Tavares, FL - Oct. 1, 2012
The Lake County School District Board recently received an annual update on School Lunch programs from the head of the school food programs, Gary Dodds. Most of the food is for kids who get free lunch funded by Federal funds.
However, Michelle Obama pushed through a "healthy foods" initiatives which among other things, mandates that each kids MUST be GIVEN fruit and vegetables, even if they don't want it, and the kids throw the food out. Dodds doesn't want to measure the waste.
Why is it that government won't measure waste or allocate enough funds to track waste AND take action to fix it?
You can read today's Orlando Sentinel article about the School food program presentation and Board discussions about food that the kids are throwing out.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-school-food-waste-20120930,0,1993800.story
Here are my comments submitted online below the article:
I attended the Lake County Board meeting where this was brought up, just like a year ago, when Gary Dodds gave his annual update on school food. As a taxpayer, I am aggravated at Dodd's ambivalence over tracking wasted food - it could be done on a sampling basis either by weighing and counting trash cans vs a control group where healthy food wasn't required. There was a long talk show recently dedicated to this, and they disclosed a lot of the aggravating requirements were part of Michell Obama's "healthy food initiative".
Other issues not really mentioned were the lower calorie counts than recommended for growing kids. The article was very good, but the reporter should do a "Part 2" and actually talk to kids and parents and attend a lunchroom to talk to kids about issues. A lot more might come out.
But, as a taxpayer, the Board needs to ask why Dodd's isn't worried about tracking the amount of wasted foods. If he was managing the bus fleet and wasn't worried about tracking breakdowns or poor mileage, I would want him and senior Schools management held accountable. Just because food is mostly paid with "free money", i.e. Federal grants, is no reason not to be responsible in tracking waste so better policy decisions can be made. The Board should not let this issue go unmeasured so results can be given to local Congress members.
Vance Jochim
