Public Schools around UTAustin that provide natural/healthy food to kids (home, school districts)

[Trainwreck20]

$45k per year.

Depends on which one(s) you are talking about....but not sure they are that high. Here is a link to St. Stephen's:
http://www.sstx.org/affordingSSES

[hound 109]

Bento boxes are very popular in many of the more affluent school districts.

Don't give them any more ideas.

Next thing you know, CoA will be providing Bento boxes on the billion dollar light rail choo choo. By golly if the 3rd graders receive a good meal, then the community college commuters should receive a nice meal too....on their subsidized train ride out to Highland Mall.



OP, where's the job (near UT?) & what's the budget? The job location should dictate more on where the kiddo attends school than the lunch menu.
.

[centralaustinite]

Private elementary schools in Austin run from about $9000 a year to $22,000. Private high schools from about $14,000 to $24,000. In every case, lunch will be extra!! Anywhere from $4.50 a meal to $6.50, may or may not include drink.

[hillcountryheart]

"Educational philosophy" private schools like Montessori and Waldorf may have school lunch *rules* on requiring that a "healthy" lunch be sent with the child. Some parochial schools are at the lower end of the $9k figure; but at that price and type of school, any lunch provided by the school probably won't be as healthy as what you could provide.

If your kids are reasonably unpicky eaters, places like Whole Foods or Snap will have ready-to-eat options to buy the night or a couple of nights before. There may be other parents who you could "lunch-pool" with; most schools will allow you to bring and eat lunch with your child, and this is an option up until your kid would die of embarrassment at the thought of lunching with Mom or Dad. Schools seriously frown on a parent delivering fast food, though you can get away with it in public schools on birthdays. As a parent, never offer food to another child before you check with their parents. Like you, other parents can get hostile if their child is offered anything they find unacceptable. You will run into this issue on birthdays, too, should you choose to send a snack to school for the class to enjoy. The teacher will probably have a policy on this; if they don't, ask.

The above advice is for elementary school-aged children. By middle and high school, peer pressure really intervenes and there are more options available for purchase. But no AISD school is going to have certified organic produce.

[Austin97]

magellan is new but they are working towards organic lunches via oatricias lunchbox

http://patriciaslunchbox.com/wp-cont...NUARY-2014.pdf

All Beef* on this Spring menu is from Bastrop Cattle Company (BCC). It is local, organic, grass-fed, and Non-GMO.
Milk has been upgraded to 100% organic.
Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, and sweet potatoes will be local and organic when available.
Our goal is to continue upgrading until we are a Non-GMO school lunch program. Thanks for all your support!



tuition is 12-15k depending on grade

[centralaustinite]

You mean Patricia's lunchbox? Yes, they are organic when possible. Magellen is not the only private school served by Patricia's lunchbox, St. Andrews, St. Francis, and other private schools use Patricia's for elementary school. Barnison Catering handles lunch for Rawson-Saunders and Paragon Prep and maybe one other school. It is all organic.

Does Magellen include lunch with tuition? In most private schools, lunch ordered separately and not included in tuition.

Even in private schools with high quality lunches, there is a substantial portion that packs lunch. Bring lunch is fashionable, bento boxes are common.

Not sure how it goes down in Eanes where the student body is almost universally affluent but in economically diverse public schools, school lunch is a bit stimatized and a packed lunch (with the bento boxes, fancy food, and the implication of a stay-at-home mom to pack it) are a class marker. I don't have a link but UT-Austin's ed-psych dept has noted this in their studies of bullying.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Originally Posted by Idlewile

Public school and organic lunches don't generally go together. Public School, organic lunches and Texas definitely do not. Our property taxes are high but not that high to cover it.

If that's what you want, pack it yourself.

You don't want to pack it, go to WF every couple of days and buy boxed lunches for your children. Problem solved. Otherwise stay put.... or head to CA.

Why are these answers so hostel? This is a question many, many parents have these days. God forbid parents care about what their kids eat.

My little guy goes to private and we use Patricia's Lunchbox, but this clearly isn't a solution for everyone either.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

You mean Patricia's lunchbox? Yes, they are organic when possible. Magellen is not the only private school served by Patricia's lunchbox, St. Andrews, St. Francis, and other private schools use Patricia's for elementary school. Barnison Catering handles lunch for Rawson-Saunders and Paragon Prep and maybe one other school. It is all organic.

Does Magellen include lunch with tuition? In most private schools, lunch ordered separately and not included in tuition.

Even in private schools with high quality lunches, there is a substantial portion that packs lunch. Bring lunch is fashionable, bento boxes are common.

Not sure how it goes down in Eanes where the student body is almost universally affluent but in economically diverse public schools, school lunch is a bit stimatized and a packed lunch (with the bento boxes, fancy food, and the implication of a stay-at-home mom to pack it) are a class marker. I don't have a link but UT-Austin's ed-psych dept has noted this in their studies of bullying.

No, lunch is not included in tuition. You are given the option to bring your own or go through PL.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by FueledByBlueBell

Why are these answers so hostel? This is a question many, many parents have these days. God forbid parents care about what their kids eat.

My little guy goes to private and we use Patricia's Lunchbox, but this clearly isn't a solution for everyone either.

Mine was not hostel. You must be reading/interpreting with a different inflection... many others responded in the same way as I did. Again, the OP was asking about public not private and she was inquiring about organic lunches in public schools... "many, many parents" are NOT expecting organic lunches in public schools these days, healthier options yes, organic, no.

(Private schools is an entirely different discussion.)

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by FueledByBlueBell

Why are these answers so hostel? This is a question many, many parents have these days. God forbid parents care about what their kids eat.

My little guy goes to private and we use Patricia's Lunchbox, but this clearly isn't a solution for everyone either.

Originally Posted by Idlewile

Mine was not hostel. You must be reading/interpreting with a different inflection... many others responded in the same way as I did. Again, the OP was asking about public not private and she was inquiring about organic lunches in public schools... "many, many parents" are NOT expecting organic lunches in public schools these days, healthier options yes, organic, no.

(Private schools is an entirely different discussion.)

How many hostels even provide lunch, let alone an organic one?

I think the African dust is getting to people.