I think this letter constitutes the fourth time we have been asked to fill out the application for free or reduced priced lunches.
They are starting to wear me down. But I think I'm going to remain pig headed steadfast.
1. "Once all families have filed, Disney Elementary will be considered for no charge meals for all students." 100% of the kids at this school do not need free lunch. I assume that the ones who really do "need" a free lunch are already getting it through the free/reduced lunch program. Furthermore, I walk the 5-year-old to school every day, and I can tell by looking at the clothes these kids wear, and the cars their parents drive that it wont kill them financially to make their kid a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In my last post on this topic, I point out that the census data would tend to agree with my observations.
2. I fail to see why we want to encourage large numbers of children to participate in this program. Shouldn't we be encouraging people to get off and stay off welfare? The problem lies with the school and their desire to get their hands on Title I funding, whatever the cost. However, having a large percentage of students participating in the free/reduced price lunch program doesn't bode well for the school or the neighborhood. To quote a previous commenter to my blog,
The best and the brightest kids, and the best parents either get into the schools they want, or they leave. Those kids would be the leaders, socially and academically, in their schools. The parents would be active and interested in their kids education, and they would not hesitate to complain if there were a problem. The good kids and parents who are left are insufficient to the task of making a difference.I would submit that these high numbers of free/reduced price lunch participation only exacerbates this exodus.
These people would also be the neighborhood leaders, and their absence diminishes the neighborhood in the same way.
3. My child doesn't qualify, and I see no reason to fill out a form with personal information on it. The form asks all kinds of questions as to the income of my household. It's none of the school's business what I make, and I'm not going to voluntarily give them that information, especially when it serves my child no benefit.
I'm not going to be pressured into filling out this form. So I wish they would quit asking.
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3 comments:
There is no such thing as a free lunch...
This free lunch statistic is used for so many things. I guess you can't blame the school for wanting to maximize their income by being put into this category. Not only can Disney get additional federal funding because their kids are "poor" they also attract the attention of private and civic organizations that use this information to see where their money should go. Kudos to those that step up and try to fill the gaps.
I guess I just resent the fact that some TPS bureaucrat is trying to tell me that I need to fill out a form for government assistance.
I'm NOT poor.
(nor are my neighbors)
There used to be a time when people, men in particular, took pride in providing for their family. It was a shameful stop gap measure to have to ask the government for assistance. My child gets a free breakfast every morning at school. Yet she leaves the house with a belly full of healthy food because I don't want her to eat their faux nutritious welfare slop.
They want us to take pride in our schools, and letters like this keep me from doing so. Why can't we adequately fund our schools without having to characterize their population as needy, starving children?
I take great pride in the way that I raise, feed and clothe my children, but right now I'm shameful of the way I'm educating them.
Man, this is discouraging. The carrot of course, is you get a "free" lunch.
The real deal is you pay for the "free" lunch vicariously through the government PLUS there's the added bonus of making people believe that there is actually such thing as a free lunch. If EVERYONE gets a free lunch you pay more. My child takes his lunch.
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