Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Montgomery County spend the 2nd most $ per student? I'm just sayin-

Just sayin' what? Sayin' that MCPS is getting ripped off for what they are serving?

Have you been in the cafeteria? That food is gross. I'm not a food snob, but it's bad. I used to volunteer at lunch with grades K-2 and would have kids tell me they weren't eating the school lunches because they tasted/smelled bad. Sadly, the parents never seemed interested in sending a lunch from home.

Doesn't Montgomery County spend the 2nd most $ per student? I'm just sayin-

It's not FARMS. The cost of the regular meals doesn't even cover the cost of the meal itself. They sell junk food that many parents are not even aware their children can buy to subsidize the regular lunches.

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't the FARMS program have it's own budget? Seems unlikely that MCPS uses profits from selling pizza to support the FARMS program!

No, the PP was right. The FARMS reimbursable rate doesn't cover the entire cost of a free/reduced price meal. School nutrition services sells a la carte items like pizza nd cookies to cover its costs and, in MCPS' case, to make a profit. It cleared several million dollars last year, profiting from kids' bad food choices.

I think we need to focus on education in schools, not food. Want healthier options? Pack your child's lunch. Can't afford lunch? Get a grilled cheese sandwich, not organic chicken stir fry. Be realistic people.

I'm tired of seeing MCPS do a crap job on everything. If you are going to do something, do it right or at least not in a way that undermines what you were attempting to accomplish. Food goes beyond school lunch. Several of the teachers in our school used to give out candy every time you answered a questions correctly. There are constant ice cream and pizza parties. The school sells ice cream at lunch. Breakfast is cinnamon rolls. At least they allow you to place a note on your kid's file that they can't have chocolate milk but why serve this anyway? This stuff is fine in moderation but elementary school students are just not known for moderation when a TEACHER is offering out the treats. You combine this with a short 20 minute recess that gets canceled for drizzle and any day the temp falls under 3 and you get kids hyped up on crap and sugar with no physical activity for 6 hours a day. WTF? Its just stupid.

In terms of the quality of the school lunch, they can do much better. School lunch is the primary source of nutrition for some kids and a convenience for others. I don't think anyone is pushing for organic tofu but the lunches and breakfasts are disgusting. MCPS doesn't even try to make it better because its just too darn hard not to be stupid.

Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is interested in kids' food options at MCPS:

www.realfoodforkidsmontgomery.org

Please join Real Food for Kids - Montgomery at Dawson's Market, Rockville Town Square, Saturday, June 29 from 4-6 pm for an informal meeting and discussion of school food in MCPS.

Real Food for Kids -
Montgomery is a grass-roots, parent advocacy group promoting whole, delicious, fresh foods in the Montgomery County Public Schools. Formed in October of 2012, we currently have parents representing 62 different elementary, middle, and high schools and over 400 supporters. We are looking for at least one parent from each of the 202 schools in the county to share their expertise and passion for this issue, and who would be willing to work on a variety of topics including but not limited to: bringing fresh, local produce into the schools; opting out of school snacks; teachers rewarding children with food; free water in the cafeteria; sugar in the schools; vending machines; and processed food. If you are part of a wellness committee in your school, or just a lone crusader, please consider joining us. To voice your support and join our mailing list, please email us at RealFoodMCPS@ gmail.com or call 301-202-4812.

Thank you!

Isn't half of MoCo on FARMs program? You probably need to go to the voters for this since they are paying for so many kids' breakfasts and lunches. Lucky for you many of the voters are actually tax recipients and receive the Free and Reduced Meals!

The FArMS budget does not fund enough $$ to cover the cost of an MCPS school lunch. They absolutely use the profits of the other sales to cover the difference.

I think we need to focus on education in schools, not food. Want healthier options? Pack your child's lunch. Can't afford lunch? Get a grilled cheese sandwich, not organic chicken stir fry. Be realistic people.

Doesn't the FARMS program have it's own budget? Seems unlikely that MCPS uses profits from selling pizza to support the FARMS program!

They need to insure that they sell enough full priced meals to subsidize the free and reduced priced meals. That is why they serve so much pizza. Kids will buy it. It they served a grilled chicken salad or tofu stir fry they will likely serve fewer full priced meals and not have enough money. They make the most money on the "a la carte" items french fries cookies etc..

Is anyone on here involved with this organization? I'd love to hear more.

The newsletter on that websites talks about how MCPS makes money from the vending machines in schools. I'm guessing there is notice incentive for them to remove those vending machines!

Great idea! Several parents raised the issue of unhealthy meals at our ES. The school arranged for someone from MCPS to come and basically explain to our PTA how their meals have improved and not even acknowledge or try to address any of the issues. I guess the perspective from MCPS is just it used to be worse and we could be serving roadkill so everyone must be happy. No one was asking for organic but what they serve is terrible for kids.

Our principal did do some local improvements by stopping teachers from regularly giving out candy as daily incentive to do classwork. This was in part driven by the fact that several kids had allergies and medical reasons why they couldn't get the candy rather than overall wellness concerns.

I posted this, but don't know much about them. I got this email forwarded from a friend at my kid's school.

Planning to attend the meeting though to find out more. Thought I'd post here in case anyone else was interested! Sorry I can't provide more info.

Do you have realistic financing ideas?

In case anyone is interested in kids' food options at MCPS:

www.realfoodforkidsmontgomery.org

Please join Real Food for Kids - Montgomery at Dawson's Market, Rockville Town Square, Saturday, June 29 from 4-6 pm for an informal meeting and discussion of school food in MCPS.

Real Food for Kids -
Montgomery is a grass-roots, parent advocacy group promoting whole, delicious, fresh foods in the Montgomery County Public Schools. Formed in October of 2012, we currently have parents representing 62 different elementary, middle, and high schools and over 400 supporters. We are looking for at least one parent from each of the 202 schools in the county to share their expertise and passion for this issue, and who would be willing to work on a variety of topics including but not limited to: bringing fresh, local produce into the schools; opting out of school snacks; teachers rewarding children with food; free water in the cafeteria; sugar in the schools; vending machines; and processed food. If you are part of a wellness committee in your school, or just a lone crusader, please consider joining us. To voice your support and join our mailing list, please email us at RealFoodMCPS@ gmail.com or call 301-202-4812.

Thank you!