<p>"zooserman "</p>
<p>Zoosermom. I’m going to assume that it was a typo on Mini’s part.</p>
<p>“I don’t know exactly what offended you…”</p>
<p>Let me help you:
“As to feeding their kids, if you believe you should send your kids to Ivy-land or some such because of the value of having smart peers..”</p>
<p>Note that this was in the second person, and I assume addressed to me, since the earlier part of the post I’m referring to similarly referred to me.</p>
<p>It is that which offends, and that for which you owe me a public apology, having publicly stated something way off-base & insulting. To say that you’re sorry I was offended is a cop out. It’s not the same thing as acknowledging an inappropriately judgmental statement that was not implied by anything I’ve said here (or on other threads). And I think this is the 2nd time I’ve quoted your words back to you, so perhaps it would help if you would first of all read more carefully what people actually write before you over-react to something they did NOT say & could not be implied by their statements.</p>
<p>My goodness; I do wish those of you having communication problems would take them off-list.
Re the comments about controlling portions, I can certainly see where that would be a problem in many environments. (Why can’t we just get along?) I think it works at the alternative school I described because the staff and faculty have a long history of teaching and modeling kindness and cooperation. It just wouldn’t be socially acceptable among the kids to be grabby and greedy.</p>
<p>“My goodness; I do wish those of you having communication problems would take them off-list.”</p>
<p>Why? Someone attributed to me a post of another poster. I’d prefer that that didn’t stand.</p>
<p>Gotcha Zoosermom - you’re saying perhaps ( or for certain)the poster mistakenly took YOU as the one writing the offending statement. That would be disturbing.</p>
<p>“Gotcha Zoosermom - you’re saying perhaps ( or for certain)the poster mistakenly took YOU as the one writing the offending statement. That would be disturbing.”</p>
<p>Eggzactly. Whether I would agree or disagree with the post at issue is irrelevant, because I’m not smart enough to have thunk it!</p>
<p>Buckeye:</p>
<p>I would try to get students do most of the food purchasing and selling before classes. They could form something called The Breakfast Club and rotate among themselves to do the buying and selling. It could be part of their community service. With students in charge, they might be able to ensure that all have access to some food. If they ran a small profit, they could treat their fellow students to an occasional pizza.</p>
<p>I like the idea of a group called “the breakfast club”!!</p>
<p>Buckeye, I find it hard to believe that you found my comments hateful. I am the poster who is concerned with NOT stigmatizing the kids who don’t have breakfast at home… whether due to funds, parental uninvolvement, complex home life, etc. I don’t care what the reason is… to single those kids out is cruel- which is why I advocated finding a way to provide breakfast for everyone… and the kids who already ate will either grab a box of raisins or will find something else to do.</p>
<p>Your comments were out of line. However, you are trying to do a nice thing so I’m in a forgiving mood.</p>
<p>Sounds like a great idea. Two suggestions. Don’t put all the food out at once. We found if we did that the first group arriving ate it all up. Now we put it out in waves.
Also if you have a few parents around you can gently move along those who have been at the table to long.
If your school allows the serving of peanut butter it is a great protein to have around. It can be put on crackers, vegetables, bagels, banana and apples. It also doesn’t go bad and can be picked up when on sale and stored for later use.
Not to bring up the dreaded oatmeal again but another idea is to have a hot water canister on hand and have packets of instant oatmeal and paper cups. I sometimes donate the flavors that my kids don’t eat. You would need spoons though and that sometimes gets expensive.</p>
<p>I am mind-blown by the amount of parental participation that this thread seems to imply exists in other places.</p>
<p>Blossom–check post #31–I apologized already</p>
<p>I’m a little stunned at the idea that having an all-volunteer organic garden will somehow be relevant to the issue. </p>
<p>Talk about your limousine liberals…have any of you ever worked in social services? From what I can tell Epiphany is the only one with a clue.</p>
<p>Mombot – sorry you’re stunned. This is, please remember, a PUBLIC charter school. Half our kids are Mexican immigrants who are learning English. Many, many parents work two or three jobs to survive. This is NOT an elite environment. This is people helping people. The garden is part of the schoolyard, and the kids love and respect it. It’s a learning environment and a source of delectable treats (tiny fresh strawberries). All this is extremely relevant.
Of course it’s not workable everywhere. But have you ever seen a community garden provided to homeless people? I have, and it’s a joy. Pleeez don’t see “organic” and think fruity nutty Californians. It’s not always the case.</p>
<p>Our former k-8 school moved to a new location. The teachers and students have started a garden similar to what celloguy describes. The majority of students are English learners and many are on F/R lunch. I don’t think they grow enough for their needs, but the garden is used for teaching purposes and has yielded some produce. I think there is another school with a similar garden.</p>
<p>Marite, thank you for validating my experience. Maybe I explained myself badly if others think gardening is elitist.</p>
<p>My church has a community garden in which ZG has been a volunteer. It’s a wonderful thing. As far as parental participation, I’d like to be clear on my view: I’m envious of those of you who have it. I can only imagine what you can do, even without money. Not only do we not have it here, it wouldn’t be particularly welcome by the school system.</p>
<p>true zooser
because anyfood that is sold or made or grown by kids/parents/teachers that competes with the high fat high salt low fiber low taste food that is sold by the cafeteria is verboten.</p>
<p>Yes, emeraldkity, and it’s not good to have parents in the school buildings. Who knows what they might see? Heck, they could even get above their stations and have, you know, OPINIONS.</p>
<p>It seems a lot of these ideas could work together. Perhaps breakfast could be provided to those kids who come in a half hour early to work on a community project like the organic garden or something else. This approach wouldn’t work with elementary school kids, but it would work with older kids who know if they’re hungry. It would also help those kids who can’t eat in the morning. My S was one of them; he had to be at school at 7:10 and couldn’t eat before then, and no matter what lunch we provided, he claimed he was too busy at lunch and not hungry. ADD medication may have contributed. We certainly sent him to school with money or lunch.</p>
<p>Working would take stigma off receiving food, teach kids about service, and discourage moochers. (No, I would not withhold food from any kid who was hungry and didn’t want to work. Maybe those kids could keep the others company.)</p>
<p>Can food be donated by restaurants? They often throw excess away: yesterday’s bagels, etc. They might get tax write-off and might be willing to donate on a rotating, scheduled basis.</p>
<p>Since we (as a society) have enough food, everyone should certainly be fed.</p>
<p>Mombot: I find your continuing obsession with and disgusy at fat people bizarre. It certainly had nothing to do with this thread.</p>