Michelle Obama’s lunch rules may now fine schools for “misusing funds”
Michelle’s signature program resembles her husband’s in many ways, then.
A little over a year ago I reported that a Food Justice Warrior had been appointed “School Lunch Czar” to shake-up the signature program promoted by First Lady Michelle Obama.
Prior to that appointment, students across the country ran a #ThanksMichelleObama campaign to share pictures of the unappetizing meals being served. More recent tweets show….that the Food Czar has been less than effective.
This “Japanese CHICKEN” is literally Campbell’s Chunky BEEF Stew without the soup #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/YSleMl7qvL
— Victor Lourng (@lablayers) March 28, 2016
I got a hollow chicken nugget in my school lunch #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/ELhIr6sIag — Henry (@henrytheisen) March 18, 2016
Now, there is a proposal to amend the lunch rules further, to include fines for improper implementation of the program.
The federal government is taking steps to fine schools that misuse funds under national school lunch rules. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service issued a proposed rule Monday to codify parts of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by first lady Michelle Obama.
The regulation would punish schools and state departments with fines for “egregious or persistent disregard” for the lunch rules that imposed sodium and calorie limits and banned white grains.
…The government now seeks to make fines enforceable by regulation. Section 303 of the law requires that the federal government “establish criteria for the imposition of fines” for all the Department of Agriculture’s child food programs.
A West Virginia preschool teacher faced potential fines for violating the rules by rewarding her students with candy.
The Williamson PreK-8 teacher, who was not identified, would give her students “wrapped candy” as a reward for their hard work and good behavior.
Because the practice was an alleged violation of the federal rules championed by first lady Michelle Obama, Mingo County Schools Director of Child Nutrition Kay Maynard “placed a call to officials at the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) to report the incident,” the Williamson Daily News reports.
Maynard also spoke to Williamson PreK-8 principal Shannon Blackburn, telling him about the possibility of a monetary fine for the teacher.
The ensuing uproar from the district’s students and parents meant that, instead of fines, the school had to develop a “corrective action plan” with training on the policies.
The proposed “Child Nutrition Program Integrity” is in the 60 day public comment phase, but the initial response to the threat of fines as it is worded was such that a program spokesperson issued a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, stressing that the target of the new regulation was the misuse of funds:
To ensure that entities implementing these critical programs continue to meet high standards of program effectiveness and integrity, USDA is proposing a series of program improvements that address only those programs with systemic and significant program violations, such as theft of funds and financial mismanagement, to safeguard the integrity of Child Nutrition Programs and taxpayer dollars,” the spokesperson said.
Even so, it is obvious that the lunch program has not improved significantly. Additionally, the fact that there is now a need to monitor the use of funds demonstrates the predictable corruption associated with another massive government program designed to magically solve every student’s diet problems. The Washington Free Beacon continued its analysis of total system failure:
More than 1.4 million students have left the lunch line since the rules went into effect, as students have complained of small portions and unappetizing fare. The standards have been blamed for cafeteria workers losing their jobs, and some kids have even resorted to creating black markets for salt to add flavor.
…Increased monitoring of state agencies as a result of the rule would cost states $4.3 million in 2017, and $22.7 million over five years.
In conclusion, Michelle Obama’s lunch program is being run like Obamacare…with half-baked plans, aggressive bureaucrats, and fiscal threats. I can’t wait until Harvard and NPR declare this program a failure, too.
(Featured image from Youtube).
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Comments
Totally missed the constitutional amendment that allows the Federal government to run lunch programs in local schools.
and I totally forgot about the law that allows the unelected First “Lady” to dictate to Federal agencies.
So did the GOPe.
That’s why there’s revolution.
“The standards have been blamed for cafeteria workers losing their jobs, and some kids have even resorted to creating black markets for salt to add flavor.”
Finally, capitalism and market economy is being taught in our public schools. Thank you, Michelle Obama!
Countdown to SJW outrage over racist term “black market” in 5… 4… 3…
lol
Yeah, but they outlawed “white” grains so I’m sure it all washes out in the end
Very true. I was in the grocery store last month with a mother and her high school age daughter who were trying to decide what prepackaged snacks could be best sneaked into school without messing up clothing, backpacks because lunches were so restricted and “terrible.” It was an interesting, enlightening, depressing conversation. Prepackaged cheese and peanut butter snacks were making it to the top of the list along with trail mix. What a sorry state of affairs.
