Lunch at your kids' schools? (Viola: attorney, school district, income)

[kitty_nina1]

Another IL shocker for me was that there is no school lunch offered. No school lunch menu. No such animal in existence.
The school has a cafeteria with tables, but no lunches are cooked/heated, no line, no cashier, no cook, no cafeteria staff present.
At all.
There is an option of "ordering" lunch from an outside vendor when students come in the morning. Lunches are then delivered to school to those who ordered them.
Subs on Mondays, chicken tenders on Tuesdays, pizza on Wednesdays, somethings else on Thursdays and so on...and every week is the same. The cost of lunch is about $4.
Chicken tenders came with no sides. Just tenders. That's what my kids said they saw. Beef tacos had hardly any beef on them - some other kids were complaining.
I am speechless.
Our previous school made sure everyone eating in the cafeteria had milk, fruit, protein and a veg. The menu was balanced and my kids actually enjoyed eating school lunch 2-3 times a week. It was fun for them to mark off days that they'd eat at school on the monthly lunch menu. It was easier for me to know in advance which days I wont have to worry about making lunches. Holiday menu was everybody's favorite.
My kids found this shocking, and so did I. For the first time since Kindergarten they won't eat a school lunch.

How is it at your school? Some CPS parents told me that's about how it is at theirs, lunches brought from outside vendors.

Is this also due to some money saving initiative to save public employees pensions??

[lepoisson]

Is no lunch this a thing in all Illinois schools? My coworker lives in the suburbs and does not have school provided lunch.

I guess it's less of a problem in the suburbs, but I wonder what students on free or reduced lunch or students whose parents cannot make them a lunch every day do.

[flamadiddle]

We're in the West burbs and lunch is available in Elementary/Middle and High School. My kids seem pretty happy with the food selection/quality. I've never heard of lunch not being an option?

[kitty_nina1]

I looked up the high school in our district (my kids are in middle school right now) and it appears that there is no school lunch there either. There is a cafeteria with an outsourced food service vendor offering a la carte items that when added up make up a cost of a lunch eaten out.

What on earth? How do these vendors get into the public school system? Who decides which vendors get the contract? Who are the owners of these companies? Just doesn't seem kosher.

[fusillirob1983]

I'm confused by your terminology of "no school lunch", because at the end of the day hiring an outside vendor may accomplish the same result as what you're trying to do, and it may be cheaper than directly hiring people onto a government payroll.


I went to a public suburban school district from around 1989-2002. There was a school cafeteria. All the servers may have been Aramark employees. I'm pretty sure the hot lunches food for high school and jr high were made onsite. Elementary they delivered individually packaged lunches they stuck in the oven each morning.


Elementary school - main item changed daily, there'd typically be a side or two, was pretty inexpensive. They sold milk, a couple snacks and ice cream a la carte for pretty cheap as well. That being said, I typically brought a lunch and just bought milk.


Jr high - Similar to elementary school but had a couple more a la carte items like soft pretzels, chips, pizza and fries. Hot lunches were larger than elementary school and more standard items, a meat, maybe potatoes, rice, vegetables, etc.


High school - similar to jr high but more snacks/chips as well, candy, fruit, additional drink options a la carte. Prices were generally cheaper than elsewhere. Often I'd get a giant pretzel as a snack for a $1 and bring a sandwich from home.


To further clarify - in terms of who served in elementary school: typically a couple of parents handed out the lunches from the kitchen. A couple 6th graders ran the snack counter. Jr high - parents worked all counters. In both situations, I am unaware if any of the parents were paid.

[OyCrumbler]

Were you hoping for
this?

[chet everett]

The general procedure for selecting vendors is spelled out in the Illinois School Code. The specifics of vendor selection for providers of school lunches is laid out in this document from the Illinois State Board of Education -- https://www.isbe.net/documents/vende...structions.pdf

Violations of these regulations would likely be pursued through the Illinois Attorney General or local County level State's Attorney. Alternatively folks directly impacted by violations, including vendors unfairly excluded, could seek redress through the courts.

The layering of responsibility, which allows multiple governmental offices to deflect blame, is a hallmark of Illinois approach to governance...

[kitty_nina1]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

I'm confused by your terminology of "no school lunch", because at the end of the day hiring an outside vendor may accomplish the same result as what you're trying to do, and it may be cheaper than directly hiring people onto a government payroll.

Unless the companies the outsource to are owned by government employees.

School lunch at our old school in another state cost $1.95

Lunch brought in by vendors here in IL is $4.

From what I've read here in IL forum, the state is looking for ways to continue funding employee pensions, and getting rid of cafeteria staff makes sense from that perspective. It makes no sense to students and their families. It is expensive and unhealthy.
The outsourced cafeterias are a rip off and a profit maker for those who own them.

My kids went to schools in 3 different states. All had school cafeterias and state employees working there. Breakfast and lunch were cheap and quite good.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by kitty_nina1

Unless the companies the outsource to are owned by government employees.

School lunch at our old school in another state cost $1.95

Lunch brought in by vendors here in IL is $4.

From what I've read here in IL forum, the state is looking for ways to continue funding employee pensions, and getting rid of cafeteria staff makes sense from that perspective. It makes no sense to students and their families. It is expensive and unhealthy.
The outsourced cafeterias are a rip off and a profit maker for those who own them.

My kids went to schools in 3 different states. All had school cafeterias and state employees working there. Breakfast and lunch were cheap and quite good.

I've never lived in another state, so I can't compare. The example I gave though is from 17-20 years ago, when the state had pension liabilities, but not to the point where people were scared into moving out of state about it with regularity like today.


$4 doesn't sound unaffordable. I believe there's funding for free and reduced lunch for lower income students. I don't know what the income threshold is.


Have you thought about making your kids' lunches? That will give you more control over the cost and nutrition they get.

[BOBNCHI]

We, and our kids, brown bagged it! The idea of schools providing lunch doesnt make sense on a variety of levels.