawn Elementary School (Justice/Annandale) - 74.0%
Riverside Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 67.9%
Weyanoke Elementary School (Annandale) - 76.3%
Woodburn Elementary School (Falls Church) - 66.0%
Woodley Hills Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 68.3%

Woodburn Elementary is all single family houses and townhouses and right near Merrifield and 495 inside the beltway. How on earth is it at 66% FARMS?

There are numerous apartment buildings that are zoned for it.

Ok I see one. Fairfmont Gardens. But that has only 72 units total in the complex and not all of them have children. Something is off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the farms cutoff for this?

Last year, the lowest was 66.0%, but there were some schools over 66% not getting all-free meals this year:

Annandale Terrace Elementary School (Annandale) - 77.5%
Bailey’s Elementary School (Justice) - 67.5%
Bailey’s Upper Elementary School (Justice) - 75.0%
Braddock Elementary School (Annandale) - 75.3%
Crestwood Elementary School (Lee) - 68.9%
Dogwood Elementary School (South Lakes) - 76.0%
Garfield Elementary School (Lee) - 69.7%
Glen Forest Elementary School (Justice) - 75.3%
Graham Road Elementary School (Falls Church) - 83.4%
Groveton Elementary School (West Potomac) - 68.5%
Hutchison Elementary School (Herndon) - 80.4%
Hybla Valley Elementary School (West Potomac) - 90.4%
Lynbrook Elementary School (Lee) - 85.3%
Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 80.9%
Parklawn Elementary School (Justice/Annandale) - 74.0%
Riverside Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 67.9%
Weyanoke Elementary School (Annandale) - 76.3%
Woodburn Elementary School (Falls Church) - 66.0%
Woodley Hills Elementary School (Mount Vernon) - 68.3%

Woodburn Elementary is all single family houses and townhouses and right near Merrifield and 495 inside the beltway. How on earth is it at 66% FARMS?

There are numerous apartment buildings that are zoned for it.

Ok I see one. Fairfmont Gardens. But that has only 72 units total in the complex and not all of them have children. Something is off.

There are 389 units in Fairmont Gardens. (See https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/demographics/sites/demographics/files/assets/rentalhousingreports/rent2013.pdf; doubt it's changed since then.) Even so, I agree with you that Woodburn's FARMS percentage is higher than I would expect.

[Anonymous]

I actually think Woodburn is a typo and it should be Woodlawn in Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our Girl Scout troop got involved in supporting food banks etc several years ago. The girls interviewed school principals and others and they heard about and is some cases had personally seen the impact of the stigma of getting a free breakfast for only FARMS kids. There are kids who will not get a free breakfast because they are ashamed or they can’t get to school early enough to eat.

But the stories that stuck out the most for our girls was when one of our troop said that she didn’t get breakfast at home because her mother never ate breakfast and didn’t think her daughter needed it so that she wouldn’t get fat. Another child shared that when a friend of hers was staying with her dad (divorce) he didn’t keep cereal or anything in his house and wouldn’t give her money to buy breakfast because he paid hold support. That child wouldn’t ask her mom for money because funds were really tight. So that girl would pack extra food for her friend on those days.

The girls resolved to go to their school leadership and suggest that breakfast bars be provided for all classes everyday. That way there was no stigma and it helped all of the kids even those who were just a little extra hungry that day. The PTO ended up sponsoring it at one school (Catholic) and the public school applied for a school waiver for the next year.

I wish grown ups could see with the eyes of children sometimes.

Thank you for stories like this. Sometimes it's not a black and white situation. So many other scenarios. Hooray for those girls.