BY BEN HELFRICH AND LEAH NYLEN
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE
Chicago Public Schools should make a free breakfast available to all students, and those meals should be served in the classroom, not the cafeteria where lower-income youth might feel isolated or self-conscious.
That view was expressed Wednesday by Diane Doherty, executive director of the Illinois Hunger Coalition, who appeared before the City Council's Committee on Education and Child Development.
Ald. Joe Moore (49th) has introduced a resolution that calls on the Chicago Board of Education to make the recommended changes in the free breakfast program.
Under Moore's proposal, all children, regardless of income, would receive a free breakfast. Serving meals in the classroom would help hungry students focus, Doherty said. A universal breakfast also “reduces the stigma” of disadvantaged students who come to school earlier to eat in the cafeteria. Illinois currently ranks last in the nation for low-income students who eat breakfast at school.
Moore said members of the coalition approached him about the issue of school breakfast after the group complained it had received little response from the Board of Education.
“To use the old adage my mother used to repeat to us, ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,’” Moore said. “I think that’s true. Kids learn better, they behave better, they’re more alert when they have a good breakfast in their stomachs.
What we’re asking the Board of Education to do is to follow the lead of a number of other cities that have put into place universal school breakfast at the start of the day.”
Doherty said at least 15 other U.S. cities have adopted a universal free breakfast for students.
In addition to providing low-income students with another meal each day, the breakfast could help reduce childhood obesity, Doherty said. School meals must meet federal nutrition requirements and often include at least one-third of a child’s required daily nutrients.
Currently, all but 10 schools in Chicago offer breakfast to students before school, and about 83,500 children participate in the program. However, 200,000 more students are eligible for free breakfast under the National School Breakfast Program.
The breakfast program uses federal dollars to provide meals to lower-income students, Doherty said, and a school system gets money based on the number of children eating. The more students that eat, the more funding CPS gets, Doherty said.
Several aldermen questioned Doherty about the program’s potential costs.
“I laud the goal, but we shouldn’t minimize what this will do to the Board of Education,” said Ald. Patrick J. O’Connor (40th), chairman of the committee.
Exactly how much the universal breakfast plan will cost CPS is uncertain, according to Sue Susanki, director of food service for CPS.
The majority of the food is paid for with federal dollars, but the district must foot the bill for staffing needs. Susanki estimates that an additional $2.2 million would be needed to handle a daily breakfast for all.
A universal breakfast program in CPS classrooms was tried at three schools five years ago, according to Susanki, but lasted only one semester because of criticism from staff.
Teachers thought “they’re there to educate children, not to open cartons of milk,” Susanki said.
Moore said even with the additional costs a universal breakfast program would be worth the extra expense.
“We’re in the business of educating our kids and studies have shown that kids with a good breakfast learn better,” Moore said. “I think that this is something that the schools should embrace.”
The committee plans to discuss the breakfast proposal with board officials and the members of the teacher’s union at its next meeting.
Blognotes: I don't know to count this as a 'where-as' or not? Chicago Public schools in crisis. And this is Alderman Moore's answer - free breakfast. Why stop there? Why not buy the all the kids in the 49th ward dinner every night on us too? When is the election by the way?
14 comments:
This is the kind of waste in goverment we need to stop! 2.2 million the school system will have to spend on this program?? This money will come from us the taxpayers,I agree school is for teaching our children.
Here is a question; Why is a Chicago police officer sitting in his patrol car every day on Rosemont to "watch" over the children from Sacred Heart (a private school) our tax dollars paying for a public servant to sit (reading his book)while "protecting" the saftey of children getting into their parent car that pull along in front of school on Rosemont.
Graig you should wander over when your free and get some pics of this. This by the way is in the 49th ward.
Strange that Joe didn't have these philanthropic urges until 2 months before this election.
He wasn't having such fatherly feelings towards needy children back when he voted for all the TIF districts that are diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes from property owners and the renters who pay taxes through them, that could have been used to feed their kids.
