Written by: Frank Waln April 27, 2017
SFUSD announced Thursday that they would cease providing rotting school lunches and breakfast. The announcement came to a surprise to SFUSD’s 56,000 students when they learned Thursday afternoon that lunches without mold or rot would be replaced the following Monday with affordable, fresh, and nutritious meals. Balboa High School sophomore Maria Gonzalez said, “I can’t believe we will have edible meals coming Friday. I’d like to believe the district will no longer provide moldy food, but I won’t hold my breath. I’ll still sit in the quad looking at food on Instagram.” Gonzalez’s feelings about the announcement are shared by many students and teachers in the district. Ms. Maltese, a teacher at AP Giannini Middle School said, “… I attended schools in this very district from pre-K to high school. Coming from a low-income family, I scavenged for in dumpsters for scraps of meals instead of consuming any meal provided by SFUSD.”
If the district follows through with it’s proposed policy change, the district could slash starvation rates among low-income students in the district by 100%. San Francisco Department on Public Health along with the United Nations’ Coalition of Water, Food, and Life Advocates will be monitoring the transfer of food program. If successful, SFUSD will be the last and largest school district to be guilty of gross malnutrition among its youth it serves.
The policy is not welcomed by all. The Coalition of Teachers for Stipends and the Association of SFUSD Administrators have issued statements urging district officials to reconsider their change in food policy. SFUSD substitute teacher Nora Borganovo had this to say, “Most students throw their moldy food away. Since I have an eating disorder, i eat around the mold. I don’t feel bad once I vomit since the food was free anyway.
Now, the nation looks on as SFUSD is put to the test of providing a basic need for students.