The problem exists with school breakfasts, too, under an older program for indigent students. The simple truth is, unwatched money for little children somehow persistently winds up in the hands of adults.
But if the schools don’t mandate what children eat, the parents might feed them incorrectly.
And if the schools don’t tell them what to think, they might think bad thoughts.
Maybe children should stay at school all day until bedtime, so they aren’t corrupted by bad influences…
As a little Hump Day treat, please see these 15 images of the Obamas stuffing their faces with everything but health food:
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/129089-15-images-that-show-the-obamas-war-on-junk-food-is-bologna/
You know, this program is only there to help the benighted teachers, parents, and children. Perhaps the solution is re-education camps rather than these less intense schools. Maybe then, everybody would appreciate…I mean…will proclaim their appreciation for our great leader and his wife. They do know best. I guess. What oath of office?
LI readers are so unappreciative of these unselfish efforts by the King and Queen.
Brings back a memory. My grandmother worked for a long time at an elementary school cafeteria in rural Ohio. She was an organizer-type person (there was a reason our family nicknamed her “Sarge”) and after a short time she was running the place. Did it well, too. She was an old-fashioned woman who had survived the Depression and she wasn’t about to let a child go hungry.
So the Feds came along with all their rules, etc., for school lunches. This was 40 years ago, mind you, and they had these rules back then. Take the federal money and you get the federal rules as to what to serve and to whom to serve it.
The point: Grandma never let the rules keep her from feeding a hungry child. She could look at a child and know who had and hadn’t had breakfast that morning at home, and if the child didn’t qualify for a ‘free’ breakfast or ‘free’ lunch, well no problem — Grandma would quietly summon that child to the back of the kitchen, and there would be a plate of food. Eggs, bacon, toast, a sandwich — the good stuff. The children were fed, they were able to get back to the classroom and focus, and the Feds never knew a thing.
We need more people like Grandma.
What’s going on here is this:
1. Michelle is a figurehead for a federal government that is less interested in children’s school diets than it is in increasing command and control over public schools.
2. Typically this is enforced by threatening to lower or remove existing federal funding.
3. So bad have the federal dictates on public school meals failed that too many local school districts have said, “fine, keep your damn money then, because your dietary mandates are unworkable.”
4. Therefore, if withholding federal funds, or the threat thereof, isn’t forcing public schools to knuckle under, some other way must be used.
5. The federal government will now assess fines in addition to withholding funding.
Tyranny.
I went to elementary and high school in the 50s and 60s. Back then, each school had its own kitchen staff that planned, ordered, cooked, and served the food. It wasn’t Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse but I recall several of the meals were yummy. Wednesdays was usually spaghetti day and they made their own rolls (which would have been Ruth’s Chris quality). They started making them in the morning and mid-morning, when you were on that side of the school, the aroma was mouth-watering. Every student got two hot yeast rolls (white bread) and we got as much butter as we wanted. As a matter of fact, every Friday, they served either tuna fish salad, or fish sticks. The ladies who worked there were not “Lunch Lady Doris” types either. They were always dressed in white with their hair in nets, they were friendly and kind and with a wink and a smile sometimes you could get something extra. They even made their own cookies.
Then the schools were taken over by unions.
[A] program spokesperson issued a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, stressing that the target of the new regulation was the misuse of funds
For now.
When Michelle Obama’s program first started, it was a guideline. Then it was “encouraged” via threatening to withhold federal funding. Now the feds are proposing punitive fines for “misusing” those federal funds.
Does anyone seriously think that encroaching federal authority will stop there?
A corrupt free-loading glutton like Michelle Obama telling people what not to eat.
Almost like a corrupt, talentless hack like Hillary Clinton telling people why she should be president.
It’s as though Michele Obama is a Hillary Clinton in training and, instead of pushing the absurdity known as Hillarycare, Michelle is pushing an absurd school lunch program. I wonder how soon after they leave the White House before Michelle runs for the Senate seat in New York and then goes after the presidency.