Maybe if the working poor of Chicago weren't, through their rent and through some of the steepest sales taxes in the nation, helping to pay for the renovation of at least one building at a private, well-endowed university, or a $213MM pharoanic el station for the edification of visiting businessmen, they would be able to give their kids better meals. These are projects that Joe voted to allocate the money for.
Hey,Joe, get back the tens of millions of dollars that you have voted to allocate to private development on property that doesn't even pay taxes, and to monument-building, so that the schools can even buy school supplies, which they have always been supposed to do, let alone buy meals for the kids.
Get all that tax money lost to TIFS back for us, and we'll have the money to rebuild the school system completely.
Joe mentioned to me in a reply to a letter I wrote him, asking him to vote against the LaSalle Central TIF, that the Loyola TIF I was so critical of would also help renovate the burned out synagogue on Pratt. Why should MY money be used to help renovate the property belonging to a wealthy religious congregation? How many kid's meals would the money spent on that ugly, charred hulk buy?
Hey, Joe Moore, my memory stream goes back further than 3 months, and I'm sure everyone else around here has a better memory than that, too.
the north coast, well said!! So all the dorms that the Loyola students stay in on Winthrop,and Kenmore (I am talking about the convert apartment buildings) the school does not pay property taxs?
If this is true; think of all the millions of dollars that the city is not taking in, which mean we the taxpayers have to make up for!
Any propery owned by a religious order or educational institution, or other non-profit, is, as far as I know, tax-exempt as long as it is used for the purpose of the non-profit that owns it. There are exceptions but they are rare.
I used to play a game when I lived in St. Louis, which was to see how much taxable property I could locate on any major boulevard. By the time I got finished counting what was tax-exempt, tax-abated, or tax-delinquent, there wasn't much of a tax base, I'm here to tell you.
Our city has destroyed its tax base by erecting daunting obstructions to most businesses, especially the old manufacturing concerns that have mostly fled to the suburbs, then abroad, over the past 30 years. At the same time, our leaders have granted incredible breaks amounting to massive subsidies to businesses whose ownership is politically plugged in. It's not just Chicago, it's everywhere, and some cities have been so completely destroyed there's nothing left for the politicians and their cronies to loot.
Soon there won't be a country left to loot, if indeed there is now, once you look past the pyramid of debt that constitutes our current economy.
Maybe the first prerequisite for public officials, to be met before they can even file to run, should be to prove that they know how to reconcile a bank account, and that they know that no way no how can 2-4 be made to equal $10MM, no matter who keeps the books.
Craig-
Not sure how to get this to you or if you want it but here are some notes from the 2423 CAPS beat meeting:
Discussion included burgularies on Greenleaf and Lunt. In particular at 1340 Lunt, a building owned by Dan Sullivan, whose property manager was there. She said there were two break-ins in the past month. After the meeting she indicated to CAPS leaders that the building does criminal background and credit checks on all residential applicants and they (she and Dan) are concerned about the kind of people they are bringing into the neighborhood.
Burglaries are the target criminal activity in 2423.
Touhy Park has a new park supervisor and will soon have extened hours and extra programming. The new supervisor has meet with the District 24 commander and requested that the police have a greater presence around the park. The officers at the meeting were aware of this and said that they have already increased their presence there as a result of the supervisor's request.
Issues with the Lawerence Hall buildings were discussed; specifically the number of police calls and the male visitors around female residences. In addition, most (if not all) of the Lawerence Hall buildings are improperly zoned and the city has started zoning hearings with regard to this issue.
Finally the drug activity at Lunt and Glenwood was brought up. The officers said that there were ongoing tactical operations in certain areas of the beat and district that we should be aware of, but he could not comment directly on them.
That's about it, the next meeting is set for Feb 21.
Universal breakfast is a start - but speaking as a high school student and the student rep to my LSC, I must say that the real issue here is the food they are feeding us.
First, they are few to little vegetarian options.
