Haley Sousa

Kevin Mira
Tasche Bryant
Writing 104
December 2016
School Lunch Proposal
Eight hours is a long school day, especially when youre thirteen years old and
probably did not eat breakfast that morning. After sitting in a classroom for hours, lunch
time finally approaches. The hungry teenager probably is looking forward to their only
hot meal of the day, the last thing they expect to happen is to have their lunch ripped out
of their hands for having a negative balance on their account.
Unfortunately, situations like this happen on a day to day basis. At Goff Middle
School, a sixth grader had his lunch snatched out of his hands in front of everyone
because he owed money. The lunch lady continued to toss the embarrassed child a cold
turkey sandwich. The little boy started to tear up and the lunch lady exclaimed, See
kids, this is what happens when you dont pay for your lunch. That cold sandwich is
possibly the only meal that the child will eat on that day.
Hunger is a problem sweeping across America. In fact, 49 million Americans are
food insecure (Facts and Statistics). Being food insecure means that families eat small
and unhealthy meals because they cannot afford a healthy alternative. Out of the 49
million, about 16 million are children. The only healthy meal that a child might receive is
at school. More than half of educators state a lot or most of their students depend on
school meals as a primary source of nutrition (Anderson). When that healthy meal is

ripped from a child's hand, where is their source of nutrition coming from? Definitely not
from a cold turkey sandwich.
Having no nutrients in a child's body all day has numerous negative effects. More
often than not, teachers complain of children falling asleep in class and/or not paying
attention. Calories produce energy and when the human body has no calories to run off
of, the body has no energy. This results in the person feeling sleepy and unfocused.
Especially for a thirteen year old, who needs at least 1,800 calories a day (Duyff). A
cold turkey sandwich typically has about 287 calories in it, which is clearly not enough to
sustain a growing teenager.
Those 287 calories could dissipate to nothing in the summer. Some school
districts offer lunch during the summer to the kids who come to the playground. But
what about the ones who cant find a ride to the playground? (Lill). One teacher states,
You can see a real learning gap at the start of the school year between the students
who had enough to eat over the break and the ones who struggled (Lill). Although
schools are doing something about their students not eating, there are more solutions
that school systems should take into consideration.
Usually, if a student owes a balance on their account, their hot lunch gets thrown
away. What happens when the meal gets tossed in the trash? The Department of
Education ends up losing money which can affect the whole system in the long run. The
food that they serve instead is usually a cold sandwich with some sort of fruit and milk.
This insures that the child wont go hungry and schools claim it saves them money but
the cold meal has to come from somewhere. Logically, it is cheaper to give the child the

already made lunch meal than to throw it away, waste money, and end up spending
even more money making a whole new lunch.
A possible solution to this problem includes passing a Hot Lunch Law that
ensures every student that wants a hot meal, receives one. This law would make it so
that even kids who didnt have money for that day would still get a hot lunch. As said
before, the school serving the child a cold lunch instead of a hot one only cuts into the
school's tight budget which is a lose lose situation, for the school and the child. The law
would have a requirement making sure all families fill out the free or reduced lunch form
even if they don't think they qualify. Sometimes, families think they dont qualify for free
lunch when they might just get a reduced price. A dollar or .50 less everyday adds up
and can save a family a ton of money.
Families can be busy, therefore there will be a mandatory night where they get
assistance from trained officials with filling out the form. In fact, Alex Johnson says, If a
school can get more eligible children enrolled, its direct costs go down because the
federal government picks up more of the bill. The economy is constantly changing,
therefore the requirements for the free and reduced price of lunch is constantly
changing (Montague). Money is tight for most middle to lower class families and this law
would also benefit those who dont qualify for free and reduced lunch because if more
people apply and get approved, the cost of lunch will go down.
School lunch could be the only meal and a child has in one day. This law
establishes a direct plan to tackle hungry kids at school. Every student deserves a hot
meal without the threat of having it ripped out of their hands.

Works Cited
Anderson, Melinda. What Do Unpaid Lunch Tabs Mean for Schools? The
Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Feb. 2016.
Duyff, Roberta. How Many Calories Does My Teen Need? Www.eatright.org,
Kids Eat Right, 14 Feb. 2014.
Facts and Statistics. Facts and Statistics, TABLE,
Johnson, Alex. Some Schools Cut Lunch Options for Kids Who Struggle to Pay.
NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 21 Feb. 2011.
Lill, Avery. School's Out, And For Many Students, So Is Lunch. NPR, NPR, 7
July 2016
Montague, Patricia. When Students Can't Pay for School Lunch, Everyone
Loses. Education Week, 1 May 2016.