Tag Archives: West Hoke Elementary School

State employee replaced preschoolers “unhealthy” lunch with chicken nuggets

From Fox North Carolina. (H/T Ari)

Excerpt:

A Hoke County preschooler was fed chicken nuggets for lunch because a state worker felt that her homemade lunch did not have enough nutritional value, according to a report by the Carolina Journal.

The West Hoke Elementary School student was in her More at Four classroom when a state employee who was inspecting lunch boxes decided that her packed lunch — which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips — “did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines,” the Journal reports.

The decision was made under consideration of a regulation put in place by the the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs to meet USDA guidelines.

“When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones,” the Journal reports.

The student’s mother told the Journal she received a note from the school about the incident and was charged $1.25 for the cafeteria tray, from which her daughter ate three chicken nuggets.

The note explained how students who did not bring “healthy lunches” would be offered the missing portions and that parents could be charged for the cost of the cafeteria food, the Journal reports.

My friend Wes homeschools his kids, and he read this story and asked why these parents had their kid in a government-run day care in the first place.

I think that the reason why is because the family probably pays 30% in taxes already, including being forced to pay for public schools that often don’t provide a quality education. They have no money left over for private schools after paying for failing public schools, and every other ridiculous life-equalization social program. It’s amazing to me how parents have money automatically deducted from their pockets to pay for schools that do things like this to their children. And the answer is, of course, to stop funding public schools directly and provide parents with a voucher, so that parents can choose the education option that works for them.