Are They Schools or Soup Kitchens?

9/26/2013

WE think the mission creep has gotten way out of hand:

A Message from Communications and Community Relations

Dear Staff,

We are sending this message to families on School Messenger today via email and phone. Dr. Baker and Isabel Meeker will be sending phone calls home to families. The press release is posted here on our website.

Bellingham Public Schools’ after-school dinners have begun for the new school year. We’re excited to offer free hot meals to all children under 18. Please note that accompanying adults are charged $4.

These meals are offered at Shuksan Middle School in their cafeteria on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from September 19 through June 10, 2014. Dinner is served from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Providing healthy meals and snacks is part of our collective commitment to the children in our community, ensuring they have the nutrition they need to learn, play and grow. Offering this program promotes healthy, active individuals and supports the whole child as outlined in The Bellingham Promise.

The after-school dinner program is sponsored by the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

For more information, contact Mark Dalton, Director of Food Services for Bellingham Public Schools.

2 Comments

Riley Sweeney link

9/27/2013 02:02:09 am

Starving children don't learn. Feeding kids has a proven positive impact on their learning and school cafeterias are pretty efficient at serving large groups of people. I don't see a problem with this.

Karl Uppiano link

9/27/2013 01:19:05 pm

"Starving children don't learn". That is the pinnacle of hyperbole. When diabesity is one of the biggest health problems in this country, I'd say we're a long way from starvation, even without government programs.

I believe schools, and school budgets should be about teaching, not about catering. I think the term "mission creep" really sums it up. If schools had to compete for students and budgets, our education system would be in a race to the top for true instructional excellence, instead of how best to increase their share of the public treasury, and constant tweaks like common core.

When a school starts hemorrhaging students due to poor customer satisfaction, you just know they'll figure out how to be more effective or go out of business.

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Are They Schools or Soup Kitchens?

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