Second, the food is horribly unhealthy. I'm eating the same food as convicts (it's a national contract - that the prison system has aswell). The cafateria claims that the food options are planned by a nutritionist (from the company). But that food is HORRIBLE. Completely unhealthy! The meat tastes like cardboard and everything is just filled with lard - you can see it in the "sauces", the "fries" and the "pizza.
Three, you're only permitted 5 items. One of those items must be a fruit - but you can substitute the fruit with chocolate pudding. Which one do you think the students chose?
My recommendation - empower state board of educations, principals and LSCs to make decisions on the food the students are fed. Allow them to make their own contracts with agencies and decide what is best for their students in their school.
Someone will see free breakfast program and they'll so wow someone will feed the kids free of charge. If I was poor and I had kids I'd be all over it. The useless part is to feed the kids in the classroom. I guess Joe Moore doesn't care about the teacher's unions.
I mean hey teachers don't want students eating in their classrooms.
Joe Moore is no friend to Chicago Public school students. During Joe Moore's 16 years in the Chicago City Council he has voted "yea" on a hundred or so TIFs. (Don't make me list them, you know I will). TIFs divert property taxes away from the schools and to corporations and real estate developers. HALF of every TIF dollar is a former education dollar. Joe Moore has voted to divert hundreds of millions of dollars away from the schools and toward the corporations and real estate developers who fund his political campaign.
Hugh - you're a hundred percent correct on the TIFs. They divert Chicago property taxes away from CPS. But have you ever considered this: our property taxes shouldn't be the main funding for our public schools?
Constitutionally, the State of Illinois has the main responsiblity when it comes to school funding. Within the state of Illinois - Springfield only provides us with about 40% of our school funding. That's less than half! Clearly, they are not living up to their obligation.
There are actions the City Council can take to improve funding for our schools - but the true changes must come from the General Assembly. I guess State Legislators are important afterall.
Joe needs to stay away from legislating food.
Joe needs to stay away from legislating, period.
Let's give him a break from it at election time, so he can go off to a spa somewhere with all the crooked money he has no doubt made these past 16 years, and trim that roving waistline of his a little.
Whereas I am in no way enjoying the notion that I would agree with Joe Moore on any point, I must say that I agree that we, as a society, should be supporting the free breakfasts for our students.
The performance of students is greatly affected by the lack of a decent breakfast, regardless of the reason for that lack. It is not always the lack of funds that causes a lack of breakfast. Some student lack a parent to make it for them, would prefer to sleep an extra half hour, etc. Whatever the reason…the lack of breakfast has a serious detrimental impact on their performance as students. I would wager that more often than not it is not the students’ fault. Why should they pay the price for it in the form of poor grades resulting in a bleak future, thus possibly continuing the cycle of poverty.
CPS and others have used the notion of ‘that’s as good as it will get because it’s “institutional food”’. However, when I was in the Army, I ate better than I had before…or since. Of course, that was because there was a CSM who would have tacked the mess sergeant’s hide to his office door if he would have served us food like we serve our students. There is no such person in the CPS system, and until there is…the slop will be continue to be served to students and the vendors will rake in the profits.
My uncle Ed is in charge of buying food for much of the Florida penal system. Once he described to be what a typical meal is for the inmates. For about $1.25 Ed can feed each inmate more food than I could probably eat at one time. If he can do that, the vendors, like Marriott, can do the same for our students instead of feeding them the almost inedible slop that is served on a daily basis.
Regardless of TIFs and funding issues, I would gladly pay a dollar-ish a day to feed breakfast to a student for 12 years in the hopes of that student getting a better education and better life, rather than $1.25 per meal, three times a day, everyday for 25-to-life.
If parents don’t believe the condition and quality of food being served in CPS schools, stop in to your child’s school and have a meal with them. You will be AMAZED [and disgusted]. Until parents/community members apply pressure to aldermen and the mayor, nothing will change.
To any of the aldermanic candidates…whoever wins next month, if you want to make changes to the school meals, I can give you Ed’s number.
"collegeboundonlunt"...where do you attend high school? Smart kid.
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